10 LinkedIn Recommendation Examples (And How to Write One)

LinkedIn recommendations are one of the most underused profile features out there. Most people either have none, have three lines of corporate filler, or wrote something for a colleague in 2018 and called it done.

But a well-written LinkedIn recommendation does real work. It builds social proof, reinforces your positioning, and gives anyone who lands on your profile a reason to trust you before you've said a word. If you're searching for LinkedIn recommendation examples to model or steal outright — you're in the right place.

Below are 10 real-world examples across different roles and relationships. Plus a simple framework for writing one that doesn't sound like a performance review.

Why LinkedIn Recommendations Matter (More Than You Think)

A LinkedIn recommendation is a public, attributed endorsement. Unlike skills endorsements — which take one click and mean almost nothing — recommendations require someone to sit down and write actual sentences about you.

That effort signals credibility. Recruiters, potential clients, and collaborators notice.

Here's what a strong recommendation does:

Validates specific skills with real context
Adds a human voice to what your bullet points can't say
Shows you're someone people actually want to work with (not just someone who lists "strategic thinker" in their headline)

Three or more recommendations on a profile is generally seen as the minimum for serious credibility.

The Anatomy of a Great LinkedIn Recommendation

Before the examples, here's the framework. Every strong recommendation has four parts:

1. Context — Who are you, and how do you know this person? 2. Specific contribution — What did they actually do? Name a project, result, or behaviour. 3. Standout quality — What makes them different from everyone else in that role? 4. Forward endorsement — Would you work with them again? Would you recommend them without hesitation?

One paragraph per section. Four paragraphs total. 100–200 words. That's it.

If you want help drafting one fast, the LinkedIn Post Generator at Hooked AI can help you turn rough notes into polished copy in under a minute.

10 LinkedIn Recommendation Examples

1. Recommendation for a Software Engineer

"I managed Priya for two years on our backend infrastructure team at Stripe. She joined as a mid-level engineer and within six months had taken full ownership of our payments reliability pipeline — a system that handles millions of transactions daily.

What makes Priya exceptional isn't just her technical depth. It's her ability to communicate complex tradeoffs to non-technical stakeholders without dumbing anything down. She turned a blocking architectural debate into a 10-minute decision by building a comparison doc that was genuinely useful for everyone in the room.

I would hire Priya again without hesitation. Any engineering team would be lucky to have her."

Why it works: Specific project, concrete impact, a named soft skill backed by an example.

2. Recommendation for a Marketing Manager

"I worked with Jordan at HubSpot, where he led our content marketing team through a complete channel strategy overhaul. In 12 months, Jordan grew organic traffic by 140% and launched a newsletter that now has 40,000+ subscribers.

What I noticed most was Jordan's instinct for what content actually serves the audience versus what just looks good in a pitch deck. He pushed back on vanity metrics and kept the team focused on qualified traffic. That discipline is rare.

If you're building a content team and want someone who treats SEO as a long-term asset rather than a quick win, Jordan's your person."

Why it works: Quantified results, a named contrarian quality, clear hire recommendation.

3. Recommendation for a Sales Executive

"Amara closed more enterprise deals in her first six months than our previous rep managed in a full year. That's not luck — it's preparation. Every discovery call she ran was airtight, every follow-up was relevant, and she never pushed a deal before the buyer was ready.

I've managed sales teams for 15 years and rarely see someone who understands the difference between pushing and guiding. Amara gets it instinctively.

She'd be a strong addition to any B2B sales team, especially one selling a complex or high-ticket product where trust is the actual differentiator."

Why it works: Comparison to establish scale, specific observation about her approach, targeted recommendation.

4. Recommendation for a Designer

"Marcus led the rebrand of our entire product suite at a time when the company was scaling fast and every decision felt high-stakes. He managed five stakeholders, four rounds of feedback, and a deadline that moved three times — and delivered a design system that's still in use two years later.

His work is clean and considered, but what I remember most is how he ran the process. He made opinionated decisions, explained his reasoning clearly, and didn't let the project drift into committee design.

If you need a senior designer who can hold their ground and deliver — hire Marcus."

Why it works: Project context, process observation (not just output), direct recommendation verb.

5. Recommendation for a Product Manager

"I've worked with a lot of PMs over 10 years in tech. Sasha is in the top five percent.

She ran our checkout redesign project at Shopify — a six-month initiative that touched every engineering team and had direct revenue implications. She kept the roadmap clear, the team unblocked, and stakeholders informed without burying anyone in updates.

The checkout conversion lift we saw post-launch was 18%. That's her. Not luck, not a lucky experiment — sustained, thoughtful product work.

Sasha would excel in any product role that requires cross-functional leadership and a strong business sense."

Why it works: Establishes the writer's authority first, then delivers a specific, attributable result.

6. Recommendation for a Job Seeker (Recent Grad)

"I supervised Kai's internship at our agency this past summer. He came in with strong writing skills and left with a portfolio that rivalled our junior full-time staff.

What stood out was his initiative. He didn't wait to be assigned projects — he pitched ideas, followed through, and asked smart questions when he was stuck. He also handled client feedback with more professionalism than some people who've been in the industry for years.

I'd bring Kai back full-time if we had the headcount. Any agency looking for a motivated junior writer should talk to him."

Why it works: Context-appropriate for early-career; focuses on work ethic and professionalism rather than results that aren't realistic yet.

7. Recommendation for a Freelancer / Consultant

"We hired Elena to audit our LinkedIn content strategy and build out a three-month posting plan. She delivered in two weeks — ahead of schedule — and the audit alone was worth the entire engagement. It surfaced gaps we'd been ignoring for two years.

Elena's the rare consultant who gives you the honest answer rather than the comfortable one. She told us two of our best-performing post formats were actually hurting our reach. She was right.

We've since hired her for two more projects. If you're a B2B company trying to grow on LinkedIn and you're not sure where to start, start with Elena."

Why it works: Specific project scope, honest framing, strong social proof via repeat engagement.

8. Recommendation for a Customer Success Manager

"David managed our account at Salesforce for 18 months, through two product migrations and one particularly chaotic renewal negotiation. He was always ahead of problems before we knew they existed — and when things did go sideways, he owned the communication clearly and got things resolved fast.

Our churn risk dropped to near-zero during his tenure, and I don't think that's a coincidence.

He'd be excellent in any CS role where retention and relationship quality are the metric that matters."

Why it works: Tells a small story, implies trust through adversity, links to a business outcome.

9. Recommendation for a People / HR Leader

"Nadia built our entire talent function from scratch. When she joined, we had no structured hiring process, no onboarding programme, and an offer acceptance rate of around 50%. By the time she left for her next role, acceptance rate was 87% and our time-to-hire had dropped by six weeks.

More importantly, Nadia understood that People is a culture role, not a compliance role. She built systems that treated candidates and employees like adults. That sounds simple. It isn't.

I'd work with Nadia again in any company context."

Why it works: Before/after metric framing, a named philosophy with evidence, clean close.

10. Recommendation from a Peer (Not a Manager)

"I worked alongside Tom on the same client team at Deloitte for three years. I saw his work up close — not just the polished versions that made it into decks.

Tom is the person who figures out the hard problem. Not 'finds a workaround' — actually solves it. He's also the first to give credit to the team and the last to complain when the deadline shifts.

We don't work together anymore, but I recommend him without reservation. If you get the chance to work with Tom, take it."

Why it works: Peer recommendations carry different weight — this one leans into honesty and proximity rather than authority.

How to Ask for a LinkedIn Recommendation (Without Being Awkward)

The ask matters as much as the recommendation itself. Here's what works:

Reach out with context. Don't send a blank request through LinkedIn's default prompt. Write a short message.
Remind them of the specific project or period you want them to reference.
Tell them what you're using it for — a job search, a client pitch, building your profile. It helps them calibrate the tone.
Give them an easy out. "No pressure at all if now isn't a good time" actually increases acceptance rates.
Offer to return the favour. A recommendation exchange isn't transactional — it's professional reciprocity.

A simple ask template:

"Hey [Name], hope you're well. I'm refreshing my LinkedIn profile and would love to include a recommendation from you — specifically around our work on [project/period]. No pressure at all if now isn't a great time. Happy to write one for you in return."

How to Write a LinkedIn Recommendation (Without Staring at a Blank Page)

Stuck on where to start? Use the framework above — Context, Contribution, Standout Quality, Forward Endorsement — and write one paragraph for each.

If you find yourself stuck, try using Hooked AI's LinkedIn Post Generator to draft the recommendation text from your rough notes. It's built for LinkedIn copy specifically, so the output comes out human and natural rather than HR-sounding.

And once you've got recommendations sorted, make sure your LinkedIn headline is doing its job too — because a great recommendation on a weak profile is like a five-star review for a restaurant with no photos.

For a full profile overhaul, our guide on LinkedIn summary examples has more templates to strengthen your full profile. According to LinkedIn, members with complete profiles are 40x more likely to receive opportunities.

What a Bad LinkedIn Recommendation Looks Like

For reference, here's what not to do:

Vague praise: "She's a great team player and always brings her best." (Means nothing.)
Too long: More than 250 words and people stop reading.
Generic superlatives: "One of the best I've ever worked with" without any evidence.
First-person overload: The recommendation is about them, not you.
The copy-paste job: If it reads like a job description, rewrite it.

The test: if you removed the person's name and replaced it with someone else, would it still be accurate? If yes, it's not specific enough.

Ready to Polish the Rest of Your LinkedIn Profile?

A strong recommendation is one piece of the puzzle. Your headline, summary, and posts do the heavy lifting every day.

Hooked AI's free tools are built specifically for LinkedIn. Use the LinkedIn Headline Generator to sharpen your positioning, or the LinkedIn Post Generator to keep your content consistent — no subscription required.