If someone gives you a recommendation, do you feel you need to return the favor and give them one?

Alison's Contribution:

First, if someone gives me a recommendation, I am likely to ask if they would like to me to write something about them.

Do I write recommendations for everyone that asks me? No.
Do I write recommendations without being asked? Not without qualifying them first.
Do I recommend people I don't know. No. I have offered to write a recommendation for one person who has spent a considerable amount of time looking into the technical solutions for a question I asked. His view was that he didn't need it.

There was a period a while when people were asking for recommendations for all and sundry. Whilst they may have collected 50+ recommendations, they are of little value unless they are specific. I think that if they are not to the point, then they are a distraction.

Second, do I accept all invitations and forward Introductions? Where I feel comfortable, yes. As with all things, I assess the risks associated with being associated with the approach.

For invitations, I am likely to accept the invitation, and unless I start getting spammed, I'll maintain the link however tenuous.

For introductions, I will give the benefit of the doubt whenever possible. However it there is a huge mis-match, I don't forward and write a note to explain why. There is nothing worse than an introduction stuck "in limbo land".

When someone asks me to write a recommendation for them in order to expedite the process, I only write what I know about them.

Hope this gives some food for thought on the front line of "paying it forward".

Alison
posted 4 days ago