I agree with Loredena above me, in regard to mutual recommendations. I wouldn’t accept a recommendation from someone I didn’t work with, but if I did then I gave a recommendation in return.

It could get spammy potentially, but I don’t exactly have people hounding me for recommendations - it pays to be a little guy, sometimes. I don’t know how people like David Perry sort through all of that…

- I’ve only interviewed for one job where I didn’t then receive an offer, and that was a money thing.
- I’ve never gotten a job anywhere that I didn’t already know people who worked there.

I use LinkedIn to keep track of people I’ve known at different jobs, to see what they’re doing now, etc. and as a handy way to keep my resume up to date and available. That’s pretty much it. I’ll accept that I haven’t exactly run the gamut of employment issues, but am I really that far out there?

Now I’m not so sure it’s a good thing because the potential exists for summary dismissal based solely on the contents of a social website (as opposed to your resume), but in all honesty it doesn’t work any differently than recruitment sites requiring monthly fees to provide the same (and in some cases much less) service.

But that’s kind of off-topic so if you want to discuss the benefits of it you can drop me a direct line. Scott’s reluctance to recommend Moorgard still rules the topic (she says, snickering and hiding).

I look for the real clues in their answers on the various boards to which they belong. Recommendations are just a part of what the site offers and I’m hard-pressed to even think about recommending someone who posts blather and pulp in response to industry questions elsewhere on the site.

So yeah, I have like no recommendations there and I’ve recommended like one person a long time ago. I’m not sad about it.

The situations you’re describing are not unique to gaming in the least, its actually quite rare that I see a linkedin recommendation that wasn’t mutual. Whether it be former co-workers beefing things up, friends/business associates writing glowing recommendations just before a relationship gets severed, or just simple reciprocity, the simple concept of due diligence goes a long way.

One thing though — mutual recommendations are rarely a case of ‘hey, I’ll write one for you if you write one for me’. It’s much more subtle than that, though the result is the same. What’s really happening is the social covenant of polite reciprocity — if someone leaves a glowing recommendation for you, you will then feel obliged to respond in kind. That social imperative is strong enough in fact, that I recall one person I know stating that he never let a recommendation for him display until he had written a corresponding one.

Depends on what you mean by “utility”. Someone who is adept at social agreements may be able to better fit into a team’s chemistry than a brilliant but less socially adept individual. Do you need a superstar person in that position, or do you need someone who will work with the group you already have?

In general, though, I agree. I’ve done a few recommendations and asked for a few. But, whenever I see mutual recommendations, especially ones that happen at the same time. The exception is when there’s an obvious imbalance between two people. For example, Jessica Mulligan and I recommended each other. Jessica hardly needs my friendly word to survive in the industry, she has her own reputation to rely on. So, I’d hope people who see that consider that she didn’t just recommend me because I recommended her.

I have written very few recommendations, and mean them.
Very, very few.

If I don’t have enough information to offer an opinion, I don’t. Meeting someone at two trade shows does not qualify my to assess anyone’s skill set.

I was going to do a comic about this very issue. Darn you, now I have to give you credit for writing about it first. Would you like me to write you a recommendation?

;-)#
Brasse