Is LinkedIn Premium Worth the Price?
A couple weeks ago, we talked about how to optimize your LinkedIn profile. I wanted to take it a step further. I wanted to see if LinkedIn’s premium membership was worth the price. LinkedIn’s basic functions are obviously free. You can set up your profile, create content, and still apply for jobs. LinkedIn’s premium memberships offer more visibility, access, and opportunities.
There are 4 types of LinkedIn memberships: Career, Business, Sales, and Hiring. Each membership has a different purpose, and different features.
The one I decided to test drive was the Career plan, which is best for people in the job market.
LinkedIn’s Premium Career membership is $29.99/month. With this price tag, you can get more information about the job postings, who’s viewing your profile, and even access to online video courses. One of my favorite features is a newer one. LinkedIn Premium Career members have access to salary insights. Of course, there are websites like Glassdoor or Payscale. The salary insights from LinkedIn are for that specific job you’re thinking about applying for.
Another nice feature that comes with this premium plan is the insight as to who’s viewed your profile. You can see some people’s info on the free version, but there’s nothing more frustrating than seeing “someone with the title of Recruiter viewed your profile”. If you see that a Recruiter or a CEO of a startup is looking at your profile, you can make the first move and send them a message.
So more than likely, if you’re signing up for the LinkedIn Premium Career membership, you’re in the market for a new job. I don’t know about you, but when I’m applying, I try to only apply for the Easy Apply opportunities. Nothing is more irritating than uploading your resume, and still having to write it out on the application. Don’t even get me started with those 100+ question surveys. This is where the membership shines. You can see which jobs you have the best chances at scoring an interview!
On the top of the Jobs page, with the premium membership, you can see where you rank among other candidates for that particular job. You can also see how many other people have applied so far. If you’re in the top 10% for a job where less than 100 people have applied, you have pretty good chances at catching the hiring team’s eye. If you’re in the top 25%, you can also see exactly how you stack up against your competitors when it comes to what the company is looking for.
LinkedIn calls it “Competitive intelligence about other applicants”. The intelligence compares your profile information to the other applicants (another reason to optimize your LinkedIn profile). The algorithm looks at your listed skills, your past experience and current role, and education. You can see where applicants are located, and their approximate seniority level. It’s like being able to text Jennifer in HR.
When it comes to the Learning portion of the LinkedIn Premium Career membership, they seem to be beefing up their course offerings. These courses are available to add additional skills to your LinkedIn profile. So you add the skills you want to learn to your profile. You can also browse by subjects, software, and learning paths like “Become an SEO Expert”. Looking at the Project Management courses, they have courses for Beginners, Intermediate, and Advance. You can filter by how long it will take to complete the course, or if there’s a particular software you want it to cover.
I took one course, Writing to be Heard on LinkedIn, which was only about 30 minutes. You can see how many other people viewed the course, what they do, and where they work. There’s a certificate of completion available at the end, in case your employer accepts it as CEUs or other education credit.
Related: 3 Courses Social Media Strategists Should Take on LinkedIn
So the question: is the LinkedIn Premium membership worth the $29.99 price tag? My answer is yes, but for a limited time. This shouldn’t go in the same bucket as some people’s gym memberships, where you pay for it but don’t use it. For $30, you get access to courses, recruiters, job information you’ve been dying for, and potentially putting your resume to the top of the stack. If it lands you a new gig, all the better! I still recommend optimizing your profile, and also having your resume looked at by a professional. But the membership is a pretty cool investment so far.
