Linkedin Recommendations: How to get them when none (or few) of your contacts are on Linkedin

In order for a profile to be deemed complete in Linkedin, it must have a minimum of three recommendations.

I was just asked this question.

“Those who have managed me or I have done business with are not on Linkedin! It is terribly frustrating for me to look at my profile and see it is incomplete. I have searched names dating back to 2001 of people I have worked with or sold to in the past and I have 0 results. If I had former associates that were on Linkedin I could have plenty of recommendations. Unfortunately I can't. What advice do you have in this situation?”

Here’s my two cents on this …

My first suggestion is to get their email addresses and invite them to join Linkedin. Linkedin is a business networking site, and is not just for job seekers, so it is beneficial for them to join.

For those social-network hesitant types, I'd call or email each and let them know that you're in the midst of a job search, and indicate the growing importance of recommendations. If they are open to writing one, ask them to email their recommendation to you so that you can post it and others to your public profile page. BE SURE TO GET THEIR PERMISSION TO POST SUCH REFERENCES ON YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE FIRST, as your public profile is searchable and indexed by Google. This means that anyone searching your reference's name in a browser search bar will see their recommendation. If they respect your work, it's likely most if not all will not have an issue with this. MAKE SURE YOUR REFERENCE UNDERSTANDS THAT THEIR NAME AND TITLE WILL BE REFERENCED UNDER ANY RECOMMENDATION THEY PROVIDE. For example: "Andrew is a seasoned medical devices sales professional ... Marissa Marsala, Former Director of Marketing, Work/Life Benefits."

Another suggestion is to prepare a running list document of all recommendations received to date and attach it to your resume submissions.

Try these two suggestions. If you or others need more or if others have other ideas, they or I will add to this discussion thread.