A couple of goodies asked me to write recommendations for them. I promptly agreed and then of course forgot to do this. But like most things that go in the ears, it stuck around and tapped me on the shoulder again a bit later. I don’t think either person would mind me sharing this so I figured I’d make a post out of how and what I wrote.  

Before I get into it though, I’ll put my conclusion up front, you should write more recommendations. It’s fun, it makes you think, it makes someone feel good, and I don’t think people do it often enough. Anyway.

What makes a good recommendation? 

First things first, what does good look like? 

Off the top of my head I think a recommendation needs to be specific, derived from experience, and show-y (as opposed to tell-y). Structurally it should be simple, it should include what you’re recommending, your relationship to the person, and the experience they have with the thing you’re recommending them for. Not necessarily in that order. 

I asked ChatGPT this question and I got a lot of blah but a couple of good nuggets that I’ll bare in mind: 

‘one that effectively meets the needs and preferences of the person receiving it’,  

and

‘is a thoughtful and genuine endorsement of a connection's skills, work, or professional qualities.’

Then I googled the title of this post to see what else I could steal and I got a few boring, generic articles that I don’t like, so that’s enough research. Time to write. 

Tips and tricks

These are not extensive and you may think some are silly, but they’re what I thought of while writing, editing, and reviewing the recommendations I wrote. 

• Don’t bury the lead. I’m not trying to tell a story or lead the reader to a conclusion, I want to get their attention and be clear. 
• Make one point that emphasises that you have experience with this person’s work. I read through a bunch of recommendations for inspiration and the worst were the ones that were just long lists of ‘skills’. That’s not interesting to me, it’s lazy, and almost certainly unreliable. 
• Pick a strength. If I think through what happens if this recommendation is successful, its that they get an interview and then someone might ask them about it. So I want to encourage the interviewer to ask about a strength of the person I’m recommending to give them a fighting chance. 
• Be concise. I started by writing a recommendation in the form of a story, ‘when i started working with this person I blah blah blah, then, blah blah blah, now, blah blah blah.’ I read it back and realised if I was looking for recommendations from someone I wouldn’t have read it myself. And i wrote. I’d have seen the first line, rolled my eyes, and moved on. 
• Be ready to back it up. Something I noticed on LinkedIn is people don’t offer a follow up. On C.Vs you’re supposed to add references right, so why not in a recommendation?

Examples

I wrote this post while I wrote the following recommendations, so hopefully they’re examples of applying all of the above: 

Andreas brings an energy and an adaptability that kept his team and his product performing through the most difficult times. His ability to learn quickly and simultaneously apply these learnings made him a very valuable contributor.

One of my personal highlights working at South Pole was seeing Andreas go from a junior PM to a good PM who I was proud to have on my team. I worked beside and then managed Andreas while at South Pole, I’d be happy to provide further information/reference if you’d like to reach out to me directly.

Iain is very personable, easy to work with, and a naturally skilled communicator. He is a good product manager and brought a humble but driven approach to his work that meant all of the feedback I got about his performance from stakeholders was positive.

The fact that I was actively trying to hire him into my own team should say it all. I worked opposite Iain as a product manager and in something of a coaching role while at South Pole. I’d be happy to provide further information/reference if you’d like to reach out to me directly.

Outro

If you have any hints and tips or think I missed something or have any feedback for me, let me know. Otherwise though, I think this could be a good base for writing LinkedIn recommendations again in the future.