Recommendations play a great role in one’s LinkedIn Profile. They help enhance one’s overall credibility and authority for their area of expertise. These recommendations reflect how good you are at work, business success, business acumen, your level or professionalism, and much more – in short; recommendation reflect your online and professional image. I believe that many potential employers, customers and clients read these recommendations for insight and third party opinions. Also note, that getting quality recommendations also enhances your LinkedIn SEO, which we refer to as LinkedIn Keyword Strategy. Getting about ten or more will really help you get found more effectively.

If you suddenly received a recommendation request from a person you do not know personally, you have two options of what to do; first, ignore the request; this is probably the easiest thing to do, and second, tell that person directly you won’t be able to give him a recommendation and let him know why.

If you find the first option pretty rude, then proceed to the second option. Tell them that you are not comfortable in giving them recommendations because you do not really know them and haven’t worked with them in the first place. Letting them know why you refused their request is always polite thing to do. If the person who sent the request does not appreciate your response and refusal, it’s time for you to think why you are connected to him.

It is very important that you only give these recommendations to people you’ve actually worked with or with whom you have conducted real business because that is when you can give a better judgment and you’ll know what to write about them. In giving a recommendation to a stranger, you are putting your reputation or your integrity at risk. If you are a person who loves giving recommendations to people you don’t know, you might want to rethink if this is doing you any good.

If you get this “recommendation request from a stranger” problem often, you might want to check your connections and see if you are connected with a “fake profile.” If so delete that person and see if the problem persists.