It takes chutzpah to ask this.

But if you don’t ask for a recommendation, very few will volunteer to write it for you, or it will not deliver what you seek to impress on others.

So you ask. And tick these items off, as you formulate that request.

  • the right person(s) because you “got” them and they “got” you, you felt they appreciated your views and they respected your work, and you know you made a difference for them,
  • for the right reason(s) because they needed you and they told indeed you that you showed them a new way, a smarter method, opened them to expressing their worth better, and it felt good for them,
  • at the right time(s) after a project where you more than satisfied the skills they hired you for, you saved them time, money, hours,, blood, sweat, tears (OK, perhaps just sweat)
  • in the right media way(s) when you asked for that recommendation point-bland to comment on the zoom chat, the phone call, the email or your text (but try to use the first two rather than the second pair for maximum impact), and you initiated the recommendation dialog on LinkedIn with a personalized outline of exactly what you would like them comment on, their  impressions that you think will tip other readers towards you, with anecdotes, stories of yeoman work you performed above-and-beyond.

So taking my own advice I love to give others, I asked my most recent client for a rec, and it is posted on my profile.

Chutzpah? Perhaps, but to me it’s self-confidence, offering them my best efforts, to help others achieve their best possible outcome(s).

Not a lame milquetoast request resulting in a bland reco, the results of which I see so often.

Takeaway: guide them in what you would like them to say about you, what you are trying to convey to others through those you actually worked, and you are destined to receive back what you seek…a golden recommendation.