Now that I have trained 1000 people on LinkedIn across different Indian cities, diverse industries, educational institutions and industry bodies, I come across a couple of questions that arise consistently on endorsements:   Endorsements by people who do not know you? Endorsements for skills you do not have? Endorsements are qualitatively affected by the quality of your network. The quality of your network in turn affects the quality of your LinkedIn specifically and Social media experience in general. This slide share is an attempt to share knowledge which can help the reader of this slide share to exercise restraint while deciding to connect or send an invite. More importantly it is to drive the home the point the intelligent choices that are available to the reader to exercise, profit and maximize his investment on LinkedIn and Social Media.

1. Endorsements: The Hidden Perils of
your network

2. Endorsements: The Hidden Perils of
your network
Now that I have trained 1000 people on LinkedIn across different
Indian cities, diverse industries, educational institutions and
industry bodies, I come across a couple of questions that arise
consistently on endorsements:
• Endorsements by people who do not know you?
• Endorsements for skills you do not have?
We shall address the more serious point number 1 in the next
several slides before we address point number 2

3. Think for a few minutes before you go
to the next slides
Are you responsible for getting endorsed by people who do not
know you?

4. Yes, you are responsible for getting endorsed by people who do
not know you?
Why?
Because the power to
1. Send an invite to connect
2. Power to Accept an invite
Lies with you….

5. The Quality of your experience on any Social Media
platform(&LinkedIn) is dependent on your capability to
nurture a qualitative and quantitative network for your
needs.

6. Are you spending the same amount of
1. Time in Analyzing a LinkedIn profile
2. Performing the necessary due diligence
In trying to understand
1. The credibility of the LinkedIn profile
2. Adequacy for your needs
Before
1. Sending an Invite
2. Deciding to Accept an invite

7. I suspect that the odds are in favor of Sending an invite.
Based on data in my own network(&my network definitely
requires cleansing!!!), In a particular case, I was shocked that as
many as 377 of my shared connections had accepted an invite to
connect from a potentially hostile country involved in
commercial espionage!!!!
IN the next few slides we shall explore the different dangerous
scenarios and the precautions that need to be taken while
accepting an invite to connect.

8. Scenario 1:
On investigating an invite to connect, with suspicious credentials.
377 of my shared contacts were already connected with the
person who invited:
Step 1: Clicking on the company Link in the LinkedIn profile lead to
the LinkedIn Company Page
Step 2: Clicking on the website address in the LinkedIn company
page lead to the company website whose address
revealed a potentially hostile country probably involved in
commercial espionage.
Turn Over for Actual
Illustration

9. xxxx

16. Scenario 2:
A contact, Sarah Ericson(fictitious name) sent an invite to
connect. Had excellent past credentials but very suspicious
current company details. Clicking on the current company(which
did not have an actual LinkedIn page) lead to the search results
page which in turn revealed that Sarah had four LinkedIn
accounts.
Turn Over for Actual
Illustration

17. Sarah Ericson

20. Scenario 3:
An invite to connect from a high ranking official from a politically
volatile and turbulent country. Checking his background in
Wikipedia before making a decision to connect was insightful
Turn Over for Actual
Illustration

21. Jackson Montana

23. Scenario 4:
An invite to connect with absolutely no details except a photograph.
Turn Over for Actual
Illustration

24. Bageshri Suthar Profile
?

25. Checklist before deciding to accept a
connection
1.
Ask yourself if the person who has sent the invite will make a difference
to your Network?
2.
Do you know him from the past? Is he a member of the family, alumni or
any of your previous organizations?
3.
Has the person sent a note explaining why he wants to network with
you? Has the person followed basic etiquette. This could have an impact
of the quality of the relation.
4.
Check if the profile(LinkedIn) is complete
5.
Check the quality of the profile(LinkedIn). Does it reflect a basic level of
professionalism and thoughtfulness?
6.
If the profile(LinkedIn) is not complete, seek clarifications and inputs
from the person who has sent you an invite

26. Checklist before deciding to accept a
connection
7.
Check the shared connections. Check with the known connections if they
have more details about the person or how well you know him?
8.
Does he have similar and/or converging interests?
9.
Will connecting to him lead you to important people and organizations
that you want to connect with?
10. What is the size of his network? Will it make a significant difference to
your network size?
11. Has the person driven traffic to his company website? Check if the
company he is working in and the website where the traffic is being driven
are one and the same?
12. Check the company link in LinkedIn and the website link in LinkedIN
company page. Where is the traffic being directed?

27. Before you accept or decide to send an invite, Think !!!
1. Will the contact make a good connection. Will the contact be
absolutely necessary for my needs?
2. Will this result into a mutually beneficial relationship. It is
important that you add value to that contact as well!!
3. Is the LinkedIn profile credible? Take enough care to ascertain
the details in the profile and ensure it is a genuine profile

28. Reverting back to the two questions in
slide 1
• Endorsements by people who do not know you?
• Endorsements for skills you do not have?
We have thus far addressed the first issue.
Turn on for insights into the unaddressed issue.

29. Now the question remains, how can you control the
endorsements for skills that you do not have?
1. Make sure that you fill up the fifty skills that are applicable to
your profile
2. These skills increase the chances of the traffic to your profile
3. It also provides a platform for your genuine and qualitative
network to endorse you for what you know
4. The fifty skills need not be mutually exclusive, they need not
be unique and distinct(Remember the duality of usage, a client
relationship manager and a customer relationship manager are
one and the same but the usage can differ from organization to
organization). This can enhance the traffic to your profile.

30. Does this solve the problem? What happens if you still get
endorsed for skills that you do not have?
The Good News is that the control lies with you, now.
If you get endorsed for skills you do not have, since you have filled
up all the fifty skills, the power to accept the new endorsement
lies with you.
If you decide to accept a new skill for which you have been
endorsed, you can only do so by removing of the old skills.

31. Social Media and LinkedIn are here to stay. As the new year sets,
let us resolve to master these platforms and leverage these
platforms for our professional enrichment and Business needs.
Turn over if you need help

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Thank you for going through my presentation. Need Help? :
1. Organizations may get in touch with me, if they are desirous of
• Improving their Digital Marketing experience
• LinkedIn, Twitter: Training & Consulting
• Recruitment Related Advisory services
2. Educational Institutions may get in touch with me to improve their brands and
enhance the chances of placements of their students.
3. Individuals and students seeking Professional help may contact me for
• Personal Branding and improving your Personal Branding through Linked In
• Choosing, Changing, Positioning or Improving your career
Raghunath Ramaswamy,
raghu@spectrumconsultingindia.com
9840925155
Twitter:@RaghuRamaswamy
LinkedIn Pub url: http://in.linkedin.com/pub/raghunath-ramaswamy/2/216/341
32
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is a registered trademark of Twitter Corporaton