LinkedIn Skill Assessments let you verify and show off your professional skills

What you need to know

• LinkedIn announced a new Skill Assessments feature.
• The feature allows you to take tests and earn verification badges for various professional skills.
• LinkedIn Learning courses can help users refine skills if they don't pass a test.

LinkedIn announced a new LinkedIn Skill Assessments feature for the business-centered social media network. The feature allows users to take tests to verify their skills which can then be shown off to employers using verified badges. In the next few weeks, LinkedIn will roll out assessments for C++, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Excel, and many other categories.

A LinkedIn blog post points out that "69 percent of professionals think their skills are more important than college education when job-seeking." The new skill assessments allow users to show off a verified set of skills quickly. LinkedIn already allows users to be endorsed for skills by colleagues, but endorsements don't always hold weight, especially when an employer doesn't know the endorser.

If a person earns 70 percent or more on a Skill Assessment, they can show a verified skill badge on their profile. If a person doesn't hit the 70 percent mark, they can see where they fell short, and LinkedIn will unlock a free learning course to improve a person's skills for a limited time if one is available.