LinkedIn is an instrumental tool for college students when it comes to job searching, networking, and professional development. From networking to searching and applying to jobs, LinkedIn has many features that help students kickstart their professional lives. The platform seems to be constantly adding more tools and resources, such as its recently announced AI-powered features that aim to make professional development even easier. But many of these features are only available to those with LinkedIn Premium, which is a paid monthly service through LinkedIn that gives subscribers access to more features than regular users. This begs the question: Is LinkedIn Premium worth it for college students?
The truth is, a paid subscription service is a financial commitment many students are hesitant to make, no matter how big or small it is, and no matter what their monthly budgets are. With many students just now learning how to budget on their own for the first time, it’s important to consider any type of expense before going forward with making a purchase.
So, my fellow job-seekers, here is a breakdown of the cost and benefits of LinkedIn Premium in order to help college students figure out whether or not they should subscribe.Â
The benefits
AI-Powered FeaturesÂ
The features that LinkedIn released recently that are powered by generative AI are actually pretty cool, and I’m personally intrigued enough to try out LinkedIn Premium just to test these services out. Features include AI-generated cover letter drafts that are customized based on your profile and the description of the job you need the letter for, as well as resume edit suggestions based on job descriptions. Another feature makes it much easier to search for jobs by making the search prompts conversational (for example, “Find me journalism jobs in Los Angeles with a salary of at least $40,000”). There are also other LinkedIn Learning features, including one-on-one chats with career development professionals through AI personas designed to respond just like them.Â
These features are plentiful, and seem to me that they could really help to speed up the process of applying to many jobs at once, which would be extremely beneficial to college students.Â
Access to InMailÂ
InMail is the feature on LinkedIn that allows users to message people outside of their network, and LinkedIn Premium users get to send five of these InMails per month. I also think these are super useful when it comes to reaching out to recruiters and others in your desired job field in order to network better.Â
Better Profile InsightsÂ
With LinkedIn Premium, users are able to see every viewer, trend, and insight relating to their profile for the past 365 days. Compared to regular LinkedIn users who can only see five viewers over the course of the past 90 days, Premium users have a huge difference in the amount of information they are able to see regarding how their profile is seen.Â
Beyond just having access to this interesting information, I think this information could actually be beneficial when it comes to making changes to your profile. It allows you to see how certain changes you make impact your profile views. Also, having access to who views your profile could also be beneficial, as it allows you to see if recruiters are looking at your profile, and what industry tends to be attracted to your own personal experiences.Â
Increased Networking Options
On the LinkedIn Premium website, the company claims that Premium users get four times more profile views than non-Premium members, and also have 14 times more connections than non-Premium users. This could really be beneficial for college students, as networking is such an important step when it comes to eventually finding a job, and being able to do it virtually allows for an even more expansive network.Â
Now, let’s move on to some cons.Â
The CostÂ
LinkedIn Premium is a monthly subscription service, and comes in at a whopping $29.99 a month. This is an expensive monthly fee for a college student, and is something you just might not be able to afford.Â
However, LinkedIn Premium does allow users to take advantage of a one-month free trial in order to assess if Premium works for them. So, I recommend using the free trial (I know that I will be) and seeing if the features you tried the past month are useful enough to be paying for them in the future.Â
The Alternatives
LinkedIn isn’t the only job search platform that can benefit students. There are so many other job search platforms out there, but the one that I see the most besides LinkedIn is Handshake. I personally love Handshake, and use this platform more for applying to internships and jobs than I do LinkedIn. Basically, there are many different platforms out there that can all do different things, and I think it could be important to explore those platforms before committing to paying good money for service that you might not need depending on what you can find elsewhere.
I also recommend reviewing the services offered through your school’s career center. I know that at my school, we have AI-powered resume and cover letter editing help, which is super beneficial for students, and offered to them for free.Â
Overall, LinkedIn Premium does seem to offer some truly beneficial services, and I can see how it would really help college students when it comes to professional development and job searching. Of course, the decision is ultimately up to you, but hopefully this will help you feel confident in whatever choice you make.