Endorsed on LinkedIn

The job screening has moved to online environments for professionals such as LinkedIn. In these environments, job candidates attempt to present themselves in an idealized way by revealing information that can be defined as self-endorsements. However, LinkedIn also allows other people to endorse a candidate's skills and competences. The current study investigated the effect of self-endorsements and endorsements from others on recruiters' initial impressions of the candidate and his/her perceived employability. A total of 159 participants engaged in an online between-subjects experiment, in which they had to assess the employability of a candidate on LinkedIn for a position requiring social networking skills. We manipulated whether the candidate endorsed herself, was endorsed by others and whether these latter endorsements of others were congruent with the self-endorsements. Results demonstrated that contrary to our expectations, the presence or absence of self-endorsements did notaffect impression formation nor perceived employability. In addition, self-endorsements with congruent other-endorsements did not lead to better impression formation nor to higher perceived employability.