There is a good way and not so good a way to ask for a LinkedIn endorsement. The obvious, and not so good way, is to simply shoot out an email requesting the endorsement, with the prepared text from LinkedIn.
A much more effective way is to do two things (both, not one or the other):
1. Write an endorsement first. Give before you take. If you know the person well enough to request an endorsement, then you know them well enough to write an endorsement for them. If you're not sure how to write an endorsement, read my post on Writing a LinkedIn Endorsement.
2. Help the person in the writing task - particularly if the relationship is not recent, and you've worked with the person years ago. Even if the relationship is recent or current, you want the endorsement to focus on some things and to de-emphasize other things, and you want it to be either general, suitable for many purposes, or specific, suitable for a specific purpose that is important to you at this time. You don't have to write your own endorsement, but help the writer get started. It is always easier to revise than to write from scratch - the dreaded blank page. So send your friend a basic skeleton of the endorsement you're looking for along the following lines:
Can you endorse me? I am thinking of running for President of the USA (or maybe something slightly less ambitious, like I am making the transition to academia as professor of computer science), and I think it would help me if you can say a few words about my abilities and qualities relevant to that kind of position.
As you know, we worked together on projects, x, y, and z, and we collaborated on tasks a, b, and c. We have worked together for X years on the XXX team. While on the XXX team I accomplished this, that, and the other, and I was instrumental in achieving xxxx and yyyy that contributed to the success of the team.
The above is similar to writing a resume paragraph. List the work and your accomplishments for that period.
Your friend, if she knows you well, and agrees with the basic facts of your narrative, will then have enough to go on and add her bit by describing your general and specific qualities:
Xxx is a gentelman and a scholar. He's more intelligent than Einstein, a better writer than Hemingway, and a better technical innovator than Steve Jobs, etc., etc.
These two rules should help when you are asked for an endorsement. What you should respond with, if you find that it is hard for one reason or another, to respond quickly, is to simply send the link to this post! You can then add, "I observe Nabil's Rules for LinkedIn Endorsements". First, endorse me, and I'll be happy to return the favor. Second, send me a skeleton, along the lines Nabil suggests, to get me started. You may find that you won't have to write that endorsement after all. This response, in many cases, would make people just go away. There are people who are so averse to writing that they will not write that endorsement for you. Many people just want to take, they don't want to give. Sad but true.
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