New LinkedIn Endorsements are Here

Almost since the beginning, LinkedIn has offered us a way to offer recommendations to those people who provide great products or services to us.  In addition, recommendations have always been a great way to build up your credibility for the jobs that you have listed on your resume.  Now, LinkedIn is offering a new way for us to recognize individual talents that people we know and have worked with may have.  This is very different from the traditional recommendation, since there is no way to ask that people endorse you (we can still ask for recommendations).
How do I get endorsed?
The first step in getting endorsed is to actually add skills to your LinkedIn profile.  Make sure that you are editing your profile so you can see the Skills area.  It is here that you will begin adding skills that you think you possess.  As you begin typing, LinkedIn will recommend skills based upon your profile, but you are always free to add additional skills. 
Be aware, however, that you are currently limited to 50, the number of skills that you can add, and make sure that you have the more important skills at the beginning of the list, so that your connections don’t have to take any unnecessary steps to endorse you.
Finally, the best way to get an endorsement is to give one.  That’s right.  If there are certain people that you would like endorsements from make sure to visit their profile pages and endorse them for the skills that you believe they possess.
Are they useful for college students?
LinkedIn endorsements may be especially useful to college graduates, as well as anyone looking for employment, as there is increased credibility when people endorse you on their own.  In addition, whenever you endorse someone, they receive an e-mail notifying them that they have been endorsed, and it just may spur a reciprocal endorsement.
The Endorsement Advantage
The biggest advantage that these new endorsements offer over recommendations, I believe, is that they are organic.  You can’t request them.  People need to actually take the time and endorse your skillset as it relates to them.
Have you added your skills?  Have you endorsed anyone?
 
References
6 Tips for Using LinkedIn the New Endorsements
Introducing Endorsements: Give Kudos with Just One Click
LinkedIn Debuts Endorsements As A Lightweight Way To Recommend A Professional Contact’s Skills
New LinkedIn Endorsements May Benefit College Students
LinkedIn endorsements offer more credibility behind skill sets