One of my soon-to-be jobless friends asked me: Is LinkedIn Premium Worth It?
And I was like, WOAH!
I rushed to help her. While enjoying my Taco, on my way towards her rented apartment, I said to myself, “What if I can help many more job-seekers like her?”
So I made this article for those who are dead serious about getting the job or giving the job.
This post will talk about many features of LinkedIn Premium so that you can determine if this platform is a good match for your professional goals.
Keep reading, keep learning!
About LinkedIn Premium
It’s the premium version of a standard LinkedIn account. There are some varieties of premium accounts that serves different users: Premium Career, Premium Business, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter Lite. Each of the above-mentioned plans accompanies special functionalities to aid more effectively network, job search, or generate leads.
- Premium Career: Directed at job seekers, it provides tools to get noticed in applications and connect with recruiters.
- Premium Business: Targeted toward business professionals, provides advanced search with insights into companies.
- Sales Navigator: A plan that caters to a sales professional with advanced lead generation tools and insights.
- Recruiter Lite: Targeted toward recruiters, enabling them to find and connect with prospective candidates.
Primary Features of LinkedIn Premium
Here are some of the key features that are very useful if used carefully:
1. InMail Messaging:
This feature enables users to send direct messages to people outside their immediate network. I found this feature particularly helpful when reaching out to potential mentors and industry leaders whom otherwise I would not have been able to contact.
2. Who Viewed Your Profile:
On using Premium, I could see the list of persons who had viewed my profile within the last 90 days. This allowed me to identify those persons who took a keen interest in my background, so I could work on outreach accordingly.
3. Advanced Search Filters
This followed by the capability to filter the searches by location, industry, or experience level, and that was highly critical in getting relevant connections and opportunities.
4. Job Insights:
A job posting without much relevant information provided to a job seeker is of no value. This gives an idea of where one stands against other applicants, valuable information about demographics applying for similar positions.
5. LinkedIn Learning:
This was another added advantage of having access to thousands of online courses that I could use to my advantage to further upgrade my knowledge and skills in topics related to my career.
The Cost of LinkedIn Premium
Their premium version will cost differently depending on the selected plan. For example their Premium Career plan costs around $29.99 monthly and their Premium Business plan costs around $59.99 a month. These prices are high, I know, but when measured against the potential ROI for career pay raise and networking, I didn’t think that these prices sounded unbearable.
Is LinkedIn Premium Worth It for Job Seekers?
Is LinkedIn Premium Worth It for Job Seekers?
The overall value that LinkedIn Premium brings to job seekers is great. Of more specific interest among them is the features the Premium Career plan can offer in standing out.
- Featured Applicant Status: When searching for jobs and applying for the same, this feature highlights one as a premium user. I have found this particularly useful while applying for competitive positions.
- Competitive Insights: Comparing my skills and qualification with other applicants helped me to understand where I stood in the job market, bringing with it very useful information to assist in tailoring my applications.
- Salary Insights: Knowing salary ranges for specific roles enabled me with bargaining power for better offers and ensured that I applied only for those jobs compliant with my financial expectations.
Overall, I believe LinkedIn Premium Career is worth it for serious job seekers who need to put all their artillery in play.
Is LinkedIn Premium Worth It for Sales Professionals?
Is LinkedIn Premium Worth It for Sales Professionals?
Having been one who tries their hands in sales, I needed to understand clearly how this particular LinkedIn Premium subscription can aid people like me. Through my research and conversation with colleagues, I’ve realized the version known as a Sales Navigator the most value to people working in the sales industry.
It also has advanced lead generation tools, including:
- Unlimited Contacts: With this, one can be able to search for anyone and everyone who might be a possible lead without limit.
- Advanced Search Filters: It enables over 40 filters to discover ideal prospects.
- Custom Alerts: Custom alerts for lead activities and account activities, it will keep the professionals updated with all the possible information to not miss out on any opportunity.
Although LinkedIn Premium Business has some great offerings, most of the sales professionals are affiliated with Sales Navigator as it offers a more complete package.
Is LinkedIn Premium Business Worth It for Recruiters?
Is LinkedIn Premium Business actually Worth It for Recruiters?
For recruiters, one such package that may prove useful is LinkedIn Premium, especially the plan, Recruiter Lite. This package includes advanced searches and messages for InMail that would facilitate potential candidate identification and connection.
The features under Recruiter Lite that benefit recruiters are;
- Advanced Search Filters: These filters allow recruiters to conduct searches on candidates using specific criteria.
- InMail Messaging: The power to message the candidates directly eliminates the need for a connection and thereby makes the recruitment faster.
- Candidate Insights: Recruiters get access to valuable insights about the candidates, which will help in making effective hiring decisions.
In all, LinkedIn Premium is something to which any recruiters who seek ease in their hiring process and make connections with key talent must look forward.
Good and Bad User Experiences
A few months into LinkedIn Premium, I wished to try and find out the experiences of other users. I got a mix of opinion, just enough to give an all-round view of the service.
- Positive Experiences: Most users, if not all, expressed job placement success and invaluable connections made from responses to InMail messages sent. Most seem to think that the tips from LinkedIn Premium are what landed them a job.
- Mixed Reviews: Some subscribers state that InMail messaging just doesn’t work, as expected. The number of available InMails is usually five per month for the Premium Career plan, which might be severely limiting if one needs to reach out to several contacts.
- Alternatives: Some respondents argued that the free version would do for occasional networking and job searching, particularly if a person was not actively looking for a new position.
Conclusion
Whether LinkedIn Premium is worth the investment or not really depends on all this. For job seekers, the features help make them just a little more competitive, but other users may not need it. But for sales professionals and recruiters, the leads and networking that come along with the subscription are often a must.
If you are thinking to upgrade, I would recommend doing so during their free trial period to look around those features and how those end up being useful to you. Even with a little effort and some strategic outreach, you will see that LinkedIn Premium is definitely worth the investment for your professional journey.
Moreover, the options to cancel at any time empower users to make a decision based on experiences.
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