LinkedIn Skill Assessments: Are They Worth It?

Recently, LinkedIn Skill Assessments feature was launched. We would like to share some main benefits and dangers it can bring, as well as some concerns about it.

First things first, we have to admit that this idea is far from new and was implemented by various platforms. We believe that the most distinct example would be Upwork’s Skill Tests, as were most widely used by freelancers to showcase their skills. Both Upwork and LinkedIn have the same goal — to make the hiring process as convenient as possible. That is why it would be reasonable for us to compare these two.

The assessment feature is awesome for several reasons:

• On the one hand, it allowed freelancers to prove their expertise in a particular field, as well as showcase a wide skillset.
• On the other — employers were able to assess candidates in a much more efficient way, as they knew which skills were required to complete a certain job.

Just like Upwork’s tests, LinkedIn Skill Assessments are only available for completion once in 3 months. That is how platforms make sure that a professional will actually grow expertise without passing the test 10 times in a row.

According to LinkedIn, their tests will have some interesting features:

• There are now only 14 skill assessments available, and all of them are technical (JavaScript, Ruby on Rails, etc.);
• Each question is timed, which makes it difficult to look up answers whilst taking the skill assessment;
• A computer-based methodology called adaptive testing is used to recognize your skill level and then adjust the questions you’re asked accordingly;
• If you score in the 70th percentile or above, you’ll receive a passing score and be awarded a “badge”. Your percentile is determined by comparing your score against a curated benchmark.
• If you have a documented disability, you can turn on the accessibility mode for the Skill Assessments feature. Once it’s turned ON, you’ll be given extra time to complete each question on the assessment.
• Companies can now add Desired Skills, so all applicants have to pass it in order to submit an application.

Here’s an example of a question with multiple-choice answers for some of the available assessments.

Sample for BASH:

• Question (intermediate level): Review the code below. Why does user2 only have read-only permissions on file.txt?

• Answer 1: user1 has set an ACL mask that limits, but does not change, the effective permissions of user2.
• Answer 2: user2 has read, write, and execute permissions on file.txt.
• Answer 3: The standard permissions for user2 have been limited to read-only using chmod.
• Answer 4: user2 gets access from the file’s group permissions, which are set to read-only.

Overall, this feature can be a huge time-saver for both employers and candidates, except for one small detail:

Here are some arguments UpWork published:

— Skill tests are not really important when making a hiring decision.

— Tests quickly become outdated or irrelevant.

— It is easy to manipulate and cheat on tests because a lot of answers can be found online.

We would like to pay special attention to the third argument because we believe it is the most dangerous one. Pretty much every amateur was able to create fresh UpWork profile, fill it up, then google test answers and voila — he had a 5-star profile showing how skilled he was.

A lot of our team members have their UpWork profiles for several years. We always paid special attention to passing relevant tests.

However, we are not disappointed by the fact these tests were shut down. We can showcase our experience using our Portfolio, Client reviews, as well as a professional level of communication with clients.

There are now only technical LinkedIn Skill Assessments, but we believe that more is yet to come.

At this point, we have only one question to LinkedInHelp : How are you going to fight cheating?

LinkedIn C++ quiz: It’s a trap!

Today LinkedIn suggested me to take C++ quiz to test my declared skill. This is a new solution of LinkedIn announced as “Skill Assessments to Help Professionals Showcase and Improve their Skills”.

I have not used C++ in “professional life” almost 4 years. Last standard I looked closely was long-awaited C++ 11. Later versions C++14 and C++17 are barely reached me. But LinkedIn comforted me that if I fail, result won’t be visible to others. Even I believed that these data will be used in matching algorithm for recruiter’s premium accounts I accepted challenge!

Question: “What is the output of the code”

Question only looks simple of course. Obviously quiz is testing your knowledge of signed/unsigned types and min/max values, the type of an integer literal and signed/unsigned comparisons!

Also I think that quiz tries to confuse you in:

– we don’t use printf often in C++ and %i instead of traditional %d is summoned to test you. Trick is that i,d are the same for printf but match differently for fscanf/scanf according to C11.

– return(0) in the original C specification parenthesis were required around the return value but nowadays it reveals old-school fan.

Select answer

• c=-1, which is greater than 10
• c=255, which is greater than 10
• c=-1, which is less than 10
• c=255, which is less than 10

Is it a Trap? You as owner of C++ skill could see the following problems

Problem 1

The question is incomplete really! It doesn’t specify platform that is critical in this question.

Max value of char std::numeric_limits ::max(), equivalent to CHAR_MAX, SCHAR_MAX , as standards specifies:

SCHAR_MAX, maximum value for an object of type signed char 127 (2 7 -1) or greater*.

* the actual value depends on the particular system and library implementation, but shall reflect the limits of these types in the target platform.

Yes, char is platform specific and can be greater than 8bit. But well, sure I am supposed to assume common “x86_64”, family of Linux, Windows, OSX.

but there is another greater problem

Problem 2

C++ standard says (link to early draft, C++17 standard can be purchased):

If during the evaluation of an expression, the result is not mathematically defined or not in the range of representable values for its type, the behavior is undefined.

At the same time

6.7.1 Fundamental types [basic.fundamental]

4 Unsigned integers shall obey the laws of arithmetic modulo 2^n where n is the number of bits in the value representation of that particular size of integer.*

* This implies that unsigned arithmetic does not overflow because a result that cannot be represented by the resulting unsigned integer type is reduced modulo the number that is one greater than the largest value that can be represented by the resulting unsigned integer type.

7.8 Integral conversions [conv.integral]

3 If the destination type is signed, the value is unchanged if it can be represented in the destination type; otherwise, the value is implementation-defined.

What about C? Standard C11

3 Otherwise, the new type is signed and the value cannot be represented in it; either the result is implementation-defined or an implementation-defined signal is raised

What is the right answer “the behavior is undefined”, “implementation defined” or “-1 which is less than 10”?

Does the quiz expect that the user already have done this analysis in past? Or that user rely on common sense, luck or post in stack-overflow that search returned first?

• 

After time expired, it suggested me to proceed with Next. I decided to stop quiz because it looks like a Trap really!

LinkedIn skill assessment answers and questions[Part 1]-2021

Включено в этот курс

Практические тесты

Описание

Stand out from the crowd by earning the LinkedIn skill badge

This is the perfect course for you to understand your preparation levels in Python, Machine learning, Excel, Java, and Google Analytics before taking on the real LinkedIn test.

Why should you take the Linkedin skill assessment?

Candidates with skill badges appear ahead of others in the search result. (Source: engineering.linkedin com)

Get noticed by the recruiter and increase the chances of getting hired

What does this course offer?

Linkedin type test environment to practice

Understand why one option is correct and others are incorrect with our explanations for the python test

The most updated database of questions and answers for the Linkedin skill assessment

***************STUDENTS HAVE PASSED WITH AROUND 95% SCORE USING THIS PREP********************

Features:

QUESTIONS — A collection of all questions that have appeared in the skill assessments until now

MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE — Unconditional 30-day money-back guarantee

COURSE UPDATES — Course content is regularly updated.

UNLIMITED EXAM ATTEMPTS — Exams can be retaken any number of times.

MOBILE ACCESS — Study on the go and access all resources from your mobile

INSTRUCTOR SUPPORT — Responsive instructor support for any questions, concerns or suggestions.

WEEKLY UPDATES — Based on student feedback.

LIFETIME ACCESS — You will have lifetime access to the resources and we update the course regularly to ensure that it’s up to date.

Who this course is for:

Students preparing for the Linkedin skill assessment test

Anyone who is keen to learn python, Machine learning, Excel, Java, and Google Analytics through the questions and answers, explanations, knowledge areas, and reference links provided

Enroll now to fast-track your preparation for Linkedin skill assessment tests!

LinkedIn Skill Assessments: Are They Worth It?

Recently, LinkedIn Skill Assessments feature was launched. We would like to share some main benefits and dangers it can bring, as well as some concerns about it.

First things first, we have to admit that this idea is far from new and was implemented by various platforms. We believe that the most distinct example would be Upwork’s Skill Tests, as were most widely used by freelancers to showcase their skills. Both Upwork and LinkedIn have the same goal — to make the hiring process as convenient as possible. That is why it would be reasonable for us to compare these two.

The assessment feature is awesome for several reasons:

• On the one hand, it allowed freelancers to prove their expertise in a particular field, as well as showcase a wide skillset.
• On the other — employers were able to assess candidates in a much more efficient way, as they knew which skills were required to complete a certain job.

Just like Upwork’s tests, LinkedIn Skill Assessments are only available for completion once in 3 months. That is how platforms make sure that a professional will actually grow expertise without passing the test 10 times in a row.

According to LinkedIn, their tests will have some interesting features:

• There are now only 14 skill assessments available, and all of them are technical (JavaScript, Ruby on Rails, etc.);
• Each question is timed, which makes it difficult to look up answers whilst taking the skill assessment;
• A computer-based methodology called adaptive testing is used to recognize your skill level and then adjust the questions you’re asked accordingly;
• If you score in the 70th percentile or above, you’ll receive a passing score and be awarded a “badge”. Your percentile is determined by comparing your score against a curated benchmark.
• If you have a documented disability, you can turn on the accessibility mode for the Skill Assessments feature. Once it’s turned ON, you’ll be given extra time to complete each question on the assessment.
• Companies can now add Desired Skills, so all applicants have to pass it in order to submit an application.

Here’s an example of a question with multiple-choice answers for some of the available assessments.

Sample for BASH:

• Question (intermediate level): Review the code below. Why does user2 only have read-only permissions on file.txt?

• Answer 1: user1 has set an ACL mask that limits, but does not change, the effective permissions of user2.
• Answer 2: user2 has read, write, and execute permissions on file.txt.
• Answer 3: The standard permissions for user2 have been limited to read-only using chmod.
• Answer 4: user2 gets access from the file’s group permissions, which are set to read-only.

Overall, this feature can be a huge time-saver for both employers and candidates, except for one small detail:

Here are some arguments UpWork published:

— Skill tests are not really important when making a hiring decision.

— Tests quickly become outdated or irrelevant.

— It is easy to manipulate and cheat on tests because a lot of answers can be found online.

We would like to pay special attention to the third argument because we believe it is the most dangerous one. Pretty much every amateur was able to create fresh UpWork profile, fill it up, then google test answers and voila — he had a 5-star profile showing how skilled he was.

A lot of our team members have their UpWork profiles for several years. We always paid special attention to passing relevant tests.

However, we are not disappointed by the fact these tests were shut down. We can showcase our experience using our Portfolio, Client reviews, as well as a professional level of communication with clients.

There are now only technical LinkedIn Skill Assessments, but we believe that more is yet to come.

At this point, we have only one question to LinkedInHelp : How are you going to fight cheating?