Now think about a recommendation you’ve read that actually stuck with you. It probably had one thing in common: it was specific. It described something real. It told a micro-story about something the person actually did. It included a concrete outcome. When you read it, you got a sense of who this person actually is and what they actually deliver, not just generic praise.<\/p>\n
The difference is huge, and it’s almost entirely invisible to most people writing recommendations.<\/p>\n
If you’re here because you’ve been asked for a recommendation and you want it to actually matter, or because you want to understand what makes a recommendation powerful so you can write one that stands out, this guide will show you exactly how. You’ll learn the structure that works because it aligns with how hiring managers and recruiters actually evaluate candidates. You’ll see real examples (anonymized, but realistic) so you can see the pattern and adapt it to your own experience. You’ll understand the most common mistakes that make recommendations forgettable or, worse, that make people question your credibility as an evaluator. And you’ll get templates you can use today, personalized with your actual working experience.<\/p>\n
By the end of this guide, you’ll know how to write a LinkedIn recommendation that builds credibility for both you and the person you’re recommending. More importantly, you’ll understand that recommendations aren’t a task to check off. They’re an opportunity to do something genuinely useful: help someone’s career by creating a credible signal that actually influences hiring decisions.<\/p>\n
Here’s what we’re going to cover: First, we’ll examine why most recommendations fail. This is crucial because once you understand the problem, the solution becomes obvious. Then we’ll break down the exact structure that works, piece by piece, so you can see how to build a recommendation that gets read. We’ll look at four real-world examples across different relationship types (manager-to-report, peer-to-peer, cross-functional, and short-term contractor relationships) so you can see the pattern applied to different contexts. We’ll identify the seven most common mistakes that kill recommendations, so you know exactly what to avoid. Then we’ll explore how recommendation writing is actually a strategic move for your own profile and network. And finally, I’ll give you three templates you can adapt immediately based on the type of relationship you have with the person you’re recommending.<\/p>\n
The goal isn’t just to help you write a recommendation. It’s to help you write a recommendation that actually matters, that hiring managers will read, that recruiters will cite, and that genuinely moves the needle for the person being recommended. Because if you’re going to spend the time to write one, it might as well be one that counts.<\/p>\n
Why Most LinkedIn Recommendations Get Ignored: The Problem Nobody Talks About<\/h2>\n
![\"Why](\"https:\/\/dealsflow.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Why-Most-LinkedIn-Recommendations-Get-Ignored.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Before you write a single word, you need to understand why most recommendations fail. It’s not complexity. It’s noise, generic language, and a lack of specificity that makes hiring managers and recruiters skip right past them.<\/p>\n
The Noise Problem: When Everything Sounds the Same<\/h3>\n
Open any LinkedIn profile with 5 or more recommendations. Read them. You’ll notice a pattern immediately. They all sound like they were written from the same template.<\/p>\n
“John is an amazing professional. He has great communication skills and gets things done. I’d recommend him to anyone.”<\/p>\n
“Sarah is a wonderful colleague. She brings positive energy and is always willing to help.”<\/p>\n
“Working with Mike was fantastic. He’s proactive, driven, and a natural leader.”<\/p>\n
These recommendations have one critical problem: they could describe almost anyone. There’s nothing that distinguishes the person being recommended from the hundreds of other professionals claiming the same generic traits. When a hiring manager or recruiter is evaluating a candidate, they’re not looking for confirmation that the person is “amazing” or “wonderful”. They’re looking for proof that you actually know this person well enough to speak about their specific strengths, impacts, and how they show up in real work situations.<\/p>\n
The irony is that writing a better recommendation takes almost no more effort. It just requires a different approach.<\/p>\n
What Hiring Managers Actually Look For in Recommendations<\/h3>\n
When a hiring manager or recruiter evaluates a candidate’s LinkedIn profile, recommendations carry weight. But not all recommendations are created equal. They’re looking for three specific things:<\/p>\n
Specificity Over Adjectives.<\/strong> They want to know what the person actually did, not how you felt about them. “Sarah improved our customer retention rate by 23% in her first quarter” is infinitely more powerful than “Sarah is results-driven.” The first is verifiable. The second could be anyone’s opinion.<\/p>\n Evidence of Real Working Relationships.<\/strong> Generic praise often signals that the recommender barely knew the person. But when you describe how you worked together on a specific project, what obstacles you faced, and how that person contributed, it signals authenticity. Hiring managers know the difference between someone who worked with you for two years and someone who met you at a conference.<\/p>\n Outcomes Over Traits.<\/strong> Nobody cares that you’re “creative” or “detail-oriented” in the abstract. They care about what you created, what you detailed, and what changed as a result. A recommendation that mentions specific outcomes (revenue generated, bugs fixed, team morale improved, processes streamlined) tells a much clearer story about a person’s actual impact.<\/p>\n When these three elements are present, a recommendation shifts from being background noise to being a credible endorsement that actually influences hiring decisions.<\/p>\n Now that you understand why most recommendations fail, let’s build one that doesn’t. The structure I’m about to show you is based on what actually moves the needle with hiring managers, recruiters, and the professional network of the person being recommended.<\/p>\n A recommendation that gets read and remembered follows this progression: opening context, specific evidence, real impact, and a genuine closing. Let’s break down each part and then build them together.<\/p>\n Part 1: Establish Your Credibility and Context<\/strong><\/p>\n The first sentence does two things. It answers the question “how do you know this person and why should I trust your opinion?” without sounding formal.<\/p>\n This is where you quickly establish your relationship. You don’t need flowery language. Just be clear: “I worked with Sarah for two years as part of the product team at TechCorp” or “I managed Mike’s sales development team for 18 months” or “John and I collaborated on a dozen client projects over three years at the agency.”<\/p>\n This sentence matters more than it appears. Hiring managers immediately calculate the length and depth of your relationship. A two-week contractor knows less than a two-year manager. A peer colleague sees different strengths than a direct report. By establishing context early, you’re giving the reader permission to weight your recommendation appropriately.<\/p>\n This part should be one sentence. Two at most. Get to the point.<\/p>\n Part 2: Describe a Specific Situation or Project<\/strong><\/p>\n This is where most recommendations fail because people skip the details and jump straight to praise.<\/p>\n Instead of saying “Sarah is a great communicator,” describe the situation where that communication mattered. What was the challenge? What was at stake? Then show how the person you’re recommending showed up in that moment.<\/p>\n For example: “When our Q3 product launch fell three weeks behind schedule, Sarah took the lead on daily stand-ups between engineering and marketing. She identified the communication gaps between the teams, restructured the sync format, and we recovered two of the three weeks.”<\/p>\n Notice what happened there. You’ve shown Sarah is a communicator, but you’ve done it by painting a picture of what her communication actually accomplished. The reader doesn’t just know she’s “great at communication.” They know she can diagnose problems and restructure processes under pressure.<\/p>\n This part should be one to three sentences, depending on how much detail the situation requires. Aim for one paragraph that tells a complete micro-story.<\/p>\n Part 3: Connect the Outcome to Their Actual Strength<\/strong><\/p>\n Now you can name the trait or strength directly, but only after you’ve shown it through evidence. The trait becomes credible because you’ve demonstrated it, not just asserted it.<\/p>\n Continuing the example: “This kind of leadership shows how Sarah thinks systemically. She doesn’t just solve immediate problems. She identifies the root cause and redesigns the process so the problem doesn’t happen again.”<\/p>\n You’re not inventing a new claim. You’re deepening the claim you already made by showing the pattern. This is the difference between “Sarah is a great communicator” and “Sarah is someone who can see systemic problems and fix them through communication.”<\/p>\n This part should be one to two sentences. You’re connecting the dots, not re-explaining the situation.<\/p>\n Part 4: Close with Genuine Conviction<\/strong><\/p>\n The closing sentence is not the place for corporate speak. It’s the place for honesty.<\/p>\n The weakest closings sound like this: “I would highly recommend Sarah to any organization. She will be an asset to any team.” These are so generic that they actually undermine your credibility. If you’re recommending someone just because everyone recommends everyone, why should anyone trust your judgment?<\/p>\n Instead, close with something that reveals genuine conviction. What would you actually say about this person if someone asked you directly?<\/p>\n Examples of strong closings:<\/p>\n These closings work because they’re specific to the person and the context. They reveal something about what made the working relationship valuable. And they’re written like someone actually means them, not like someone fulfilling an obligation.<\/p>\n The best way to understand what works is to see it in action. Here are four real-world style recommendations (anonymized and adapted) that actually get read. After each one, I’ll break down exactly why it works.<\/p>\n I worked with Alex for three years as a design director overseeing their product design role, and they were consistently one of the strongest individual contributors on my team. In 2023, we were redesigning our core onboarding experience, and the original design was a 15-step process that most users abandoned after step three. Alex redesigned the flow to four critical steps, interviewed 30 users directly to validate the flow, and reduced onboarding abandonment by 42%. But here’s what stood out most: when the engineering team pushed back on the technical feasibility of one section, Alex didn’t just hand it off. They spent time understanding the technical constraints, came back with three revised options that stayed true to the user experience while honoring the engineering reality, and the team shipped it on schedule.<\/p>\n That’s Alex in a nutshell. They don’t just execute well. They understand how to balance design thinking with practical constraints, and they make everyone on the team better in the process. I’ve worked with hundreds of designers across five companies, and Alex is in the top 10%. If you’re building a product and you need someone who can think like a designer but communicate like an engineer, hire Alex immediately.**<\/p>\n Why This Works:<\/strong><\/p>\n I worked with Jamie on the marketing team for two years, and every project benefited from their involvement. When we needed to rebuild our content strategy mid-year, Jamie didn’t just brainstorm ideas. They did a full competitive analysis, surveyed our audience to understand the content gaps, and created a content roadmap with specific KPIs attached to each pillar. We increased organic traffic by 67% over six months using that roadmap, and Jamie’s analysis is still guiding our content decisions two years later.<\/p>\n Jamie brings a rare combination: they’re equally comfortable in the strategic weeds and the creative execution. They can spend a morning designing a content calendar and an afternoon writing a 5,000-word guide that actually converts. Most people specialize in one or the other. Jamie excels at both, and they make whoever they’re working with feel smarter in the process. Hire Jamie.**<\/p>\n Why This Works:<\/strong><\/p>\n I worked with Marcus on three major product launches over 18 months. He led the sales engineering team, and we worked closely on technical pre-sales and customer onboarding. What impressed me most was how Marcus translated between worlds. The product team speaks in terms of architecture and scalability. The sales team speaks in terms of revenue and deal size. Customers care about solving their specific problems. Marcus understood all three perspectives deeply, and on every project, he was the person who made sure we weren’t building something technically beautiful that nobody wanted to buy or use.<\/p>\n One example: when we were positioning a major new feature set, the product team wanted to emphasize the architectural improvements. Sales wanted to emphasize the new integrations. Marcus brought everyone into a room, showed what the three largest prospects actually needed, and we repositioned around solving their actual jobs-to-be-done. The new positioning increased attach rates by 34% with no changes to the product itself. Marcus does this across every project. He’s the person who makes sure teams are aligned on the actual user outcome, not just their internal metrics. That’s incredibly rare, and it’s incredibly valuable.**<\/p>\n Why This Works:<\/strong><\/p>\n I contracted with Elena for four months to lead a design refresh of our platform interface. In that time, she completed work that typically takes our in-house team six months. She created a complete design system with 47 components, trained our team on how to use and extend it, and shipped the first iteration to production ahead of schedule. Elena is someone who comes into chaos, creates structure, and gets people up to speed faster than anyone I’ve worked with. If you need a designer who can own a project end-to-end and actually see it through to launch, she’s your first call.<\/p>\n Why This Works:<\/strong><\/p>\n You now know what works. Here’s what doesn’t. These are the mistakes that make recommendations forgettable or, worse, make people question your credibility.<\/p>\n This is the most common mistake. You start with a trait and never back it up with an example.<\/p>\n Bad:<\/strong> “Sarah is an amazing communicator and a true team player. She’s incredibly organized and always delivers on time.”<\/p>\n Better:<\/strong> “When our team pivoted our entire GTM strategy in two weeks, Sarah owned the internal communication plan. She ran daily sync meetings, created a shared roadmap that translated engineering timelines into sales language, and made sure every team knew exactly how the change affected their work. That kind of communication under pressure is what separates good team players from exceptional ones.”<\/p>\n The rule is simple: if you’re going to claim something, show it. Don’t make hiring managers or recruiters do the interpretation work.<\/p>\n Generic recommendations often sound like they were copied from the person’s LinkedIn headline or job title.<\/p>\n Bad:<\/strong> “John has strong project management skills, excellent communication abilities, and is a natural leader who excels at driving results.”<\/p>\n These are not findings from your working relationship. These are generic traits that could describe half the LinkedIn profiles in the world. When you write this way, you signal that you didn’t actually evaluate the person’s work. You just wrote down some buzzwords.<\/p>\n Better:<\/strong> Show what those skills actually look like in action. What project did he manage? What specifically did his communication accomplish? What results did his leadership drive?<\/p>\n Some recommendations accidentally become a humble-brag about the recommender’s own work.<\/p>\n Bad:<\/strong> “I worked with Mike on a major platform migration. As the director of engineering at the time, I led a team of 12 engineers, and Mike was one of them. Mike contributed to the project, which was very important to our company.”<\/p>\n This recommendation is too focused on the recommender’s role and responsibility. It should be about Mike’s specific contribution, not about how impressive your leadership was.<\/p>\n Better:<\/strong> Focus entirely on what the person did, what they solved, and what changed as a result. Your credibility comes from being a knowledgeable evaluator, not from highlighting your own accomplishments.<\/p>\n Some people write recommendations so carefully hedged with caveats that they lose all impact.<\/p>\n Bad:<\/strong> “Sarah was generally good at her role, and she seemed to have some decent project management skills. She may have also had some communication strengths, though this varied depending on the project.”<\/p>\n This hedging makes the recommendation sound uncertain and carefully non-committal. If you wouldn’t recommend this person, don’t write the recommendation. If you would, commit to it.<\/p>\n Some recommendations are long but still say nothing specific. They ramble without building toward a clear point.<\/p>\n Bad:<\/strong> “John was someone I worked with over the years. He was always around and seemed to be doing work on various projects. Things happened when he was involved, and I think he contributed to the team in some ways. He would probably be good at future roles too.”<\/p>\n This is all words, zero signal. The reader has no idea what John actually did or what specific strengths he brings. Long recommendations work only when the length serves the details and the story.<\/p>\n Better:<\/strong> If you’re going to write longer, make sure every paragraph adds new specific information about the person’s actual work and impact.<\/p>\n The ending reveals whether you actually mean the recommendation or whether you’re just being polite.<\/p>\n Bad:<\/strong> “Sarah would be an excellent fit for any role. I highly recommend her to anyone considering her for employment.”<\/p>\n Who wouldn’t recommend their colleague? This closing sounds like you’re checking a box, not vouching for someone.<\/p>\n Better:<\/strong> “I’d absolutely work with Sarah again. She’s the exact kind of person you want on a team where the stakes are high and clarity matters.”<\/p>\n The difference is specificity and conviction. The good version reveals something real about what made the working relationship valuable and what situations she excels in.<\/p>\n This is a credibility killer. If your recommendation sounds generic, it’s often because you didn’t actually work closely with the person.<\/p>\n It’s better to say no to a recommendation request than to write one that weakens your professional reputation. Your recommendations reflect on your judgment. If you write a generic recommendation for someone you barely knew, readers wonder what you were really evaluating.<\/p>\n Writing good recommendations isn’t just about helping the person being recommended. It’s also a strategic move for your own profile and network. When you write strong, specific recommendations, you’re signaling that you’re someone with good judgment and actual working experience.<\/p>\n Your recommendations matter as much as the recommendations you receive. When hiring managers or recruiters evaluate a candidate, they often look at not just what’s been said about that person, but also what they’ve said about others. It reveals how you evaluate talent and whether you actually know people well enough to speak about their work credibly.<\/p>\n If your recommendations are generic and vague, it suggests you don’t evaluate people carefully. If they’re specific, detailed, and outcome-focused, it signals that you’re someone who pays attention to people’s actual performance and can recognize quality work.<\/p>\n Additionally, when you write a strong recommendation for someone, they often reciprocate by writing one for you. But more importantly, you build genuine goodwill. The person knows you took time to write something thoughtful and specific, not just something quick and forgettable. That matters in your professional network.<\/p>\n There’s a strategic angle here worth noting. When you write specific, detailed recommendations for people in your network, you’re doing several things simultaneously.<\/p>\n First, you’re reinforcing your own credibility. You’re showing that you work with strong people and can evaluate them well.<\/p>\n Second, you’re deepening relationships. Taking time to write something thoughtful for someone signals that you value the relationship.<\/p>\n Third, you’re creating content about real working examples. When you describe a specific project or collaboration in your recommendation, you’re essentially creating a mini case study about how you work with others. This becomes visible on both your profile and theirs.<\/p>\n Fourth, you’re building reciprocity. People are more likely to recommend you when they see you recommending others thoughtfully.<\/p>\n The best approach to recommendations is to see them not as a task to check off, but as an opportunity to deepen relationships and demonstrate your ability to recognize quality work. That mindset shift changes how you write them and how they’re received.<\/p>\n At this point, you understand the structure. Here are three templates for the most common recommendation scenarios. Copy these, adapt them to your actual experience, and personalize them with real details from your working relationship.<\/p>\n I managed [Name] for [timeframe] as [your role], and they consistently demonstrated [specific strength area]. One example: when [situation with challenge], [Name] [specific action they took]. The result was [outcome with number or measurable impact].<\/p>\n What stood out most was [deeper pattern or unexpected strength revealed through that situation]. They don’t just [action], they [strategic approach or bigger-picture thinking]. This kind of [strength area] separates good performers from exceptional ones.<\/p>\n I’d work with [Name] again in a heartbeat. They’re exactly the kind of person you want on a team where [specific context that’s relevant to their strengths].**<\/p>\n How to Use It:<\/strong><\/p>\n I worked with [Name] for [timeframe] on [types of projects\/work]. Every project I collaborated with them on benefited from their involvement because [specific reason: their approach, their thinking, their skill in a particular area].<\/p>\n One example: when [situation or project], [Name] [specific approach they took]. We [measurable outcome or result]. What impressed me most was [what this reveals about how they work: how they think, balance competing priorities, solve problems, work with others, etc.].<\/p>\n [Name] brings [specific combination of skills or strengths] that’s rare because [why it’s valuable or hard to find]. I’d absolutely [specific commitment: work with them again, recommend them for a role involving X, trust them with Y]. They’re someone who [what they actually deliver or how they operate].**<\/p>\n How to Use It:<\/strong><\/p>\n I worked with [Name] for [timeframe] to [what you hired them for or what project they owned]. In that time, [specific output or achievement with concrete number]. [Name] is [specific strength area, defined by what they did], and they [specific quality of how they work: ships fast, trains others, owns outcomes, etc.].<\/p>\n What made this engagement exceptional was [one insight about how they operate differently than typical people in their role]. If you need someone who can [specific use case where they excel], [Name] should be at the top of your list.**<\/p>\n How to Use It:<\/strong><\/p>\n LinkedIn recommendations should be the opposite of what most of them are right now. Instead of generic praise from someone who barely remembers working with you, they should be specific, evidence-based endorsements from someone who actually evaluated your work and saw the impact you made.<\/p>\n The strongest recommendations follow a simple formula: establish your credibility and context, describe a specific situation with measurable outcome, connect that outcome to a deeper pattern or strength, and close with genuine conviction. That’s it. No corporate jargon. No fluff. Just honest assessment based on actual working experience.<\/p>\n When you write recommendations this way, you’re not doing the person being recommended a favor. You’re creating a credible signal that moves the needle in hiring conversations. And you’re building your own reputation as someone who can recognize quality work and evaluate talent carefully.<\/p>\n Start today. Pick someone from your network who you’ve actually worked with and whose strengths you can speak to specifically. Write them a recommendation using the structure and templates in this guide. Make it detailed enough that a hiring manager or recruiter reading it feels like they actually understand what makes this person exceptional, not just that someone thinks they’re great.<\/p>\n The difference between a generic recommendation and one that gets read and remembered is usually just 15 minutes of thoughtful writing. That’s worth it.<\/p>\n There’s no strict length requirement, but aim for 75 to 150 words if you can. This is long enough to include a specific example and outcome, but short enough that busy hiring managers will actually read it. Some of the strongest recommendations I’ve seen are around 100 words. Some are longer if the detail supports it. The key is that every sentence should earn its place. If you’re at 250 words and 80 of those words are generic praise, cut it. If you’re at 80 words and each one is specific and outcome-focused, that’s perfect.<\/p>\n No. If you barely know someone or didn’t work with them in any meaningful way, politely decline. Your recommendations reflect your judgment. A generic recommendation for someone you barely know weakens your credibility more than having no recommendation at all. It’s better to say “I don’t feel like I worked with you closely enough to write something meaningful” than to write something that signals you don’t evaluate talent carefully.<\/p>\n Use descriptive language instead. Instead of “increased revenue by 34%,” you could write “dramatically increased client retention” or “took a broken process and made it significantly more efficient.” What matters is that you’re specific about what changed, even if you don’t have exact metrics. Avoid vague praise like “was great at communication.” Instead, say what their communication accomplished: “made sure our geographically distributed team stayed aligned” or “clarified expectations when stakeholders had competing priorities.”<\/p>\n Yes, but acknowledge the timeframe. “I worked with Sarah eight years ago” is honest and still valuable if you can describe actual impact from your time together. Hiring managers understand that people’s skills evolve, but past performance in a similar role is still relevant. The older the recommendation, the more specific it needs to be to be credible. Vague praise from a decade ago carries almost no weight.<\/p>\n Yes, definitely. It provides context and verifiability. “I managed John at TechCorp for two years” is more credible than “I managed John for two years” because hiring managers can evaluate whether your experience at that company makes your opinion relevant.<\/p>\n Focus on transferable skills and demonstrated ability to learn. Instead of saying “Sarah will be amazing at sales development” (if she’s never done it), say “Sarah has consistently owned goals across different domains and learned quickly when entering new areas. She built our customer success team from scratch, which taught her about the full customer journey from sales to implementation.” This shows she can learn complex areas and own outcomes, even if she hasn’t done that specific job before.<\/p>\n Only if it’s relevant and adds clarity. For example: “Mike is a product manager who understands how our competitors approach feature prioritization” is fine if you actually worked together on competitive analysis. But don’t mention competitors just to seem knowledgeable. Stick to what you actually observed.<\/p>\n Keep it simple and direct: “I’m in the middle of a job search and would really value a recommendation from you. I understand if you’re busy, but if you can find 10 minutes, I’d be grateful.” The key is being specific about why you’re asking them (you worked together, they know your work) and making it easy to say yes or no. Most professionals will say yes if they genuinely had a good working relationship with you.<\/p>\n You can hide recommendations on your profile that don’t reflect your actual work accurately. You can also politely ask the person to edit it (“I appreciate the recommendation, but the project outcome was actually different than described”). Most people will update it if you ask directly. However, only hide a recommendation if it’s actually inaccurate. If it’s just not flattering, hiding it can look worse than leaving it up.<\/p>\n Yes, as long as you worked together in a meaningful way and can speak specifically about their work. A peer who collaborated with you on a major project is just as credible as a manager. A cross-functional partner is credible if you worked closely together. The key is that you actually observed their work and can speak specifically about it. Don’t write a recommendation based on hearsay or secondhand knowledge.<\/p>\n You can, but you don’t have to. A recommendation from three years ago about a project that actually happened is still valid. You might write a new one if you want to highlight something more recent or a different aspect of the person’s strengths, but the old one doesn’t need to be removed just because time has passed.<\/p>\n There’s no fixed frequency. Write them when you actually work with someone and can speak to their strengths specifically. Some people write several a month if they have a large team. Others write a handful a year. Quality matters far more than frequency. Five specific, detailed recommendations carry more weight than 50 generic ones.<\/p>\n Yes, significantly. Research and hiring manager interviews suggest that strong, specific recommendations increase the likelihood of interview callbacks. A profile with three detailed, outcome-focused recommendations is more likely to interest a hiring manager than a profile with no recommendations or five generic ones. Recommendations work especially well when they align with the type of role someone is pursuing (a sales recommendation matters more for a sales role).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LinkedIn recommendations are broken. Not the feature itself. The idea of having professionals vouch for each other is genuinely powerful. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-linkedin-guides"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dealsflow.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dealsflow.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dealsflow.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dealsflow.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dealsflow.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1891"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dealsflow.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2082,"href":"https:\/\/dealsflow.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1891\/revisions\/2082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dealsflow.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dealsflow.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dealsflow.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dealsflow.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How to Write a LinkedIn Recommendation That Gets Read: The Anatomy of What Works<\/h2>\n
The Four-Part Structure Every Strong Recommendation Needs<\/h3>\n
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Real Examples of Powerful LinkedIn Recommendations: What to Steal from Each One<\/h2>\n
Example 1: The Manager Recommendation (Best for Direct Report Relationships)<\/h3>\n
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Example 2: The Peer Recommendation (Best for Colleague Relationships)<\/h3>\n
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Example 3: The Cross-Functional Recommendation (Best for Collaborations Across Teams)<\/h3>\n
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Example 4: The Brief but Specific Recommendation (Best for Limited Context or Shorter Relationships)<\/h3>\n
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Mistakes That Kill Your Recommendation: What Not to Do<\/h2>\n
Mistake 1: Generic Praise With No Evidence<\/h3>\n
Mistake 2: Sounding Like You’re Reading a Job Description<\/h3>\n
Mistake 3: Making It About You Instead of Them<\/h3>\n
Mistake 4: Being So Cautious That You Say Nothing<\/h3>\n
Mistake 5: Length Without Substance<\/h3>\n
Mistake 6: Closing With Corporate Cliches<\/h3>\n
Mistake 7: Recommending Someone You Barely Know<\/h3>\n
LinkedIn Recommendation Best Practices: How Strategic Recommendation Writing Builds Your Credibility<\/h2>\n
How Quality Recommendations Strengthen Your Own Profile<\/h3>\n
Recommendation Writing as a Networking Tool<\/h3>\n
LinkedIn Recommendation Templates You Can Use Today<\/h2>\n
Template 1: Manager to Direct Report<\/h3>\n
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Template 2: Peer Collaboration<\/h3>\n
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Template 3: Short-Term or Contractor Relationship<\/h3>\n
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Conclusion<\/h2>\n
Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n
What’s the ideal length for a LinkedIn recommendation?<\/h3>\n
Should I accept every recommendation request I receive?<\/h3>\n
How do I write a recommendation for someone if I can’t remember specific numbers?<\/h3>\n
What if I worked with someone a long time ago? Is the recommendation still valuable?<\/h3>\n
Should I mention the specific company I worked with them at?<\/h3>\n
How do I handle recommending someone for a role I’m not sure they’ve done before?<\/h3>\n
Is it okay to mention competitors in a recommendation?<\/h3>\n
How do I ask someone to write a recommendation for me without sounding desperate?<\/h3>\n
What should I do if I receive a recommendation that’s inaccurate or unflattering?<\/h3>\n
Can I write a recommendation for someone if I didn’t directly manage them or work with them daily?<\/h3>\n
Should I update my recommendations if more time passes?<\/h3>\n
How often should I be writing recommendations for others?<\/h3>\n
Do recommendations impact someone’s job search outcomes?<\/h3>\n