profile
Access to premium content
One-business-day customer service for your LinkedIn questions
FIGURE 1-7: Learn about different paid account features on LinkedIn.
As of this writing, LinkedIn offers a variety of premium packages targeted at individual users: Premium Career, Premium Business, Premium Sales, and Premium Hiring. Each account level comes with specific benefits:
Premium Career: $29.99 per month, billed monthly, or $239.88 per year when you buy an annual subscription, at a 33 percent savings. This account includes the following:Five InMail credits per month, which allow you to contact any LinkedIn member regardless of whether he or she is in your network, as long as the other member agreed to receive InMail messagesAbility to see who viewed your profile in the last 90 days and how they located you Even with this feature in a premium account, if the other person has her privacy settings configured to remove her visibility, you won’t see her name when you look at who viewed your profile.Access to millions of online video courses taught by industry experts in the LinkedIn Learning librarySalary insights that show you salary details when browsing job listings, without having to share your own personal dataApplicant insights to see how you (and your skill set) compare to other candidates for a potential jobFeatured Applicant status when a recruiter searches for applicants, which means you are moved to the top section of a recruiter’s search screen
Premium Business: $59.99 per month, billed monthly, or $575.88 per year when you buy an annual subscription, at a 20 percent savings. This account includes the following:Fifteen InMail credits per month (see Chapter 6 for more on InMail)Ability to view unlimited profiles when you perform a LinkedIn search, including any third-degree network membersAbility to see who viewed your profile in the last 90 days and how they located youBusiness insights that give you the most up-to-date trends and information on how a company’s growth rate and hiring trends are projecting, so you can research companies more effectivelyMany of the benefits of the Premium Career account, such as LinkedIn Learning, and applicant and salary insights
Premium Sales (or Sales Navigator Professional): $79.99 per month, billed monthly, or $779.88 per year when you buy an annual subscription, at a 19 percent savings. This account includes the following:Twenty InMails per monthHelp in finding recommended leads to reach out to, insight into how to reach out to them, and the ability to save the leads to your account and to create, organize, and keep track of leads and accounts through listsReal-time updates on your leads and accounts when they post updates such as job changes or company growthLead Builder and Recommendation tools to help you find the right people to close the deal in your sales life
Premium Hiring (a.k.a. Recruiter Lite): $119.95 per month, billed monthly, or $1,199.40 per year when you buy an annual subscription, at a 16 percent savings. This account includes these features:Thirty InMails per monthAdvanced search engines geared for recruiting to help you find top talent even faster, and a guided search experience to navigate the LinkedIn network efficientlySmart Suggestions tools to help you find potential qualified candidates for your job listing that you may not initially consideredAbility to create projects in LinkedIn, where you can track the progress of multiple applicants in a potential pool, categorize people in folders, attach notes to profiles, and set up automated reminders
Upgrading to a premium account
What’s the value in getting a premium account? Besides the features listed in the previous section for each account level, premium accounts are designed to give you more attention in areas such as job searches. When an employer lists a job posting and collects applications through LinkedIn, premium account holders show up at the top of the applicant list (similar to the Sponsored result in a Google search) with a Featured Applicant status next to their name. LinkedIn provides special content in the form of emails, video tutorials, and articles that provide job search and professional development tips and advice from leaders in the industry. Finally, you get to see who has viewed your profile, which can be helpful when you’re applying for jobs or trying to set up business deals. A premium account is not essential for everyone, so consider what you need from your LinkedIn experience and decide if upgrading is right for you.
To upgrade to a premium account, I highly recommend starting by creating your free account and using the various functions on LinkedIn. If you find that after some usage, you need to reach the larger community and take advantage of some of the premium account features, you can always upgrade your account and keep all your profile and network information that you previously defined.
https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions for more information on its Talent Solutions.
To subscribe to a premium account, just follow these steps. (You must have created a LinkedIn account already; see Chapter 2 for details.)
1 Go to the LinkedIn home page at https://www.linkedin.com.
2 Click the Me icon on the top navigation bar, and then click the Try Premium Free For 1 Month link in the drop-down list that appears, below the Account header.In some cases, you’ll see a Try Premium Free link on the top navigation bar to the right of the work drop-down menu. Click that link to proceed.LinkedIn asks you a series of questions to help recommend a plan.
3 Answer the questions LinkedIn posts and click Next after each question.The Premium Products page appears.
4 Click the Select Plan button to display that premium account’s specific options, as shown in Figure 1-8.LinkedIn accepts PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover to pay for your premium account. If paying by credit card, make sure the billing address you provide matches the credit card billing address on file.FIGURE 1-8: Review the options for the premium account you are considering.
5 Click the blue Start My Free Month button for the premium level to which you want to upgrade.
6 When asked to confirm if you want monthly or annual billing, click the type you want.
7 Select the radio button beside the credit card or PayPal option to bring up the specific payment fields. Fill in the appropriate billing information, as shown in Figure 1-9, and then click the Review Order button.
8 Verify the information you’ve provided, and review the terms in the Review Your Order box.If you want, click the links to review LinkedIn’s
