Playing the LinkedIn Endorsement Game

Every so often, LinkedIn endorsements will sprinkle into my email inbox. They've become a bit of a game for me. I wonder if they were intended to be so, or if that's just the Gamification Enthusiast within me that sees them as such.

Here's how I play: whenever a LinkedIn endorsement arrives via email, I'll click through. On the LinkedIn Endorsement landing page, I'm told "Now it's your turn. Endorse your connections:". LinkedIn displays four of my "1st circle" connections, along with a suggested skill. I'm somewhat picky in who I connect with and what I endorse, so that's where the game comes into play. 

I'll ponder the "endorsement candidate" in the top-left box carefully, as well as the recommended skill.  If it's a match, I'll click "Endorse".  If I don't know the connection (very rare), or don't know them well enough to endorse that specific skill (a bit more common), I'll hover my mouse over the top-right area of their picture until the "x" icon appears and click. LinkedIn swaps in a new connection and/or skill to endorse. I'll keep doing that until I've matched a candidate/skill for the top-left box.  Then I'll repeat the whole process again on each quadrant: top-right, bottom-left, and finally bottom-right.

This whole exercise -- repeating until I've endorsed at least 4 connections for skills I know them to be especially competent or expert in -- might take 5-10 minutes. Some games are longer than others. I might have to x through dozens of connections before I find a skill match.  

As mentioned, I'm somewhat picky!  First, I only establish LinkedIn connections with individuals I work with, know in my professional life, or want to know better. That means I recognize every endorsement candidate -- but I don't always know my connections well enough to endorse them for the listed skill. So when I do click that Endorse button, it means something.

Sadly, a recruiter friend told me that Endorsements don't mean too much to her. "They are nice to see on a profile," she told me, "but not everyone is as picky as you are when dolling those endorsements out. Quite the opposite -- everyone endorses everyone for everything. Recommendations, carry a lot more weight." 

So Endorsements remain just that for me: a quick game of pay-it-forward-x4 every time a new Endorsement lands in my inbox. If you find a random endorsement in your inbox from me, now you know how and why it got there.