LinkedIn offers free public individual profile and company pages as a form of social networking. Company pages can showcase a business to potential employees or customers. Personal profiles allow workers to make connections, give recommendations, and search for relevant employment opportunities. Users can share articles, videos, comments, and ideas with followers and connections. Additional services must be purchased. The basic LinkedIn premium plans and prices are as follows:

Job Seeker: 1 free month, then $29.99/month
Business Plus: 1 free month, then $47.99/month
Sales Navigator Professional: 1 free month, then $64.99/month
Recruiter Lite: 1 free month, then starts at $99.95/month

Larger companies with more extensive recruitment or advertising goals can upgrade to sponsored content to get their company's updates to more people, attract new followers, and get their message out on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices. These plans are set up based on the company's budget and can be cost per click or cost per impression. Similar to the premium plans' option for a free trial, a free demo is available for sponsored content.

Reach

LinkedIn has over 433 million account members, with 106 million unique visiting members each month. There are 128 million members in the U.S., but the majority live in over 200 countries and territories worldwide.

Special Features

Accounts upgraded to premium have a number of additional avenues available to successfully network. These premium accounts are Job Seeker, Business Plus, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter Lite. Larger businesses with more recruiting needs as well as ad agencies can find additional plans and opportunities through LinkedIn's sales team. Job Seeker features:

Direct messaging to recruiters with 3 InMail credits
Move to top of recruiters' applicant lists
See who's viewed your profile in last 90 days and how they found you
See how you compare to other candidates with applicant insights

Business Plus features:

15 InMail messages to contact anyone on LinkedIn
Business Insights: access to key metrics and trends of company
See who's viewed you in last 90 days and how they found you
Unlimited profile search

Sales Navigator features:

15 InMail messages
Sales insights on accounts and leads, job changes, company growth
Advanced search with custom lead lists and advanced search filters
See what prospects interested in you in last 90 days
Unlimited profile search
Lead recommendations and saved leads

Recruiter Lite features:

30 InMail messages with templates
Advanced search for finding candidates
Track candidates and open roles with Projects
Recruiting-specific design
See who's viewed you in the last 90 days
Unlimited profiles from search results and suggested profiles
Access all of Job Seeker Premium consumer features

LinkedIn has a number of mobile apps for both iOS and Android devices. The apps are:

LinkedIn-website functions adapted for mobile app
Job search-search for and apply in one click
Lookup-find, learn about, and contact coworkers
Lynda.com-expert-led courses available for download
SlideShare-access to over 18 million presentations, infographics, and videos
LinkedIn Groups-industry conversations (iOS only)
Pulse-daily professional news source

Premium Apps:

Recruiter-search and review profiles of potential hires
Sales Navigator-find leads and accounts in target market, connect, and get updates
Elevate-find and share interesting articles

Experience

LinkedIn was co-founded in 2003 by Reid Hoffman and a team of colleagues he had worked with from SocialNet and PayPal. The company began as a way for professionals to connect with each other, like an online address book. The following year they introduced groups, and in 2005 job posting and subscriptions became available. With a little over 11 years of experience in the job search industry, LinkedIn isn't the longest-standing company, but it's been around long enough to make major progress over the years, especially with its reach.

Customer Support

LinkedIn has a help forum discussion board where users can ask questions and receive responses from other users as well as LinkedIn staff. Users can sort discussion threads by most active, most votes, and newest, and apply more specific filters as they search for similar inquiries. The preferred contact with customer service directly was via an online form. After requesting information, customers immediately receive an automated answer acknowledging receipt of the issue. Responses are generally answered within 24 hours.

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The Bad

Resources and learning materials

Resources and Learning Materials

LinkedIn provides surprisingly little educational content to free account holders. Of course, their social network platform is a great avenue to find and share materials, lists, and tips on job-related items from other sources, but there are many other job search websites that have a more broad and deep reservoir of articles on their blogs. Paid job seekers get access to Lynda.com, a partner site and app with over 4,000 expert-led employment and business courses. Anyone can access a free trial to Lynda services through the website or app before needing to pay.

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The Bottom Line

LinkedIn has a great reputation with business professionals and companies across nearly every industry, and it is a clear leader in its own industry of job search and recruitment. Users have access to people, jobs, news, updates, and insights that can help lead to relevant jobs or potential employees. Job seekers do have to pay to access many of the features on LinkedIn, like their InMail messaging system, whereas most companies do not charge job seekers. But where it seems like everyone is on LinkedIn nowadays, it's probably worth the investment.

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Ashley D Tallahassee, FL

Honestly, LinkedIn is the best place to network and connect for your career. Every company uses it and there's so many features to truly showcase your profile, such as showing other powerful people you're connected to, your certifications, etc. Most places usually send you certifications that go directly to your LinkedIn profile, like my adobe cloud certification. There are also tests on LinkedIn you can take to demonstrate your proficiency or mastery in that particular area which is really cool. I do think everyone should have LinkedIn and just continue building on it. For me, it took me a while to make use of the features available to me but after you get the hang of it, networking becomes much easier. I have connected with doctors from all over the country!

4 years ago

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Abril Hunter Tallahassee, FL

LinkedIn is my favorite professional development social media app at the moment. I love the way it allows for you to connect with friends, family and Your professional net work in order to increase his ability to jobs. I really enjoy the job search feature as well as I feel that it is one of the most up-to-date applications in that regard. Additionally the hashtag that you can follow on LinkedIn are substantially helpful and a job search, but also and staying up today on topics that you were interested in. Overall, I always find myself going back to LinkedIn because I have such a positive experience was not only the job search parts of the application but also the media interaction.

5 years ago

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Samara Jakavicius Sydney, NSW

I have been a member for a few years and through their service have maintained or begun professional relationships I would otherwise not have had the chance to develop. When employers are looking at hiring someone with my expertise and use LinkedIn I will quite often show up in their search. I am then notified in the app that this has happened and I can then look at who is searching and if interested I can then send them a message. Being able to follow people or companies of interest is also a great feature as this can sometimes be informative or beneficial to my career or life in general. Very well thought out app that has been a great tool to furthering my career.

5 years ago Edited December 30, 2021

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Cade Boudreaux , FL

Linkedin is a great website. It’s easy to make your profile and get your name out there to local jobs. My favorite thing about it is how personalized you can make your prolife to where it feels like it’s not just generic.

6 years ago

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Mary Fernandes New York, NY

LinkedIn seemed to start out slowly but has in recent years been a very useful tool in the workplace and for recruiting. I like that it has remained very professional in terms of the postings, and I have found this to be a great tool for networking in my field. While I do not use the subscription services, I do like being contacted by the company about their new offerings. I love seeing individuals’ qualifications and skills upfront, and now LinkedIn is a daily part of my work routine.

4 years ago Edited January 3, 2022

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Thomas Nuffer Lindon, UT

Very good too make connections with people you do or dont know. And making connections is a huge part of getting good jobs, and with LinkedIn you can see jobs that are hiring and you can see what jobs other people have. You can also post your resume to there and have people see it and recognize your skills which may allow you to get a job. This website have many uses which are all beneficial to everybody.

4 years ago

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Happy Life Doha, DA

Linkedin is a more practical social media platform than many other, with mostly professional and respectable people hanging out here. Another best part is that so many companies trust and place genuine job vacancies here. Linkedin sends me relevant job ads exactly matching the criteria I had set rather than generic one. The only disliked feature is that high profile members cannot be messaged to unless we have enough followers ourselves.

4 years ago

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Randie S. Edmond, OK

I like LinkedIn. I can view my coworker's profiles, keep in contact with references, and easily update my resume. As an added bonus, I can save that resume directly to my computer and phone so I always have it (since everyone seems to be doing digital applications now)! Lastly, I haven't seen any drama like there is on Facebook. It's social interactions between employees and across nations but without the unnecessary things. Very professional!

5 years ago

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Brittney Mac Gregor Louisville, KY

Linkin is a great social media networking app/site. I have met and expanded my network by leaps and bounds. These days in my field, IT, potential employers want to see your linkedin profile before they will even invite you in to interview. I have also used the linkedin premium for sometime and when actively searching for a job, feel that it's actually worth the fee to use.

5 years ago

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Anne Sainsbury Salt Lake City, UT

LinkedIn was a life saver while looking for a job for my husband during the past year. We turned on a number of alerts to help him find jobs that he was interested in within our area. It was so easy to message recruiters back and forth on the platform and most people already have their resume on there which made the process of filling out applications fairly straightforward. A number of recruiting platforms are also integrated with LinkedIn so that you can quickly apply for positions using the information from your LinkedIn profile which also was a huge perk!

5 years ago Edited September 14, 2021

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jonesaw Houston, TX

LinkedIn should be your one stop location for job search and resume building. It is an excellent place to build a large network of people and stay current with the latest trends in various industries. One of the best tools you can utilize is the job search tool: it has gotten me many interviews over the years and also connected me to many people (including recruiters) who have given me job referrals. Remember it isn't what you know, it is who you know!

5 years ago

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Jackie Hanko Tampa, FL

This website is more effective than any other website when it comes looking for jobs because you can see that you have connections that can help you talk to somebody in the company and it’s nice that you can apply street from LinkedIn and I have to put in all your information over and over again in each website that you’re applying to… I’ve been able to reach out to friends about positions at other companies and get information from them to know whether it would be a good fit or not

5 years ago

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ISMAIL MUSOSI Kampala, 102

Since 2009, I have been on linkedIn and I can only say, that this is the real deal, it is a job social network that enabled me to connect with old students I went to school with on top of giving me the ability to build a professional profile online. In the beginning I had no idea of what I could achieve from linkedIn, but from posting my experience, achievements and numerous articles, I can instantly share my profile with a potential employer without even sending them my resume. Thank you linkedIn.

5 years ago

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Jaci Rhoades Irving, TX

I like that LinkedIn allows you to show a timeline of your personal and professional life. You're allowed to disclose information about your achievements based on your personal and professional life. This allows the potential employer a full perspective of things that were going on in your life while obtaining your career and pursuing your dreams.

6 years ago

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Brennan Orem, UT

LinkedIn is amazing for anyone trying to find a job especially being able to use your network to do so. The ability that LinkedIn gives a job searcher to network with people they know gives them a huge advantage in getting their foot in the door. I feel like LinkedIn offers something that other job searches can't. I will always use LinkedIn for any future job search.

7 years ago

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Brody B Orem, UT

The best part about using LinkedIn's Job Search feature is the fact that you have a network to get your foot in the door. This is something that no one else offers and is very valuable. Getting an introduction to the right people is exactly what every job seeker needs and LinkedIn allows for that. Build a network and start to connect to make your job search easier. LinkedIn=Amazing

7 years ago

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Katie Howard Pleasant Grove, UT

The great part about LinkedIn, as opposed to other job sites, is that the jobs often come to you. Recruiters have contacted us many times about potential jobs even when we haven't been looking, and they almost always find us on LinkedIn. The other sites are important if you're out looking for work, but it's essential to have a profile on LinkedIn even in those cases.

7 years ago

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Adam Crawley Pleasant Grove, UT

I recently updated my LinkedIn profile. The platform has been easy to use and very helpful in getting an internship for me. I've been able to connect with several potential employers and other recruiting folk. Althgouh the platform is great, I would love for the platform to have more tools on how beginners like myself could use it to its full potential. I also don't like how the default settings allow people to see who has viewed there profile.

8 years ago

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Elyse Bradley Provo, UT

This is a great website for professional networking, and it's FREE! Why on earth wouldn't you join? I've been a member for over 5 years and made some decent connections and even gotten contacted directly about potential job opportunities. The user interface is easy to navigate and helps you polish your resume. Highly recommend for any professional looking to get a step ahead.

8 years ago

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Nashali Vescovacci Fort White, FL

I like this company because it allows people to showcase their skills and find more opportunities for jobs. The website is also fairly easy to use and provides a great atmosphere for the job searching process.

4 years ago

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Morgan Tennant Shelley, ID

LinkedIn is the perfect place to find jobs! It's easy to connect with employers and quickly send them your resume. I also love that you can get notifications via email about progress in the hiring process!

5 years ago

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Yolanda Queer Shelley, ID

LinkedIn is a way to more professionally connect with potential employers. I feel like I am set apart from other candidates when I apply via LinkedIn. It's more structured than other job search websites.

5 years ago

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William South Jordan, UT

I use this site every time I look for a job. I feel like it posts higher quality jobs than other job sites and the employers posting are much more responsive. Definitely my top choice.

8 years ago

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Hayley Lambdin Orem, UT

LinkedIn is a great online resume resource! I have been able to get in to contact with some wonderful people and I love having an online, professional site to send to future or potential employers.

8 years ago

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Alex Murphy Reno, NV

LinkedIn separates itself from other job search applications in that you can connect through friends and peers. This allows you to get your foot in the door and find the right job for yourself.

8 years ago

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Haley Johnson Chapel Hill, NC

I joined LinkedIn in college and was able to connect with my future employer through this website and the options it provides. I have all been able to keep up to date with people I linked with in college, and it’s cool to see their profiles evolve.

4 years ago

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Elizabeth Havana, FL

LinkedIn is user friendly with an easy format to use and understand. I am able to quickly update my status, and connect with other individuals in my field. It is also helpful for keeping up to date on my favorite businesses and non-profits.

4 years ago

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Brian Cowley Riverton, UT

Well connected to the job market and is a professional-level employment site. I like the networking side as well. Most companies seem to be posting jobs there and that helps in the job search. The paid features are also well worth it when you are looking for work.

4 years ago

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Stephen Thompson

Have been on LinkedIn almost since its inception - both as a participant and a recruiter. Their search capability for finding non-active candidates is excellent. A little pricy but well worth it if you're going to be adding to staff often. Great as a networking tool. Would love to be able to hide the messenging pop up bar! ;)

4 years ago

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KG Lebanon, NJ

I have used LinkedIn for business connections and for networking. It is also great because I have marked my profile with an alert for recruiters when I was job seeking. LinkedIn has also been helpful for seminars and for staying up on current events in business.

4 years ago Edited January 3, 2022

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Nazjah Yates Tallahassee, FL

This is a job recruitment site that connects prospective employees to trustworthy employers. The platform allows you to upload your resume and completed documents easily. It is not hard to work with and shows you jobs that connect to your specific interests and skill level.

4 years ago

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Rocio Diaz Tallahassee, FL

LinkedIn is the best platform to build business connections, find jobs and opportunities you wouldn't find elsewhere, and put yourself into the job market. Phenomenal service. Their job search feature is handy and easy to use and apply for opportunities you may not find elsewhere.

4 years ago Edited November 10, 2021

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Aiyana Brown Tallahassee, FL

Looking for a job is made easy on LinkedIn. Here you can upload your own resume and even check the resumes of those who have worked in your position before you. It’s a helpful tool for making sure that you’re qualified for your position.

4 years ago

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roberto arcia Columbia, MO

My experience with LinkedIn has been fantastic. They have great options when it comes to looking for jobs: the selection is great and you can see the longevity of various positions within a company. Overall, I would 100% recommend LinkedIn to a friend if they were considering different job opportunities.

4 years ago

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Cindy R Tallahassee, FL

I think LinkedIn is a great professional platform to connect with people all over. I like how it recommends people who have similar educational and work force backgrounds as I do, especially between students looking for jobs.

4 years ago

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N Goshagi Ellicott City, MD

It is a very good way to be connected in professional world! Many of friends got job through connections they made on LinkedIn. I had also find my connections through premium account. You will know your colleagues all across the glob and you can follow their accomplishments!

5 years ago Edited January 14, 2022

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r vido Provo, UT

LinkedIn has been extremely helpful in not only a job search engine, but also a career! I have recommended and utilized LinkedIn for years for the great strides that they make in making jobs readily available, providing certification resources, and relevant resume assistance! There is no finer resource available!

5 years ago Edited September 14, 2021

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badal jain San Jose, CA

I am using linkedin for a very long time and i am pretty happy about the job suggestions i get, the recruiters that reach out to me. I even got my amazon job via linkedin. The content is very professional unlike other social media platforms.

5 years ago

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Nyla C. Tallahassee, FL

LinkedIn has helped me get my foot in the door when it comes to internships, employment and networking. This is a platform that has helped me all throughout my undergraduate career. With LinkedIn, I am able to locate jobs near me and stay connected to my supervisors, managers and friends. It is the Facebook for professionals!

5 years ago

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Joshua Squire Ogden, UT

LinkedIn is a great resource when searching for a new job. My current position came from a recruiter reaching out to me via LinkedIn. It's nice to be able to research a potential company and look at the background of the leaders in that company.

5 years ago

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Peter Harmatuk Columbia, MD

It feels like LinkedIn has become one of the go-to places to search for jobs. An advantage LinkedIn has over other places is that you can see who from your network is at the company which can be helpful for getting information about the company or a referral.

5 years ago

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Sophie Glendale, CA

Linkedin helps you evolve as a career person and helps build a circle of connections that can be helpful for your career and possibly future job opportunities. You can do a lot with a LinkedIn account and become an active member and build a great circle of professional connections, very useful

5 years ago

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G Burt ,

LinkedIn does a terrific job of connecting people in a way that helps to further careers and boost industries. I have utilized LinkedIn for job searches and connecting with potential employers in an effort to boost my candidacy, and it has worked great. I do think that premium subscription is too expensive to use long-term.

5 years ago

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Blake Hirschi Salt Lake City, UT

I got connected to my current job through linkedIn and I love it. other sites have worked for me in placing me in a position quickly, but only LinkedIn has worked to put me in a job that is a perfect fit for my qualifications and that I'm 100% satisfied with.

5 years ago

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Jennifer Ashby Lehi, UT

Linked in is the best! It is so refreshing to have this social media platform. I can see updates for my connections and congratulate them. I have had companies reach out to me for work that otherwise wouldn’t have found em.

5 years ago

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Dr. Daniel R. Thomas North Port, FL

I have posted my resume with Linkin for the last 10 years. Because of this app, I have made several important contacts for my work as well as received several very good job offers. This is much better than any of the other "job" sites out there.

5 years ago

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Tyler B Palos Verdes Estates, CA

I use LinkedIn for networking and to stay connected with friends and colleagues. LinkedIn has always been a great resource for people who are looking with jobs and to connect with recruiters. LinkedIn's online platform makes it easy to search for jobs by region, job type, and industry.

5 years ago Edited September 14, 2021

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Jennifer Cale Conway, AR

LinkedIn is a free professionalism website that can be used to network, find jobs, and share your expertise with a broader community. My LinkedIn profile has connected me with a multitude of individuals to work on projects with that I would never have the opportunity to otherwise.

5 years ago

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Michelle Rancho Cucamonga, CA

I love the professional platform. I have taken a couple quick courses that were really good on time management. Building a network of individuals in my industry is the best way to make friends, get support, and be competitive.

5 years ago

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Lee Hutton San Jose, CA

I use LinkedIn solely for job searching, making connections with individuals from previous and future employers, and for checking salary estimates. I highly recommend this professional networking application for anyone is seeking employment especially in the tech environment

6 years ago