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Participant — accepting an assessment invite

Goal: Help a candidate open their assessment invite link and start their assessment.

This guide is written from the candidate's perspective and can be shared with them, or used by CS to walk them through the flow on a support call.

Before you start​

  • The candidate needs the link from their invitation email. If they can't find it, check whether the invite was sent and ask them to check spam.
  • The link only works in a compatible browser. Safari in certain privacy modes may show a warning about storage access — follow the prompt to continue.

Steps​

  1. Open the invite link from the email. It takes the candidate to a page showing the assessment title, deadline (if set), and company branding.

  2. If the candidate doesn't have a Skilladder account yet:

    • Click Sign Up and complete the form — name, password, and any demographic fields shown.

    If they already have an account:

    • Click Sign In and enter their credentials.
    • ⚠️ Important: They must sign in with the same email the invite was sent to. Signing in with a different account will cause an email mismatch error later.

  3. After signing in or signing up, the platform checks that the candidate meets any prerequisites for this assessment (e.g. completing an earlier assessment first). If a prerequisite is flagged, the screen explains what needs to be done — follow the instructions shown.

  4. Click Start assessment (or the equivalent button shown). The assessment loads and the attempt begins.

  5. The candidate works through the assessment following the on-screen instructions. Timers and tab-switching warnings appear if the assessment policy uses them.

Common problems and fixes​

ProblemWhat to do
Wrong account signed inSign out completely, then reopen the original invite link in a private/incognito window
Assessment locked or expiredThe recruiter must issue a new invite — the candidate cannot unlock it themselves
Prerequisites not metFollow the on-screen instructions to complete the prerequisite assessment first
Link is broken or "invite not found"Ask the recruiter to verify the invite was sent correctly and resend if needed