When I found my contract with an overseas company ending at the beginning of the year, I went into job search mode. I had some runway in the bank, but I hate sitting idle and prefer to be working so I started looking for a job (a full time permanent position).
I already had a LinkedIn account, so I decided to purchase a LinkedIn Premium subscription, the job search tier to be exact. I kept my premium subscription for 3 months and then I cancelled it. It didn’t take me three months to find a job, it took a couple of weeks, but I kept it out of curiosity and kind of forgot about it as well.
With LinkedIn Premium you get a few “premium” features, one of those is being able to see who has viewed your profile in detail as well as being able to be completely anonymous and lurk on other profiles without the other person (even if they’re premium) seeing who is looking.
For the job seeker subscription you also get access to a premium only job seekers discussion board. While it is nice being able to speak with other “job seekers” the board was filled with threads of people complaining they haven’t got a job yet and wanting tips.
I think LinkedIn are a little misleading, you don’t really get any kind of job seeking advantage with a premium subscription. I would argue when you’re looking for a new job, the idea is to conserve your money, not spend it on superfluous subscriptions that don’t better your job prospects.
If you’re debating whether to get a LinkedIn Premium subscription for bettering your job prospects: don’t. The only benefit a premium subscription has is the ability to spam people with InMail, stalk people and a few other features that only benefit recruiters.
