With over 900 million members worldwide, LinkedIn has become the go-to platform for professionals looking to network, build their personal brand, and advance their careers. For job seekers, LinkedIn can be an invaluable tool for finding new opportunities and connecting with recruiters and hiring managers. But does paying for a Premium subscription give you enough of an edge when job hunting to justify the cost? Let’s take an in-depth look at the key benefits of LinkedIn Premium for job seekers and whether the paid features are worth the investment.
What Does LinkedIn Premium Offer?
LinkedIn Premium is LinkedIn’s paid subscription service that gives you access to additional features not available with a free basic account. Here are some of the key benefits a Premium account offers for job seekers:
- See Who’s Viewed Your Profile: Premium lets you see the full list of who has viewed your profile recently, which can help you identify recruiters and hiring managers checking you out.
- Advanced Search Filters: Narrow your job search with filters like years of experience, company size, when a job was posted, and more.
- InMail Messages: Send direct messages to any LinkedIn member, even if you’re not connected. Useful for reaching out to recruiters.
- Salary Insights: View estimated salary ranges for positions to benchmark compensation.
- Interview Prep: Get tips and practice commonly asked interview questions.
- Expanded Profile Badges: Display badges on your profile to highlight your skills, volunteering experience, publications, and more.
- Learning Courses: Access over 15,000 expert-led courses to build your skills.
These additional tools aim to help Premium subscribers stand out more, connect with the right people, showcase their expertise, and ultimately land more job interviews and opportunities. But are they truly worth paying for?
Benefits for Active Job Seekers
For people who are actively searching and applying for jobs, a LinkedIn Premium subscription can provide some advantages and conveniences, including:
- Messaging Recruiters Directly: One of the biggest perks is being able to send InMail messages to anyone, even if you’re not connected. This makes it much easier to reach out to recruiters, hiring managers, and company insiders to inquire about open roles, express your interest, and send your application directly.
- Seeing Full Viewer Lists: Knowing who has looked at your profile can reveal which companies and people are interested in you as a candidate. You can then focus your job search efforts on those employers by engaging with their employees and tailoring your applications.
- Advanced Job Search Filters: The ability to filter job listings by date posted, experience level, company size, location and other criteria helps you narrow in on the best opportunities much faster.
- Interview Prep: Practicing commonly asked questions and brushing up on interview skills can give you a leg up in landing the job.
- Skill Assessments: You can demonstrate your proficiency in over 120 skills by taking assessments and earning badges to showcase on your profile.
For job seekers sending out a high volume of applications and networking aggressively, these tools can potentially make a difference in getting noticed and connecting with the right people. However, more casual job hunters may not use and benefit from them as much.
Benefits for Passive Candidates
Even if you’re not urgently looking for a new job, a Premium account can still be advantageous by helping you:
- Stay on Recruiters’ Radars: You can set your profile to “open to work” to signal that you’re passively interested in new opportunities. Recruiters often search for potential candidates this way.
- Build an All-Star Profile: Highlighting your accomplishments, skills, volunteer work, certifications, publications and other achievements can make your profile stand out.
- Expand your Network Strategically: Grow your connections with key players at target companies you’d like to work for down the road.
- Gain Industry Insights: Learning courses and content keep you up-to-date on the latest trends and innovations in your field.
Maintaining an excellent personal brand and network on LinkedIn is crucial even during employment, and the Premium tools help optimize your presence to open more doors in the future.
Cost Considerations
When weighing if Premium is worthwhile, it’s important to look at the cost. Here’s a breakdown of LinkedIn’s current monthly subscription pricing:
- Premium Career – $29.99/month
- Premium Business – $34.99/month
- Premium Sales – $64.99/month
- Premium Hiring – $99.95/month
So you’re looking at $360-$1,200+ per year depending on the package. Compare this to the value you believe the paid features will bring to your specific job search situation.
For most individual subscribers, the Premium Career plan offers the greatest value by providing the core tools needed by job seekers at the lowest annual cost.
Is LinkedIn Premium Worth the Money for Job Seeking?
At the end of the day, there is no definitive yes or no answer on whether springing for a Premium account is worthwhile when searching for a job. Here are some guidelines to help you decide:
- If you are actively sending out applications regularly, Premium can facilitate connecting with recruiters and hiring managers more easily. The cost may be justified by potentially landing a job sooner.
- Casual job seekers who are passively looking may not need or use the advanced features enough to be worth the price tag.
- Job seekers in very competitive or specialized fields where building a strong employer network is key may find enough value in Premium to warrant the cost.
- If you are unemployed or funds are very tight, a free LinkedIn account still offers substantial benefits. Premium may not be a necessary expense.
- Weigh the yearly cost against the salary boost a new job offer could provide thanks to using Premium. The ROI may be high enough to justify the price.
Here are some final pros and cons to evaluate:
Potential Benefits
- Connect with more recruiters and hiring managers
- Stand out with profile badges and views data
- Save time with advanced job search filters
- Practice interview questions and skills
- Proactively build your professional brand and network
Downsides
- Around $30-$100 per month is a substantial cost
- Casual users may not use advanced features enough to justify price
- Free account still offers valuable core LinkedIn benefits
- ROI is not guaranteed – may not necessarily land you more job interviews
Tips for Using LinkedIn to Find a Job
While a Premium account can enhance your job search, there are still ample tools and strategies to use with a free account as well. Here are some top tips for job seekers using LinkedIn:
- Optimize your profile: Include all relevant skills, achievements, and keywords recruiters may search for. Get endorsements from colleagues to verify your skills.
- Build your network: Connect with more professionals in your target companies and industries. Follow relevant company pages to stay in the loop on new openings.
- Join Groups: Become an active member in industry and alumni groups to widen your connections.
- Follow influencers: Stay on top of industry news and trends by following thought leaders, experts, and reporters in your field.
- Research companies: Use LinkedIn as an insider resource to research company values, culture, leadership, career paths, and open positions.
- Turn on Career Notifications: Get alerts about new job postings relevant to your experience, skills, and interests.
- Utilize LinkedIn Jobs: Look for opportunities and set up job alerts for easy ongoing matching.
- Watch video interviews: Get tips and insights from business leaders and recruiting professionals.
Taking full advantage of LinkedIn’s community and tools – whether free or paid – can expand your career opportunities and empower your job search. An enhanced profile, thoughtful networking, company research, and persistence are key.
Conclusion
While LinkedIn Premium provides some advantages for active job seekers through expanded networking capabilities, advanced profile features, and convenient search filters, the higher price point may not be cost-effective or necessary for more casual users. However, even free account holders can benefit tremendously from optimizing their LinkedIn presence and activity when hunting for a new job.
In the end, the true value of investing in a Premium subscription depends largely on the individual job seeker’s budget, field of work, career stage, and how strategically they are able to leverage the paid features. But employing smart tactics and maximizing LinkedIn to its fullest can boost your job prospects regardless of whether you opt for their premium offerings.