Problem

How would you measure the percentage of LinkedIn users traveling for work?

Tips

To address this product case question, structure the response in the following manner:

Identify clarifying questions (i.e. are there labels that already define users who are business travelers?).
Brainstorm potential approaches.
Provide a final recommendation on how to solve the problem.

Solution

[Interviewer] How would you measure the percentage of LinkedIn users traveling for work?

[Candidate] Before I start, I would like to ask some clarifying questions? Can I presume that we have labels as to whether a user is a business traveler or not?

[Interviewer] No, you don’t. You will need to devise a way to classify the user as a traveler.

[Candidate] Gotcha. I believe that the most obvious technique is to run a survey. A pop-up could emerge on the bottom of the LinkedIn page that asks the user if they have traveled for business reasons for the past twelve months. The yes-rate among those who responded provides an estimation of the % of users who travel for work.

[Interviewer] Great, how would you figure it out without running a survey?

[Candidate] Hmm, I can think of two possible solutions here. If we have historical survey data that addresses this question, then we have labels that can help us build a classification model. Based on user profile information (i.e. role, position, industry) and activities (i.e. advertisement clicks on travel-related posts), we can classify a user as a traveler or not.

For instance, a user who’s in sales is more likely to travel for business than a user who’s a software engineer. So, the classification model will score high for such users.

If we do not have labels, we need to find “proxy” activities indicating that the users travel. For instance, users who click posts that include travel ads (i.e. airline points, travel kits) indicate that the users are travelers. Of course, the interest in traveling expressed via ad clicks is not the same as the act of traveling, but we can mention this as a caveat when we provide the estimation.

[Interviewer] Great, what do you think would be the business use case for the estimation of LinkedIn users who travel?

[Candidate] I can think of two concrete examples. The information could be useful in alluring advertisers in the travel industry to publish ads on LinkedIn. The sales team in LinkedIn’s Ads could leverage this information to convince prospective advertisers. Another useful aspect is that daily this could inform new products and services on LinkedIn. Perhaps there could be a service that can be devised that provides a more seamless experience for business travelers.

Interviewer Assessment

The candidate is assessed based on three criteria: business/product sense, statistical methodology, and communication. Each dimension contains the following rating: (1) not competent, (2) marginal, (3) adequate, (4) good, (5) superior.

Business and Product Senses – 5

The candidate receives a good remark based on the following instances:

In the follow-up question about the business use case, she demonstrated that she knows how to relate statistical analysis to a business purpose.
She has put herself in the shoes of a LinkedIn user who could be business travelers.

Statistical Methodology – 5

The candidate demonstrated two instances of strength in his statistical methodology.

She proposed a survey which is a decent approach to estimating business travelers on LinkedIn.
Her “proxy” labeling is a decent approach as this could allow her to indirectly discern users who are travelers or not.

Communication – 5

The candidate receives a superior remark based on the following:

Her responses were structured: (1) business and product contexts, (2) analysis, (3) recommendation.
She asked clarifying questions to frame the problem.
She provided a recommendation that was clear and precise.

[LinkedIn] Estimating Business Travelers

Problem

Tips

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