As you know, LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking site. It allows professionals, employers, and job seekers to create personal profiles and interact with other professionals. LinkedIn can be used by anyone interested in taking their professional life to a whole new level. If you're on the hunt for a new job, your friends and colleagues might recommend that you start using LinkedIn. If you've been using LinkedIn for some time and have used all of its features properly, you've probably benefited from it professionally. The exposure that LinkedIn provides—so you can expand your contacts and reach the right people at the right time—is exactly what we need when we want to grow professionally. Whether you're applying directly to a job using your LinkedIn account or getting in touch with top HR managers, LinkedIn can help you achieve your goals.
My journey with LinkedIn has been very positive. I've grown my profile by adding educational degrees and work experiences. I first started using LinkedIn in 2017, before I started university. At that time, I wasn't really sure what the purpose of the site was, but as I've used it over the years, I understand its value more. By connecting with professionals from different industries, I've built a strong network that has helped me in my career aspirations.
Recently, I decided to subscribe to the LinkedIn Premium Career feature. After reading some articles and seeing that LinkedIn claims you can get more out of the site by subscribing to premium, I thought it would be worth trying. The small yellow "in" on the left side of the picture below indicates that the user has a premium account.
LinkedIn offers a 1-month free trial of its premium account features. After the trial period is over, users are charged according to the type of premium account they have chosen. The different types of premium accounts are Premium Career, Premium Business, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter Lite. Prices for each account type after the free trial period are shown in the image below. Users can choose to pay for a month or a full year of service. Those who choose to pay for a full year receive a discount. Payment can be made using a debit/credit card.
In my opinion, spending money on a LinkedIn Premium account is not worth it. I had hoped that the Premium Career features would be more beneficial for me, but unfortunately, I was disappointed. All you get are 3 InMail credits, the ability to see who has viewed your profile, and insights into how you compare to other applicants when applying for a position. For the account I have, the monthly fee is 26.99 pounds (about 3,442.97 Taka), but for other account options, the fee is much higher.
If you don't use LinkedIn regularly for networking or business development, you probably won't get much benefit from upgrading to a premium account. Job seekers may get some benefit from sending InMails to recruiters, but statistics show that InMails are generally ignored and have less chance of getting a reply. Plus, if you're looking for employment, won't it be a burden to pay for a premium account out of your own pocket? An opinion poll I recently came across showed that 80% of respondents said they "didn't see any benefits" from upgrading to a premium account. However, if you're a regular user of LinkedIn and know how to use the platform effectively, you may benefit from the premium features.
Lastly, I want to encourage you to try the premium account. It might be beneficial for you, so it's worth at least trying the free trial version for one month. See for yourself how it goes.
Free vs. Premium:
Not sure whether you should upgrade to a LinkedIn Premium account? Here's a quick overview of the key differences between free and premium accounts:
With a free LinkedIn account, you can create and maintain a profile, connect with other professionals, and join groups. Premium accounts offer additional features, such as InMail credits (which allow you to contact anyone on LinkedIn, regardless of whether you're connected), advanced search filters, and custom branding on your profile.
Linkedin offers a Basic (free) account as well as Premium Subscriptions, which can be tried for free for one month.
With a basic account, you can:
- Find and reconnect with colleagues and classmates.
- Request and provide recommendations.
- Search for and view profiles of other LinkedIn members.
- Receive unlimited InMail messages.
- Save up to three searches and get weekly alerts on those searches.
Premium accounts also provide insights about who's viewed your profile, which can be helpful for networking and getting hired. And if you're interested in growing your LinkedIn network even further, premium accounts offer the ability to send connection requests to up to 30 people at once.
Linkedin also offers various paid or Premium subscriptions which members can opt for based on their needs.
The various Premium subscriptions we offer and their features are:
- Premium Career helps you get hired and get ahead in your professional life.
- Sales Navigator helps you generate leads and build your clientele.
- Recruiter Lite helps you find and hire talent.
- Premium Business helps you get detailed business insights and further expand your business.
- LinkedIn Learning helps you improve your skills and learn new ones.
Thanks!
The article was written by wp-institute