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Linkedin Review 2022:The Professional Network You Need Most

Linkedin Review 2022:The Professional Network You Need Most

LinkedIn is the number one online network for developing professional networks, finding new job opportunities, and building a career. Everyone over 20 with career aspirations should have a LinkedIn account, even if the service is far from perfect. The service needs to limit the amount of emails it sends, and it shouldn’t send canned emails as connection invitations. Still, LinkedIn’s benefits far outweigh its troubles, making it a clear Editors’ Choice.

This review conducted extensive research on LinkedIn and did not specifically consider the use case of hiring managers, recruiters, or businesses, although information about these users’ premium accounts is summarized below. It’s not necessary for everyone to follow their LinkedIn account every day, although job seekers and recruiters may find it brings real value to them.

Launched in 2003, LinkedIn is the place for professionals to stay connected. LinkedIn is part professional, part social, and part job board. This is a place to find people, whether you know them or not. I use LinkedIn as an alternative to paper business cards, which are almost always out of date within a year. Through LinkedIn, I can keep in touch with people from past jobs, volunteer work, school, and professional groups, and I love that LinkedIn gives them the responsibility to keep their contact information up to date.

Likewise, people in my network can find me because I keep my LinkedIn profile up to date. LinkedIn facilitates communication between professionals, while also leaving some protections unaware of the privacy of those you choose.

LinkedIn is the best choice for office jobs and, without a doubt, has the largest professional network in the world. You won’t find more active applicants looking for these types of jobs on the other two platforms. Costs are in line with competition, but not necessarily predictable when determining how much you’ll need to spend to find the right number of applicants for your open positions.

Both Indeed and LinkedIn give you control over how much you spend, with some limitations, but if you’re not careful, your daily budget can run out quickly. With ZipRecruiter, you pay for posts, not reach, so your posts won’t get deleted based on how many times they’ve been viewed on any given day.

Overall, these are solid options, depending on the type of job you’re hiring for. But LinkedIn is the best option to try because you can post your job for free for 30 days.

Is LinkedIn right for you or your business?
Whether LinkedIn is right for you will depend on many factors, such as the type of job you’re hiring for and how big your recruiting budget is. If you have a job opening that leans toward professional work or “office” type work, LinkedIn is nearly impossible to beat. You can post that job for free, and you’re likely to get a lot of applicants.

However, if you have a lot of job openings to post, then you’ll have to weigh the cost of the platform against the potential reach. If all jobs are a good fit for the platform, it’s still hard to beat going to another job board due to LinkedIn’s reach and comparative cost. You should keep an eye on your spending to avoid unexpected costs.

Premium Account
Like many online sites and services, LinkedIn is free to use, but offers premium subscription upgrades and some additional benefits. There used to be just one Premium account for $20 a month, but now there are four, which makes sense because how people use LinkedIn depends on their role. The four premium account types are:
Job Seeker ($29.99 per month)
Business Plus ($59.99 per month)
Sales Navigator ($79.99 per month or $700 per year)
Recruiter Lite ($119.99 per month).
A rep also explained to me that LinkedIn offers a full suite of recruiters that its Talent Solutions division sells separately. If this sounds more like what you need, please contact the company for pricing.
I’ll summarize some of the benefits, but you can get full details on LinkedIn’s premium page.
Job seekers get three InMail points per month, 90 days of “who viewed your profile” data, including how they found you, a list of featured applicants for job applications, and applications showing you compared to other candidates for the same position people insights. As of this writing, new, improved job listings and more information on public companies are being rolled out.
Business Plus members get 15 InMail messages, 90 days of Who Viewed Your Profile data including how they found you, advanced search filters, and unlimited profile searches with up to three degrees of separation.
Sales Navigator receives 15 InMail messages per month, advanced search to create custom lead lists, lead referrals, and the ability to save leads.
Recruiter Lite members get 30 InMail messages with templates, enhanced information about who viewed your profile, automatic candidate tracking, unlimited profile search results with up to three degrees of separation, and more.

 

LinkedIn for everyone
If you have an investment in your career, then you really should join LinkedIn. While you can certainly explore the site’s many features and services, the site can easily have an account that offers real value without charging you much in return. It takes some time to set up an account, but it’s worth a try. Have your resume ready when you do.
LinkedIn is still a great site with real results for web experts and sometimes wallflowers in real life. While it can help you succeed, LinkedIn is clearly our Editors’ Choice for employment-related social networks.