How to write LinkedIn recommendations that will make your coworkers love you and could even boost your own career

Daniel Goodman / Business Insider

• Writing a LinkedIn recommendation comes with a certain amount of pressure.
• Your coworker may be relying on you to help them get a new job, and because LinkedIn recommendations are public, what you write reflects back on you, too.
• Business Insider asked experts to provide some tips and samples help get the job done.

At some point in your career, a coworker may ask you to write them a LinkedIn recommendation. And believe it or not, the stakes for such a request can be pretty high.

Unlike traditional letter or phone recommendations, LinkedIn recommendations are public. That means anyone who goes on your profile can see what you wrote about your boss, coworker, employee, or client.

What's more, the person you're giving the recommendation to is relying on you to give a powerful statement on their qualifications — one that may or may not help them land their dream job.

And if you nail it, the recommendation you write could even end up helping you in the long run. "If you write a great recommendation, great recommendations are gonna come back to you," LinkedIn consultant Loribeth Pierson told Business Insider.

No pressure, though.

Luckily, career experts shared with us tips and samples for writing a stellar recommendation on LinkedIn. 

If you can't give them a rousing recommendation or haven't worked with them in a while, turn them down

"Recommendations should be authentic and truthful," Vicki Salemi, career expert for Monster, told Business Insider. "Your name is on it. You don't want to endorse people who could be a poor performer."

If you're comfortable taking a direct approach, you could respond to a request with the following:

"Hello, X. I hope all is well. As you know, there were performance issues while you were an employee here. I don't think I'm the best person to be your advocate. Thank you for reaching out, and best of luck during your job search."

Or, to simply side-step the request without mentioning rough patches from the past: 

"I'm sorry, but I don't have the time right now. I think you should ask someone who can put the attention to this that it deserves."

If you're okay with recommending them, ask for what they'd like you to include

Your former employee, coworker, or boss probably has an idea for what they want to see in the recommendation.

If you didn't speak to them directly, you should send them a note like this to make sure your testimonial fits their needs:

"Hi, X. I would be happy to write you a LinkedIn recommendation. Is there anything in particular you want me to include? I want to make sure I'm writing the best recommendation for your LinkedIn profile."

Begin your recommendation by explaining your relationship

Defining how you two worked together gives the context that the reader will need to understand the rest of your recommendation. 

Begin by explaining how you know the person:

"Anna was my boss for three years at Software Corp., where her leadership, communication, and creative ideas always motivated our team."

"I was lucky to be one of Jordan's clients when he was a salesperson at Cute Pants, Inc."

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