How to Write a LinkedIn Recommendation That Actually Helps

Someone asks you for a LinkedIn recommendation, you say yes immediately, and then the request sits in your notifications for three weeks. The delay is not laziness. It is that “write something nice about a colleague” is a genuinely hard, open-ended prompt, and most people respond to that kind of prompt by putting it off until it feels less vague.

The recommendations that do get written tend to share the same problem: they are warm and completely interchangeable. “Great to work with, highly recommend, would work with again in a heartbeat” could describe anyone, which means it describes no one. A recommendation that could be copy-pasted onto a different person’s profile without anyone noticing is not doing its job.

Say What They Actually Did, Not What You Think Of Them

A recommendation is not a character reference. It is evidence, and evidence needs specifics: a project, a number, a decision, a moment where the work mattered.

Before:

Sarah is amazing to work with. She’s a great teammate, very dedicated, and I highly recommend her for any team lucky enough to have her.

After:

I worked with Sarah for two years on our platform migration, where she owned the rollout plan across twelve regional offices and got our rollback rate under 2 percent. She’s the person you want scoping the project nobody else wants to touch. Any infrastructure team would be lucky to get her.

The second version still ends warmly, but everything before that closing line is a claim someone could check. That is what makes it read as true instead of polite.

Write It For Whoever Reads It Next

The person you are recommending already knows what they are like to work with. A recommendation is written for a stranger, usually a hiring manager or a prospective client, skimming a profile to decide whether to take a call. Write with that reader in mind rather than the person you are thanking.

If you know what they are looking for next, one specific mention of it does more work than three extra sentences of general praise. Someone moving from individual contributor to management benefits from a line about how they handled delegation or ran their first project, not another example of their own output.

A Wrivio Context for LinkedIn recommendations could say:

Rewrite this as a specific, evidence-based LinkedIn recommendation of roughly 100 words. Lead with one concrete project, result, or moment, not a list of adjectives. Keep every name, title, company, and figure exactly as written, and do not add achievements or claims that are not already in the draft.

Press Ctrl+Shift+Space, paste the draft, and check the diff for any praise the rewrite quietly upgraded, a “solid contributor” that became “exceptional,” or a project that got a bigger scope than you actually described. That drift is easy to miss and it is the difference between a recommendation you can stand behind and one you cannot.

Keep It To One Solid Paragraph

LinkedIn recommendations have generous space, but the ones that get read in full are short. Aim for 80 to 150 words: one sentence on how you know the person, two or three sentences of specific evidence, one closing line. Longer recommendations get skimmed for the closing line anyway, so the middle detail is what earns the read.

Cut anything that describes you rather than them. “I have had the pleasure of working alongside many talented professionals over my career, and among them, Sarah stands out” spends thirty words getting to the subject. Start with the subject instead.

Match It To The Role You Worked Together In

According to LinkedIn’s own help documentation, you can write a recommendation only for a first-degree connection, and you can give only one recommendation per position per person. That second detail matters more than it sounds: if you worked with someone across two different roles, at two different companies, or before and after a promotion, write to the specific role you are recommending them for rather than a single recommendation trying to cover their entire career.

The recipient also gets to choose whether to display what you write, so a recommendation that reads as generic praise is more likely to sit unused than one that is specific enough to be worth showing. If you cannot honestly point to specific work you saw them do in a given role, it is better to say so and offer a shorter, narrower note, or to suggest they ask someone closer to that particular project. A reference request works the same way in reverse: the more specific the ask, the more useful the answer, whether you are the one requesting it or the one writing it.

A strong recommendation also pairs naturally with the rest of someone’s profile. If you are recommending someone who is actively job hunting, it is worth glancing at their LinkedIn About section first, so your specific example does not repeat something they have already said about themselves in the same words.

Common Questions

How long should a LinkedIn recommendation be?

Roughly 80 to 150 words is the range that actually gets read in full. Longer recommendations tend to get skimmed for the last line, so put the specific evidence early rather than saving it for the end.

Can I write a recommendation for someone I only worked with briefly?

Yes, as long as you can point to something specific from that time, even a single project or a few weeks of overlap. A short, honest recommendation about a narrow slice of work is more useful than a vague one that implies a longer history than you actually have.

Should I ask before writing someone a recommendation?

It is worth a quick message first, since the recipient can choose whether to display it and may prefer you focus on a particular role or skill. A short heads-up also avoids duplicating a recommendation someone else already wrote.

Can I recommend someone for a role I never actually saw them do?

Not honestly. LinkedIn limits you to one recommendation per position per connection specifically so recommendations map to real working relationships, so write to the role you actually shared with them rather than speculating about a different one.

What if I can no longer recommend someone I said yes to?

Say so directly rather than writing something vague enough to avoid the question. A short, honest decline costs less goodwill than a recommendation that reads as reluctant once it is posted.

Download Wrivio for Windows to turn a vague “sure, I’ll write you one” into a specific recommendation before the request goes stale in your notifications.