I have been thinking of polishing my LinkedIn profile lately. I have an interesting portfolio and a few work experience which at the end of the day can really be helpful in building my network but I have been ignoring the employment-oriented social app for way too long.
I decided to change that narrative before the year ends and tried out some of the LinkedIn features. And finally came across the Skill Assessments Test that helps connect recruiters with job hunters by having job seekers prove their knowledge and skills listed in their profile.
In this article, I’ll show you how to use LinkedIn Skill Assessments to stand out from the crowd and the reasons why the test is vital for the growth of your career.
What Are LinkedIn Skill Assessments?
LinkedIn Skill Assessments are a series of multiple-choice exams that allow you to prove the skills that are stated in your profile.
If you “grade in the 70th percentile or above” according to LinkedIn—you officially pass and get a LinkedIn skill Verification badge. The social media site will display your badge on your profile.
If you fail the quiz, you can take the test again in three months. Your profile will remain the same. No one will know that you took the test and failed.
To construct these tests, LinkedIn contacted multiple experts and peer-reviewed their answers. Each test is time-based, so people cannot cheat by looking for clues.
While LinkedIn Skill Assessments are available internationally, it’s important to note that not all tests will be available to all users. In addition, these tests are only available in English. However, LinkedIn plans to expand the Skill Assessments program over time.
What LinkedIn Skill Tests Are Available?
There are lots of tests currently available through LinkedIn Skill Assessments. Topics range from coding to office-based applications like Adobe Acrobat.
According to the LinkedIn Help Pages, the following tests are available. However, as previously noted, availability depends on your location:
- Angular
- AutoCAD
- AWS
- Bash
- C
- C#
- C++
- CSS
- GIT
- Hadoop
- HTML
- Java
- JavaScript
- jQuery
- JSON
- Maven
- MongoDB
- NodeJs
- Objective-C
- PHP
- Python
- R
- React.js
- Ruby
- Ruby on Rails
- Scala
- Swift
- WordPress
- XML
Other skills, you can be tested on:
- Adobe Acrobat
- Maya
- MS Excel, MS Word, and MS Outlook
- MS PowerPoint, MS Project, MS SharePoint, and MS Vision
- QuickBooks
- Revit
Once you finish a test, you’ll be rated and given a score. If you Pass, you’ll need to renew your LinkedIn skill badge on an annual basis to make sure your skillset is up to date. Please note that if you delete your badge by accident, you can’t take the test again for another three months.
If you Fail, LinkedIn will advertise LinkedIn Learning products to you, to help you prepare for the next test.
How to Use LinkedIn to Find a Job in Uganda
How to Start the Skill Quiz
You should navigate to your profile and the skills & endorsement section then choose to take the skill quiz. A new window will open with the list of all quizzes you can take and once selected a single topic LinkedIn tells you right away what to expect for time allowance, and what you need to do in order to successfully complete a test. They also explain how these multiple-choice quizzes will be broken down into sections.
Once you press Start, you’ll be taken to a screen where you’ll be asked your first question. You’ll have a bunch of multiple-choice options below that. You’ll also see a timer in the bottom left-hand corner, along with a blue bar that shows you your overall quiz progress.
After you answer each question, you’ll press the Next button in the right-hand corner. This will move the test to the next question, and then the next, and the next. Once you reach the end, you’ll be told if you passed the assessment or not.
If you didn’t pass the LinkedIn skill quiz, you’ll be given the opportunity to delete the test results from your profile history.
The Reason You Should Take a LinkedIn Skill Test
LinkedIn is one of the leading platforms for job searching in the world and thousands of companies and job recruiters list over 1000+ jobs daily. While its size makes it crucial to create and maintain a LinkedIn profile, it can also make it harder for you to stand out, as there are just too many applicants.
Which is where LinkedIn Skill Assessments come into play. Taking one of these tests (and passing) can help confirm you’re the real deal and help you stand out from the crowd as a result. Recruiters will use any tool at their disposal to zero in on the best candidates.
The full range of LinkedIn Skill Assessment tests also veers heavily towards programming and coding. This leaves little leeway for people who desire LinkedIn skill badges in other areas of expertise but most of us in the industry know how much this test and badge means for our profile and why it’s important.
A close friend of mine has been contacted by a software firm in Germany recently to go work for them as a front-end developer majoring in Python and this came partly as a result of having the Python Badge.
Taking a test or getting a LinkedIn skill badge is not a guarantee that you will land your dream job. However, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking a LinkedIn Skill Assessment.
