It used to be that letters of recommendation were typically requested only by employees from bosses and from teachers by graduating seniors trying to gain admission to college. Social media has changed all that. Today, anyone can give anyone else a recommendation and many do. Coworker to coworker. Boss to employee. Employee to Boss. Vendor to Customer. Customer to Vendor. Manager to another Manager. Teacher to University. University to Employer. Recommendations are everywhere (mostly because of the amazing power of a third-party endorsement). Indeed, LinkedIn recently added a new tool for recommendations. Besides allowing one person to post a written recommendation for another person, now LI also allows one person to endorse the specific skills of another person. This can be invaluable for someone presenting him or herself as an ‘authority’ in a particular topic or area.

Last week, we considered how to go about asking for a recommendation. However, the flip side of the coin is that there many issues to consider when giving a recommendation. Should you give a recommendation to anyone who asks? What if the person requesting one really doesn’t deserve it? For instance, what if the person requesting a recommendation is a nice person but has really bad work habits? And what about the number of recommendations requested? For the top leaders of companies and managers of big departments, giving one person a recommendation on LinkedIn might lead 50 others to ask as well. What is the protocol for deciding when and how to give recommendations? To give or not to give recommendations, that is the question. Continue reading →

It’s been said that past performance is often the best predictor of future behavior. Show me an employee who has a solid work history — effective, efficient and reliable in past jobs — and I’ll show you an employee that will probably be effective, efficient and reliable in her next job (assuming she is doing the same type of work). On the other hand, show me an employee who has changed jobs often, was regularly late for work and produced subpar work in his last three positions and I will show you a person who will likely be tardy and ineffective in his next job until he changes jobs again, which is likely to happen quickly.

That is why letters of recommendation are so valuable. A letter of recommendation from a former boss, coworker or subordinate can speak volumes about how a person’s skills, talents and training translate into the real world. A professionally-written resume might omit facts, exaggerate abilities, and even fabricate information, but a recommendation gives an employer a glimpse of how a potential candidate has actually performed in the past. A recommendation can provide insights into a person’s work habits, interpersonal skills and intangible qualities that no resume, cover letter or job interview can reveal. Likewise, a lack of recommendations or lukewarm recommendations can speak volumes too. For professionals who are offering a service – such as attorneys, accountants, bankers and Realtors — customer recommendations speak volumes about that individual’s ability to deliver results in a positive manner. Given the value of a good recommendation, it is important for most people to have strong recommendations. Yet, when it comes to getting recommendations, there is a lot of uncertainty. When it comes to asking for recommendations, what is the protocol? Continue reading →