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Resume, Portfolio & GitHub Profile Module 9

LinkedIn and job portals interview questions

Interview questions on linkedIn and job portals: short warm-ups, then what each harder question tests, the first step of a good answer and its follow-ups.

8 questions: 3 warm-ups and 5 with model answers · Levels: Fresher to senior

Warm-up questions

Short questions with short answers, each answered in full.

Fresher to mid

How should your LinkedIn profile relate to your resume?

Answered in the lesson LinkedIn profile: headline, About and skills
Fresher

What is a custom public profile URL, and why put it on your resume?

Answered in the lesson LinkedIn profile: headline, About and skills
Fresher to mid

Who can see that you are open to work on LinkedIn?

Answered in the lesson Open to Work, job portals and staying safe

Questions with model answers

What each question tests, the first step of a good answer and the follow-ups to expect.

Fresher to mid

Your LinkedIn headline reads "Aspiring software engineer | Open to opportunities". Rewrite it for a backend role, and defend each part of your rewrite, including what you chose to leave out.
What it tests

Turning a headline into a role in the postings' words plus one checkable result, keeping every number true to the resume, and explaining choices about length, styling and wording.

First step

Start from the postings you want: write down the role's name as they write it and the tools they all ask for. Then pick the one result on your resume with the clearest number, and check that the headline's number is exactly the resume's.
Follow-ups
- Why not put "open to opportunities" in the headline?
- Would you use bold letters to make the role stand out?
- How would the headline change once you have a full-time job?
From the lesson LinkedIn profile: headline, About and skills
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In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes
Mid to senior

Your employer's records call you "Associate Engineer", your team calls you the backend developer, and your LinkedIn position says "Backend Developer". A recruiter asks which title is right. What do you put on the profile and the resume, and what do you say?
What it tests

Keeping titles true to the employer's records, showing the real scope of the work without inflating the title, and answering a consistency question directly.

First step

Separate the fact from the description. The title is whatever the offer letter, payslips and HR system say; the work you do is what the bullets describe. Then check every copy of the title, on the resume and the profile, against that record.
Follow-ups
- The official title is so generic that recruiters skip it. Can you add anything to it?
- Your manager agrees you work as a backend developer. Does that change the title?
- What if the profile has said "Backend Developer" for two years already?
From the lesson LinkedIn profile: headline, About and skills
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes
Mid to senior

You are employed, your manager must not learn that you are looking, and you want recruiters at other companies to find you on LinkedIn. Which Open to Work setting do you choose, what risk remains, and how do you limit it?
What it tests

Knowing what each visibility setting shows and to whom, naming the documented limit of the discreet setting, and planning a profile that stays safe if that limit fails.

First step

List who must not see it (your manager and colleagues) and who should (recruiters elsewhere), then match the list to the three settings. Only one setting reaches the second group without the first, and LinkedIn's help page names the one way it can still leak.
Follow-ups
- A colleague who is a LinkedIn Recruiter user is a friend. Does that change anything?
- Should you also change your headline to say you are looking?
- What do you say if your manager asks about it anyway?
From the lesson Open to Work, job portals and staying safe
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes
Fresher to senior

A recruiter says: "One job portal shows your notice period as 30 days, but your LinkedIn says 60." Which one is right, what do you say on the call, and what do you change afterwards?
What it tests

Answering a consistency question from your documents, owning a stale entry without excuses, and keeping every profile in step with one base resume.

First step

Check the contract, not your memory: the notice period it states today is the answer. Then work out which profile is stale and when it was filled, because the same profile probably carries other old facts.
Follow-ups
- Your employer sometimes releases people after 30 days. Can you say 30?
- The recruiter says the role needs someone within 30 days. What now?
- How would you stop this happening again?
From the lesson Open to Work, job portals and staying safe
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes
Fresher to mid

Before any interview, a recruiter for a company you applied to asks for copies of your national ID and tax ID cards and your bank details "to create your profile in our system". What do you reply, and how do you check whether the request is genuine?
What it tests

Applying the share-by-stage rule to a plausible request, checking a sender and a role through official channels, and declining politely without losing a genuine opportunity.

First step

Name the stage first: nothing has been offered yet, so identity documents and bank details are not needed. Then check the request itself: the sender's domain, the role on the company's official careers page, and whether the recruiter will continue without the documents.
Follow-ups
- The recruiter says the documents are needed to book the interview. Does that change the answer?
- The sender writes from a public webmail address. What does that tell you?
- You already sent the copies. What do you do now?
From the lesson Open to Work, job portals and staying safe
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes

All Resume, Portfolio & GitHub Profile interview questions · The Resume, Portfolio & GitHub Profile track

Warm-up questions

How should your LinkedIn profile relate to your resume?

What is a custom public profile URL, and why put it on your resume?

Who can see that you are open to work on LinkedIn?

Questions with model answers

Your LinkedIn headline reads "Aspiring software engineer | Open to opportunities". Rewrite it for a backend role, and defend each part of your rewrite, including what you chose to leave out.

Your employer's records call you "Associate Engineer", your team calls you the backend developer, and your LinkedIn position says "Backend Developer". A recruiter asks which title is right. What do you put on the profile and the resume, and what do you say?

You are employed, your manager must not learn that you are looking, and you want recruiters at other companies to find you on LinkedIn. Which Open to Work setting do you choose, what risk remains, and how do you limit it?

A recruiter says: "One job portal shows your notice period as 30 days, but your LinkedIn says 60." Which one is right, what do you say on the call, and what do you change afterwards?

Before any interview, a recruiter for a company you applied to asks for copies of your national ID and tax ID cards and your bank details "to create your profile in our system". What do you reply, and how do you check whether the request is genuine?