LinkedIn Launches Assessments to Verify Skills to Employers

Whether you’re job hunting or looking to find a top-performing candidate for your company, you know that hiring is a delicate process. 

For hiring managers, you want to find the candidate who not only possesses the credentials and experience you’re looking for, but who also has the skills needed to actually do the job without requiring intensive training. 

For job applicants, it’s important to differentiate yourself to potential employers by proving you have these skills early on in the process. 

Typically, this is showcased in a resume or other application materials when a candidate first applies — but unfortunately, simply self-stating proficiency in a particular skill doesn’t necessarily demonstrate your level of expertise, or prove to employers that a candidate actually has that skill.  

In fact, a recent study found that almost half of US workers are fibbing on their resume. 

HALF!

These “fibs” can range from the big, position-shattering outright lies, to smaller (and probably more common) “white lies” — where a candidate expresses proficiency with a software, system, or skill that they may only be slightly familiar with. 

This can hurt not only employers who end up investing in the wrong hire, but also candidates with the right skill set being potentially overlooked. 

To help candidates stand out to potential employers looking for a particular skill set, LinkedIn is launching skill assessments to “verify” these skills. 

According to LinkedIn, all skill assessments are “constructed through a rigorous content creation and review process in partnership with LinkedIn Learning industry and subject matter experts,” so the results should be a pretty good indicator if the person does in fact possess the skill in question. 

This feature will help candidates validate the skills they possess and showcase them to employers, while also helping hiring managers have more confidence in their applicant pool. 

How do LinkedIn skill assessments work? 

LinkedIn’s skill assessments function similarly to any other online certification process — you take the assessment for a specific skill and received a “verified skill” badge to add to your LinkedIn profile if you pass. 

In order to pass a LinkedIn assessment, you need to score in the 70th percentile. 

All your results are kept private unless you choose to share your badge — so if you don’t pass the assessment, you can brush up on your skills and try again. 

However, unlike many other online certification out there, LinkedIn’s skill assessments have the added advantage of being connected to LinkedIn Recruiter and LinkedIn Jobs features. This means that when you’ve passed an assessment for an in-demand job skill, LinkedIn will send you relevant job postings for employers looking for a candidate with those skills. 

It’s unclear if hiring managers can search based on verified skills in LinkedIn Recruiter, but they are able to see your verified skills directly on your profile to easily identify candidates that have passed a given assessment. 

Additionally, regardless of whether you pass or fail an assessment, LinkedIn will also provide an overview of how you did — and unlock LinkedIn Learning Courses specific to key improvement areas for a limited time. 

Typically, these courses require a monthly fee to access, so it’s a great way for professionals to gauge where they stand, and brush up on areas they may be a bit rusty in. 

How to you access LinkedIn skill assessments? 

Navigate to your LinkedIn profile. You’ll see a new button on the “Skills & Endorsements” section titled “Take skill quiz” 

At first, LinkedIn will recommend any skills you already have listed on your profile, but you can scroll down to see the full list of assessments currently offered. 

Currently, LinkedIn offers about 27 assessments, primarily focused on coding languages or other developer-focused skills. 

LinkedIn states that it plans to roll out more in-demand assessments globally over the coming weeks. 

For more information, you can check out LinkedIn’s announcement post here.