Yesterday was the first day of the Lunar New Year.

To my Chinese and Mandarin friends here in Singapore and around the world — 新年快乐. Wishing you and your families a healthy, prosperous year ahead.

Something about this time of year gets me thinking.

CNY is really just a culturally sanctioned reason to do something we should be doing all year anyway.

Reconnecting.

Catching up with relatives you haven't seen in 12 months. Sharing stories over a long table. Remembering why certain people matter to you.

And it made me think — when did you last reach out to a former colleague just to say "hey, I remember working with you and it was great"?

Not to ask for anything. Just because it's true.

Quick exercise:

Go to your LinkedIn profile right now.

Scroll down to the Recommendations section.

If it's empty — or has 2 recommendations from 5 years ago — we need to fix that.

Go look at my LinkedIn profile.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephlouistan/

Not to be weird about it, but because I want you to see something specific.

I have 70+ recommendations from former colleagues, stakeholders, PMs, engineers, product managers, designers, my old bosses.

Not because I asked for them.

Because I wrote theirs first.

There's a move I call the Recommendation Round Robin.

Go through each of your past jobs.

Think about everyone you worked with — not just your design team.

Your PM. Your engineers. The product lead. The stakeholder who trusted you on that tough project. Your manager. That designer who onboarded you.

Anyone who made the work better.

Write them a recommendation. Real one. Specific details. What they did well. How they showed up.

Don't expect anything back.

After you send it, drop them a quick note:

"Hey, I was thinking about the work we did at [Company] and just wanted to acknowledge it properly. Hope you and the family are doing well — would love to catch up sometime."

What actually happens:

About 60-70% of people write one back for you.

Even if only 1, 2, or 3 people respond — that matters.

Because now your profile isn't just you saying you're good at your job.

It's other people confirming it.

Most people have never received an unsolicited recommendation in their life.

So when yours lands, you're not just another name in their inbox.

You become the person who showed up with something real, asked for nothing, and reminded them that good work gets remembered.

That's the kind of relationship that leads to introductions. Referrals.

Conversations that turn into opportunities.

Not because you were strategic. Because you were genuine.

CNY (or any holiday celebration like Thanksgiving) gives us a reason to reach out this week.

Use it.

Pick 3 people from your past. Write them a recommendation today. Send the note.

See what comes back.

Happy New Year to everyone celebrating.

May this year bring you meaningful work, good people, and the career you've been building toward.

— Joseph

P.S. The Recommendation Round Robin is one of the core methods we use inside Career Creators to help designers build real relationships — not just a bigger LinkedIn following. If you want to see how the full approach fits together, reply "Details" and I'll share how the program works.