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In this Itechguide, Victor answers the question “is LinkedIn premium worth it”?

What is LinkedIn Premium?

To help answer the question – “is LinkedIn premium worth it”? – this section explains what LinkedIn Premium is.

It is a specialized service offered to LinkedIn subscribers. Unlike the free LinkedIn account, the premium service offers additional job search options – Monthly InMail, Who’s Viewed Your Profile, Applicant Insights, and On-Demand Learning.

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Each of these offerings (explained in the next section), may improve your ability to find a job.

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Features

To further help answer the question – “is LinkedIn premium worth it”?, in this section, I will explain the benefits of each of the offerings of the premium service.

Monthly InMail

InMail is part of the premium offering. It allows you to contact hiring managers directly (via LinkedIn). LinkedIn claims that it is 2.6 times more effective than sending an email to a hiring manager.

This makes sense as emails are generally not a very effective way to contact recruiters. The reason is simple, new emails are displayed on the top – except, in the rare instance that the emails are sorted by “oldest first”.

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Comparatively, if you send a message directly to a hiring manager via the LinkedIn InMail, the person is likely to see your message and potentially review your LinkedIn profile. The more your profile is reviewed, the likelihood of you getting interview invitations may potentially increase.

In this regard, the answer to the question – “is LinkedIn premium worth it”? – is YES, it is worth it. But you do not have to keep paying LinkedIn every month to benefit from this. As I said at the beginning of this guide, I will share a trick that will help you optimize your premium subscription and reduce what you spend.

Who’s Viewed Your Profile

LinkedIn Premium also allows to see who has viewed your profile. If you are actively searching for and applying for a job, this analytics feature will give you the advantage of seeing whether a recruiting manager has viewed your profile.

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This offers some advantages – firstly, it allows you to evaluate how your job application is doing. However, in terms of improving your ability to get an interview and/or get hired, this is NOT very beneficial. So, considering this feature, the answer to the question – “is LinkedIn premium worth it”? is NO. But, do not make a decision yet. To help you make an informed decision, there are 2 more options to consider.

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Applicant Insights

This premium feature gives you the benefit of applying for jobs that you are most likely to be considered for. It does this by providing a list of jobs that suites your past experience & skills, your salary requirements, and education & qualifications.

There is a caveat though, for this feature to benefit you, you have to complete every part of your LinkedIn profile.

Completing your LinkedIn profile is essential whether you are using Premium or not anyway. But it is particularly important if you are paying for premium subscription.

With the “Applicant Insights” feature, LinkedIn analyses the strengths and weakness of existing applicants and provide you important insights into your chances of competing favorably for the job.

To give you an idea of how this feature works, below is a job I opened on my profile. Because I have an active LinkedIn premium subscription, below the job details page, LinkedIn Premium provides me a “Competitive intelligence about other applicants”.

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It effectively compares my existing skills with that of other 425 people that have already applied for this job. This has multiple benefits:

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  • I know how competitive the job is. I also know where I fit in the competition curve. In this instance, my skills fall within the top 10% of all existing applicants.
  • The feature also helps me to apply for jobs that I have higher chances of getting interviews for.
  • Another benefit of this insight is that I can see the skills that are lacking in my profile and – (if I have those skills), I can include them in my LinkedIn profile (and resume) – to increase my chances of getting an interview.

Based on the benefits offered by “Applicant Insights”, the answer to the question – “is LinkedIn premium worth it”? is a big YES. Before I give my final verdict, I have one more premium feature to examine.

On-Demand Learning

Finally, LinkedIn Premium gives you access to “over 15,000 expert-led LinkedIn Learning courses”. On the long-term, improving your skills increases your chances of getting hired.

However, if the reason you are considering paying for LinkedIn Premium is to get a job, then considering this feature, the answer to the question – “is LinkedIn premium worth it”? is a big NO.

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My Answer to “Is LinkedIn Premium Worth it”?

I took time to analyze the core benefits of LinkedIn Premium for 2 reasons: 1, to offer you unbiased information you require to make your own informed decision. 2, to help me give you an unbiased, data-driven answer to the question – “is LinkedIn premium worth it”?

If you haven’t made a decision yet, here is a summary of the key features and my take on whether they directly benefit your ability to get called for an interview – therefore, increasing your chances of getting a job.

S/NPremium FeatureShort Description/BenefitsIs it Worth Paying For?*
1Monthly InMailOption to contact hiring managers directly via LinkedInYES
2Who’s Viewed Your ProfileAnalytics information about who has viewed your profile. Helps you see if hiring managers have viewed your profile. NO
3Applicant InsightsCompares your skills competiveness with other people that have applied for the job. It helps improve your profile and guide you to only apply for jobs with higher chances of success. YES
4On-Demand LearningOffers you on-demand training coursesNO

*based on the assumption that you need LinkedIn Premium to improve your chances of getting a job.

Based on the analysis, LinkedIn Premium has a 50-50 YES/NO ratio. So, my answer depends on what is important to you. If you properly utilize the two features that I gave a YES, you may improve your chances of getting a job. In that instance, my answer to – “is LinkedIn premium worth it”? is YES.

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However, if you do not maximize the “YES” benefits, you may just be wasting your money and may not improve your chances of getting a job. In that instance, my answer will be a big, NO.

To help you maximize your LinkedIn Premium subscription – if you decide it will be beneficial to you – read the last section below.

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How to Maximize LinkedIn Premium Subscription

How you apply the recommendations shared in this section, will also help you answer the question – “is LinkedIn premium worth it”?

Here are my personal recommendations to help you maximize your LinkedIn Premium subscription.

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Plan to Pay for Just 1 Month

Start by making a decision to make your job search a one-month project. To make sure you do not continue paying monthly, dedicate one month for your job search. Then, cancel the subscription immediately. By the end of the first-month subscription, if you do not have a new job (or series of lined up interviews), pay for another subscription and cancel it immediately.

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Update Your Resume and LinkedIn Profile

The next step is to update your resume with your skills, work experience, current (or last job) and education & certifications. Then, upload the updated resume to LinkedIn.

Apply for at Least 10 Relevant Jobs Every Day

To improve your chances of getting interviews as soon as possible, you have to search for and apply for jobs every day. I recommend at least 10 job applications daily.

Use the “Applicant Insights” Feature

Before you apply for a job, with “Applicant Insights”, review how your skills compete. This way, you only apply for jobs that you have higher chances of getting.

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Adjust Your Skills Based on “Applicant Insights”

To further improve your chances of getting interviews, modify your LinkedIn profile, and resume with the data from “Applicant Insights”.

Use LinkedIn Premium InMail Feature to Contact Recruiters

After applying for a job, email the advertiser by sending an InMail – indicate your interest and highlight the key skills that qualify you for the role.

Conclusion

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