Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. It is celebrated by all American’s and is really about telling our family and friends how grateful we are to have them in our lives in a way that no other holiday does. It is about appreciating life and being thankful for all the goodness around us. I am grateful everyday for my family and friends and the many exciting journeys life brings me. I believe this is a time to show thanks to our professional network as well. For many of us, our careers have grown through the people that support us everyday and LinkedIn is a great way to express gratitude and thanksgiving!

1. Endorse your connections on LinkedIn – Be sure to choose skills that you know your connection has and that you have personally experienced. Below is how to do this:

To endorse a skill already listed on someone’s profile:

1. Scroll down to the Skills section of a connection’s profile.

2. Click the name of the skill, or the + symbol next to the skill.

2. Make warm introductions to your connections that can benefit from a knowing each other. It can be in a LinkedIn message or in an email. Just copy them both with a small description of each ( you can pull information right from their LinkedIn summary) and explain why you think it would be a positive connection for the both of them.

3. Engage in comments on your networks’ posts, like their discussions and publications, tweet and share it on LinkedIn and add your thoughts in comments. Your network has spent a lot of time and energy in putting their content out, the fact that you spent the time to read it and participate is very much appreciated.

4. Recommend your connections on LinkedIn – there is not much more that is appreciated then a testimonial on LinkedIn, but again, make sure it sincere. This is a fantastic way to thank your vendors this season!

5. Simply give them a shout out everyone likes to be mentioned! In you update status on LinkedIn or on twitter, thank your clients and vendors in a message and type @TheirNameorCompany and select it from the drop down. They will receive a notification and appreciate the time you took to recognize them!

Thank You My Valued Professional Network! Happy Thanksgiving!