Wed, 9 Jan 2013

Be careful who you choose to endorse for their skills and who not to on LinkedIn.

The professional social network has confirmed to Recruiter that data as to when someone does not receive an endorsement influences what skills other people are asked to endorse them for - with a spokesperson saying this is done to "make future skills recommendations more relevant for all members".

The Endorsements tool, launched last year, sees users asked whether a connection has certain skills – examples range from ‘sourcing’ to ‘HR consulting’, ‘SEO’ to ‘French’.

While there is no specific ‘no’ option, users can reject certain skills or skip them, and the choice to close down a certain box is stored as data.

A spokesperson for LinkedIn tells Recruiter: “We capture whether or not members choose to endorse their connections with suggested skills only to enable our recommendations algorithm to deliver better, more accurate suggestions for you in the future, and to improve the overall relevance of Endorsements.”

Asked to elaborate further on the difference between skipping the Endorsement altogether and de-selecting a skill, the spokesperson added: “We rarely break down what goes into our algorithms so we’re not able to offer any further detail. It’s our 'secret sauce', if you will.”

At LinkedIn’s Talent Connect conference last year, the firm announced several new features designed for its in-house recruitment users, including sponsored ‘Jobs You May Be Interested In’, billed by LinkedIn on a pay-per-click basis.