9 Ways to Showcase Your Expertise Without LinkedIn Skill Assessment Tests

TL;DR:

LinkedIn skill assessment test allowed users to showcase their professional skills and knowledge on their profiles.

LinkedIn discarded this feature a few years ago, so now users need to find other ways of gaining credibility on the platform. Optimizing your profile, sharing valuable content, and participating in industry-relevant discussions are only the tip of the iceberg.

In this article, we’ll explain how to position yourself as an expert on LinkedIn.

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Clients want expert solutions. Hiring specialists want the most talented candidates. If you’re looking for customers or employers on LinkedIn, you need to be an expert in your field. What’s more, you need a reliable way to prove it.

For years, LinkedIn offered assessment tools that allowed professionals to back up claims about their skills. But, due to cases of fraud and other reasons, this practice was discontinued. 

Read this article to discover how you can build and maintain a reputation as an industry expert on LinkedIn.

What is the LinkedIn skill assessment test?

The LinkedIn skill assessment test was a free feature available to all LinkedIn users until 2023.  It was designed to help professionals prove their knowledge and mastery of certain tools. These online evaluations were created by subject matter experts and covered technical and business-related topics.

Users who scored in the top 30% of all participants received a LinkedIn Skill Badge. They could display it on their profile page to strengthen credibility.

In 2023, LinkedIn discontinued its skill assessments and removed all skill badges from users’ profiles by 2024. This was done as part of a strategic shift – the platform now encourages professionals to illustrate their competence through work experience, endorsements, and certifications.

Why skill assessments matter on LinkedIn

Though LinkedIn has removed skill tests and badges, displays of expertise remain a vital part of the LinkedIn culture. A personal page with validated skills benefits both job seekers and entrepreneurs looking to sell their products on social media. Here’s why:

• Builds trust.

Clients trust knowledgeable sales representatives more. It’s because they have a realistic view of the industry and understand customer requirements and pain points. No one wants to buy tools from a person who doesn’t know how to use them.

Gen Z doesn’t want your sales pitch, cold calls, or pushy emails. They want to choose your product because you’ve built trust, delivered value, and made their decision-making process easy,

Oleksii Kratko

Founder & CEO at Snov.io

• Strengthens your personal brand.

Demonstrating your abilities effectively helps you stand out on this highly competitive social networking platform. Your expertise positions you as an authority in your industry, which brings in clients and recruiters.

• Increased profile visibility.

The social media algorithm favors profiles with complete and optimized skills sections. Listing skills, certifications, and relevant content on your profile increases the chances you’ll appear higher in the search results. This, in turn, will help bring more visitors to your page and expand your audience.

• Better matching with employers.

Hiring specialists often search for candidates who have knowledge of specific concepts and tools. A more detailed description of your abilities and achievements increases your chances of being contacted by a recruiter.

🔎 Not sure how else you can boost traffic to your LinkedIn page? Need more insight into how the algorithm works? 

Watch this short but comprehensive video and discover how to optimize your LinkedIn activity to appeal to the algorithm:

So, what changed after LinkedIn removed the skill assessment feature?

How removing the skill assessment test from LinkedIn impacted recruitment and lead generation

Skill assessments were recruiters’ go-to tools for filtering and identifying qualified candidates. Now, work experience, project portfolios, and professional endorsements are the cornerstone of recruitment on LinkedIn. 

Recruitment tactics shifted towards screening candidates’ achievements, professional experiences, and industry contributions. Additionally, hiring professionals are encouraged to ask more position-specific questions to understand if a particular candidate fits their requirements. This means job seekers have to focus on their online presence to become desirable candidates. 

As for lead generation, professionals can no longer rely on badges awarded by the platform to stand out from the crowd. Instead, thought leadership and strategic networking have become more crucial than ever.

Posting valuable insights, answering questions, and leveraging social proof can help attract more high-quality leads.

How to show your expertise without LinkedIn skill assessment tests

Taking a skill assessment test was a comparatively quick and easy route to prove your expertise to other users. However, these tests were unsupervised, and thus, users could cheat during the evaluation. As a result, the LinkedIn community started to rely on other types of expertise proof.

Let’s review some ways to display your knowledge and professionalism that have higher credibility than LinkedIn skill assessments: 

1. Optimize your profile, including the list of skills

Establishing expertise on LinkedIn starts with the overall optimization of your profile. Make sure your profile picture features a recent professional photo of you so your prospects clearly know who they are interacting with. Keep all of the information on your profile up to date, including your contact details, position, and skill list. 

When it comes to the skill list, reorganize it in a way that fits your career or business goals. Display the ones that are most relevant to your niche and those with the most endorsements first.

🎁 LinkedIn profile optimization is key to making your page appear higher in search results and generating more leads. It’s a nuanced process, so, unfortunately, we can’t fully cover it in this article. 

Download our LinkedIn profile optimization guide for free and learn how to attract leads instead of chasing them all over social media.

2. Make your accomplishments crystal clear

Take full advantage of the “Experience” section. Employers and clients rely on this section to see what you’re capable of. Instead of just listing companies you’ve worked for and your job titles, go into more detail. 

List specific achievements instead of just describing responsibilities. For example, “Screened candidates and helped companies match with job seekers” is a good description of the HR specialist’s job. Still, it doesn’t say anything about this person’s capabilities.

“Helped cut hiring costs by 15% and improved personnel retention time by 2 years” is much better as it translates tangible results.

I recommend keeping this section concise and making it as relevant to your role as possible to showcase your expertise better.

3. Gather endorsements

Ask colleagues, managers, and clients to validate your key skills. Get involved in the endorsement exchange with other users, where you validate each other’s abilities.

The more people from your industry can vouch for your professionalism, the better reputation you have. It’s especially valuable to receive endorsements from people who have already earned the reputation of an expert in a particular niche.

Note that your most endorsed skills, as well as those you’ve actively employed in your previous jobs, will appear in the “Top skills” subsection of your profile. This subsection is generated automatically and is a part of your “About” section.

So, endorsements can be a powerful tool for optimizing your LinkedIn profile and even boosting your Social Selling Index (SSI).

4. Earn certifications from reputable third-party institutions

Get licensed by reputable organizations and display relevant credentials on your profile. You can receive certifications from companies like Google, Microsoft, or HubSpot, as well as from educational institutions. 

LinkedIn recognizes hundreds of organizations as reputable certificate providers. You can earn your accreditation independently and then post it to LinkedIn. You can also take one of the many online courses available on the platform.

5. Publish thought leadership content

Certifications and recommendations can only get you so far. To be constantly on top of your prospect’s mind, you have to continuously demonstrate your knowledge.

Write industry-specific LinkedIn posts and articles to strengthen your brand image as an expert. Comment on other professionals’ posts, adding value to the conversations across the social media network. You can also join LinkedIn Groups that are relevant to your field and participate in discussions there.

6. Become an expert contributor

LinkedIn is a social media platform that encourages knowledge sharing. Thus, a platform allows subject matter experts to create so-called “collaborative articles,” exchanging their niche-specific tips and experiences. You can contribute your expertise just like any other post or article from LinkedIn’s main page.

Adding your own advice and outlook on industry hot topics frequently will help you position yourself as a thought leader. Additionally, other experts in the niche will see your contribution, which expands your audience.

LinkedIn strongly encourages users to take advantage of this feature, so the algorithm might favor your profile more if you do this regularly.

7. Show off examples of your work.

Use the “Featured” section of your profile to highlight portfolio, case studies, or industry-relevant contributions. Incorporate tangible statistics in your portfolio and case studies. Nothing proves proficiency in your craft better than the real-life results of your work.

This section can serve as a short introduction to your work, so I recommend allocating some time to update it.

8. Participate in webinars and other events hosted on LinkedIn

Join and actively engage in LinkedIn Live sessions, webinars, and virtual summits relevant to your industry. These events provide a great platform to ask insightful questions, contribute valuable insights, and connect with other people from your niche.

Better yet, co-host an event and deliver a presentation to position yourself as a leader and an innovator in your field.

9. Demonstrate your proficiency while interacting with other users

Use LinkedIn messages strategically when engaging with prospects or hiring professionals. Instead of just pitching your services, have a conversation. Offer insightful resources, problem-solving advice, or personalized recommendations during your interactions.

💡Pro-tip: Staying active on LinkedIn can take up a lot of time and energy. I recommend using LinkedIn tools for lead generation to streamline your efforts. With Snov.io, you can gather email accounts from LinkedIn profiles and send campaigns with automated sequences, such as post likes, profile views, connection requests, InMails, and more. This way, you can significantly boost your online presence, connect with more people on LinkedIn, and expand your professional network.

Key takeaways

LinkedIn assessments once were a popular tool to validate expertise, but their removal doesn’t mean you can’t prove your competence. There are other, much more effective and trustworthy ways to demonstrate your abilities.

Whether you’re looking for a job or diving into social selling, start by optimizing your LinkedIn profile and sharing your experience. We also recommend receiving certificates from reputable companies and providing examples of your past achievements.

Remember, showing off your skills is only part of an effective job search or social selling strategy. Engaging with potential clients or employers is key to success. Leverage the Snov.io LinkedIn Automation Tool to enhance your outreach efforts, and you’ll see your network grow fast.

If you would like to shine on LinkedIn but don’t know where to begin, check out our free course at Snov.io Academy. There, you’ll learn all the tactics and tools you need to expand your network, gain a stellar reputation, and start selling products or services.