How to Write a LinkedIn Recommendation (That Doesn't Sound Generic)
To write a LinkedIn recommendation that doesn't sound generic, open with how you worked together, choose one quality and show it with a short, specific moment, avoid stock phrases like 'team player', and end with the kind of role they'd excel in. Three to five sentences is enough.
- Open with how you worked together.
- Pick one quality, not five.
- Show it with one specific moment.
- Avoid stock phrases like 'team player'.
- End with the kind of role they'd excel in.
A useful LinkedIn recommendation is short and specific: it states how you know the person, focuses on one strength relevant to their next role, illustrates it with a concrete example, and closes by naming the kind of work they would be excellent at. Stock phrases such as 'team player', 'goes above and beyond' and 'asset to any organization' appear in so many recommendations that they carry little information for a recruiter or hiring manager reading it.
You start writing and produce three sentences that sound like every other recommendation: hardworking, dedicated, would highly recommend. It's possible to do much better in the same number of words.
How do you start a LinkedIn recommendation?
First sentence: how you worked together, in concrete terms. "I worked with Marcus when we were both leads on the [project] at [company]." Skip "I had the pleasure of working with..." and "It is my honor to recommend..." These openers add zero information and signal you didn't think about how to start. Specificity in the first line tells the reader the rest is going to be specific too.
What should a LinkedIn recommendation say?
Many LinkedIn recommendations try to cover the full spectrum: smart, hardworking, kind, creative, reliable. The result is a fog of adjectives nobody remembers. Pick ONE thing they're best at — the one most relevant to their next role — and write about that. "What stood out about Marcus was how fast he could turn a vague brief into a specific plan." One quality, illustrated, is more memorable than five abstract endorsements.
How do you make a LinkedIn recommendation specific?
Two or three sentences of a specific moment. "When the [client/project/situation] went sideways, he was the one who [specific thing]. The whole team was running on his work for a week." Scenes are what make recommendations sticky. The reader can picture the person doing the thing. They can't picture an adjective. Even a small concrete detail does more for the recommendation than an entire paragraph of qualities.
Which phrases should you avoid in a LinkedIn recommendation?
Phrases like "true team player," "goes above and beyond," "would highly recommend," "asset to any organization," "unparalleled work ethic" are LinkedIn-language — they don't read as your voice, they read as everyone's voice, which means they read as no voice. If a phrase could appear in any LinkedIn recommendation, it's probably one to cut. Replace it with how you'd actually describe the person to a friend.
How should you end a LinkedIn recommendation?
Final sentence: a specific endorsement. Not "I recommend Marcus for any role" — that's again the generic version. "He'd be exceptional at [specific kind of role] — anyplace that needs someone who can [the quality you demonstrated above]." The narrow endorsement reads as a real opinion. The broad one reads as a stamp. Narrow endorsements are more useful to a hiring manager, because they suggest whether this person fits the role they're hiring for.
A LinkedIn rec that sounds like you wrote it
Ghost Writer takes your relationship, one specific moment, and the kind of role they're moving toward — and writes a four-sentence rec that reads like a real person wrote it.
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