LinkedIn is a social network and recruitment platform used by millions across the world. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, the website was launched in May of 2003. The company’s revenue comes from member subscriptions, advertising sales, and talent solutions. LinkedIn is soon to be acquired by Microsoft (2016).

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The Good

Price range
Reach
Special features
Experience
Customer support

Price Range

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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User Reviews

Star Rating

4.4

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534 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

56%

4 grade

31%

3 grade

2 grade

1 grade

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Quality

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Maria Fernandez Arguello

I know the company because I were subscript on the professional area to get connected with the companies where we're interested to connect for jobs. At the beguinning all was good, but when was making bigger the company, started to create regulation and collecting more and more money as monthly Payment. I considered that it wasn't what I was looking for. And I retired from the.

1 year ago

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Janessa P Logan, UT

I liked LinkedIn because it allows me to make connections and have a network of people I know and can find a job through. I find it very convenient. I also like the opportunities to learn more and about finding a job and tips for interviewing and finding a a job. I appreciate the options it gives. I do not like that it seems so locked down with logins and requires you to add so much information about yourself. I also dislike the subscription service!

1 year ago

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Amani Patel Harrisonburg, VA

Probably one of my favorite search engines for jobs. Most jobs are relevant and applicable, based on my profile. I find that sometimes searching certain keywords does not yield relevant results, but I can usually find the ones that fit my profile after picking through a few. The ease with applying and saving jobs is also a huge plus, and makes LinkedIn one of the first sites I use!

1 year ago

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Emma Morrill

LinkedIn has been my go to job search site! They provide a lot of good accurate information for employees to look at. I wish they would post better salary information though. Many times they will list the “average pay” for a job instead of what the actual company is offering. Going into an interview and being told you’ll be making less money is not fun. I like the feature where you can review companies you’ve worked for. This is extremely helpful to see how the company was for other employees before accepting a position.

2 years ago

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Darrin Pelham Rincon, GA

LinkedIn has a wide array of jobs that you can narrow your search from and you can add your own parameters to help you. There is also a feature that you can be alerted for jobs in the range that you are looking for so you don't really have to search it brings the jobs to you. The features are free but I really like what all you can do on the site that others might charge you for.

4 years ago

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Michael Martinez Belleville, NJ

LinkedIn is the best site for career advancement, finding new jobs, keeping up with the latest news in your field and just being able to network in general. LinkedIn also allows you to post your resume online so that recruiters and others can see exactly what your job title is and what you're currently doing/done in the past. You can also post your skills, be endorsed for what you're good at and can have others write recommendations for you about your character and personality.

9 years ago

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Allison Talbot Riverton, UT

Linkedin is a great search engine for finding jobs. The only downside is you are most likely going to the 100th applicant on a job posting and you will never be contacted. It's a great way to see who is hiring, but I'd most likely go to the company website to apply instead of through Linkedin.

2 years ago

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Allan Freedman Monrovia, MD

I have used linkedin for both searching for a job and listing jobs. It is a solid job platform for job seekers and employers. Well thought out and easy to use. Prices for job postings are reasonable. LinkedIn is a very good program.

2 years ago

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Paige Stockard Wichita, KS

LinkedIn is a great way to make and keep connections with people that you go to school with or are in your workplace. It's also super easy to connect with people in your field of expertise or the field that you want to pursue a career in!

5 years ago

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Lizzy Puentes Tallahassee, FL

LinkedIn is very simple to use. You make your profile and once searching for jobs, you can just link your already uploaded profile, resume, and other tools you can use. There are many jobs on the website so there is a large variety of careers you can choose from.

5 years ago

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Thomas Hullinger Pleasant Grove, UT

LinkedIn has helped me professionally to stay in contact with a number of people and a number of groups that are easy to follow and I can stay up to date on the latest topic and also know what is going on in the job marketplace. It can also be very specific for me and adjusted to meet my needs.

7 years ago

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Lindsey American Fork, UT

I think it's a great website for finding jobs. The website is not as user-friendly as I'd like. I've had trouble uploading documents - but that's probably because I'm not a smart enough user :) Overall, I think it's a great and helpful website.

7 years ago

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Sandra Dubas Salt Lake City, UT

Linkedin is a wonderful resource and very reliable. I like the jobs that the companies post. However, their website is a little bit confusing and it for sure should be simplified. Also, I like that you can search different companies and learn more about them on their profile.

8 years ago

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Jonny Hancock Salt Lake City, UT

LinkedIn has been a great way for me to connect with other business professionals. My only complaint with LinkedIn is on a minimum I receive 5 emails from them a day. I would defiantly recommend using LinkedIn, however, I'd suggest using an email you do not use every day.

8 years ago

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Breanna Jones Salt Lake City, UT

Linkedin is a great place to connect. I have reached out to employers and had successful opportunities through Linkedin. I like the ability to create a profile and explain myself more than just what appears on a resume. I think it gives employers the ability to learn a little more about the people who are wanting to work for their company.

8 years ago

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Ry Phi Herriman, UT

LinkedIn is a great medium for professional networking, making business connections and helping colleagues find opportunities. Recently there was a major layoff where I work and LinkedIn was an amazing resource for everyone's past and present colleagues to swarm and support those, that got let go, to find open positions. One downside of LinkedIn is that various software or service vendors use the platform for soliciting sales. I do not like being marketed to in this setting.

3 years ago

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Calista Huber Phoenix, AZ

I have used LinkedIn briefly to create a professional profile in order to connect with others for my freelance graphic design business. I would also love to connect with people in regards to going back to school for my Master's degree when my kids are a little older. It is amazing how many different connections and opportunities can come through LinkedIn! It is such a diverse network with so many options! I love that it is simple and walks you through set-up steps. I'm excited to use it more!

3 years ago

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Cam Hall Palmyra, VA

I've used LinkedIn Jobs for my last 2 full time jobs and 2 part time gigs, and have always been incredibly impressed. By itself, their job search is always incredibly specific and reliable, but when I paid for Premium the job search was 500x more helpful and accurate; you get more information on salaries for that company/industry/role, how many other people have applied, and TONS more useful data. LinkedIn job search made me feel like I could wisely invest my time in applying on jobs that made sense for me instead of spamming my application across roles that may have not been a great fit.

3 years ago Edited January 3, 2022

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Dave Fortin Kingston, PA

It's the Facebook of Business. This site is useful for thousands of business men and women to connect; however, I feel it lacks luster and is slightly confusing. Not my most favorite platform but great for connecting with individuals of like-mind and not necessarily finding employees. The employee-find is more of an incidental when someone from another company now connected to you is looking for greener grass.

4 years ago

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abw fsu Tallahassee, FL

It's a bit of a learning curve in the beginning because there's so much information you need to upload, but once I figured out how to really use my LinkedIn, it was a game changer. Now I'm able to connect with so many people at once and provide my potential employers with a clear snapshot of my experience and talents. It's a great tool for college students especially! I get such a dopamine boost when I update my LinkedIn!

4 years ago Edited September 14, 2021

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Tylyn Hansen American Fork, UT

LinkedIn is amazing and has been an excellent tool for networking. I wouldn’t be where I’m at today in my career without LinkedIn! I love that the content is tailored to my career preferences, as it provides me with news and updates about what's happening in the creative industry, while providing opportunities to connect with other creative individuals and expand that network.

4 years ago Edited September 14, 2021

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Frederline Jean Jacksonville, FL

I like that it can update your profile on your newest achievements and make posts. I like that LinkedIn can connect you to any professional in branch of the workplace, whether it’s business or medicine or real estate. It’s a good platform for connecting and communicating with individuals from all over. What I don’t like is that you have to pay for specific services and to see who is viewing your account and you can’t always message just anyone.

4 years ago Edited September 14, 2021

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Ryan Harpenau Fayetteville, AR

I like how easy it is to connect with people on the app and the app always gives me relevant connections to make. As a person going into the medical field, the program is not super beneficial to me, but it is still cool to be able to see other opportunities that I may have in the future. I do see the app going towards more like Facebook with political posts but this is not something the program can curb I guess.

5 years ago

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Scott A. Johnson Pleasant Grove, UT

LinkedIn is a great way to find, network with, and collaborate with other professionals in your industry. It serves as a platform to connect on projects, discover professionals with expertise you can leverage, and, in some cases, gather leads for sales. Recruiters can also find you if you are seeking to change employment or careers. The one drawback is you will likely receive a lot of spam messages from contacts that connect with you only to immediately solicit sales from you.

5 years ago

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Danielle Berkowitz Smithtown, NY

Pros: I've met some friends from this platform, great to connect with industry people and meet people and network, I love how you can apply to jobs directly. Cons: To me I find this platform a bragging rights platform, I am not a fan when people posts updates and then you message them for advice and you get no answer (that isn't everyone's case, I just see that being a case to a lot of my network on LinkedIn). The algorithm can be off, you can see a job posted a day one but the actual job was posted 30+ days ago.

5 years ago

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Teresa Bills

LinkedIn is good, I have been on it for years now and it great when looking for a job or reaching out to different people I've worked with, schools and different types of companies. Networking is wonderful on LinkedIn

2 years ago

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Darren Cardwell Riverton, UT

Enjoy seeing what others are doing and how they're lives and careers are progressing. Experience has been good but with some things not super easy as far as editing my own profile.

8 years ago

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Jaelyn Morris Havana, FL

I really like LinkedIn because it connects to the college I am attending and helps me see jobs related to my major. I also like that employers can reach out to me for interviews and job opportunities through my school account.

3 years ago

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Erik Lewis Minneapolis, MN

The thing I like about LinkedIn is you can always be looking. The thing I don't like is anonymous recruiter bs about jobs they are trying to fill and you being a good fit. They do not read the information they have which makes it a pain in the butt for communication. lots of spam.

3 years ago

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Chelsi Day Ghiorzi Columbus, OH

I like the ease of applying to jobs on linked in. Its one of the few that truly takes existing info and inputs it rather than making you retype things a million times. I did find it a little clunky in terms of revisiting jobs you've applied for and it doesnt seem to notify you when jobs have closed and doesn't provide any feedback or progess.

3 years ago

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Glen2021 Houston, TX

I have appreciated the ability to locate and reach out to former coworkers without having to give my cell number. My biggest issue is it tends to become Facebook light and makes me want to use it less. Should be more focused on business, less personal.

4 years ago Edited November 19, 2021

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Karen Torino Tallahassee, FL

LinkedIn is great for making connections and learning more about what occupations people have been a part of. I'm not too sure I like that a person gets notified when I visit their site, due to safety reasons, but perhaps this can be changed.

4 years ago

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Brooklyn Jensen Provo, UT

After putting in preferences of what jobs I am looking for, LinkedIn has sent me emails of relevant job opportunities. However, one thing that could be better is that sometimes I'm not qualified for the job (I'm still a student), so it could use some additional filters.

4 years ago

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Erika Rosen Salt Lake City, UT

LinkedIn is such a critical platform to market yourself and is a must no matter what field you are in. It takes some getting used to and feels like your resume is on display (which I don’t love), but helps connect with people from all over.

4 years ago

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Dave Spokane, WA

It's critical to have a presence on LinkedIn if you're jobhunting. Although my last job search didn't end with any direct assistance through LinkedIn, since then I have received unsolicited invitations to apply for jobs, and one of them was one that I definitely would have been interested in if I had still been searching.

4 years ago

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Taylor Lindholm Augusta, ME

LinkedIn is a great interface for sharing exciting stories and educational prompts to searching for a career, as well as networking with present and future connections. I just think the website could use an aesthetic upgrade, as I haven’t seen much of a change since joining.

4 years ago Edited December 2, 2021

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Alessandra Jacques Charleston, SC

LinkedIn is great for managing networks, and the built-in job search functionality is quite helpful. I've found LinkedIn's search recommendations to be the most accurate - I rarely receive jobs that are in the wrong area, role or even industry.

4 years ago

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Karli American Fork, UT

I have an account with LinkedIn and it is definitely a good resource for connecting with people professionally. I do think they send too many emails and are sometimes too persistent, trying to get you to talk to someone. But overall, it’s a great resource to connect with people.

4 years ago

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Teagan Jarvis Los Angeles, CA

I like linked in but I’m getting really tired of them trying to persuade me to go premium. If I’m honest there’s not a lot of reasons for someone like myself, aka not an HR head doing mass recruiting, to be on LinkedIn other than to flex myself and my page.

5 years ago

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pdanielson13 Draper, UT

It's a good source of finding people with jobs. I suggest a tutorial on how to use Linkedin. To this day, I have an account yet I don't know how to use it. Linkedin is a great source of people who have jobs yet I am not familiar of using it.

5 years ago

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Wayne Young Little Rock, AR

Linkedin is a good site to connect with other professionals on a social media cite dedicated to professional matters. There is a strictly business atmosphere. It is a good source to investigate other professionals you come in contact with.

5 years ago

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paul gingell Frimley, SRY

Its a platform that i use regularly and mostly for people to connect & share,discuss there opinons about jobs and career lifestyles and to post pictures of recent work carried out by themselves or other people which can be very interesting. Overall i think this platform helps a lot of people from different industrys to connect and form a network.

5 years ago

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Bobblehead Houston, TX

Seems like a great company and service. They just didn't do anything for me personally. Very easy to use though. If I need a job again I would probably go ahead and use the paid service next time. The free service seemed helpful, but I hear from friends that the paid service is amazing

5 years ago

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Michelle W Coraopolis, PA

This is an awesome site to look for jobs, but I find I only get the full benefit when I'm using LinkedIn Premier so I can see how I compare to other applicants, which stinks. If this was free, I would put LinkedIn as my top job searching site.

5 years ago

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Roberson Salt Lake City, UT

LinkedIn is a fantastic resource that has allowed me to network and connect with dozens of people in similar occupations. Through their service I have received multiple job offers throughout the years as well as a few jobs. Fantastic resource!

5 years ago

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JAKE American Fork, UT

I have really enjoyed using LinkedIn. It has been really great to make a lot of business contacts around my area. You do have to be cautious about making connections with people you do not personally know. There is a lot of fraud/false accounts on LinkedIn so be cautious about who you connect with.

6 years ago

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janalee sanders Valley Center, CA

I started using LinkedIn based off recommendations what several of my co workers told me. the potential to reach a huge amount of people and business's is incredible. the company is a trustworthy site who keeps your job search and other personal information private as it should be. So far it has worked out well for my needs.

6 years ago

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Shauna Craig Pleasant Grove, UT

I am a nurse and LinkedIn was very helpful to me in my search for other opportunities. They sent me specific jobs in the home health, health care management, and hospice areas with links to apply for these positions. I was able to look at the owner's credentials on LinkedIn.

6 years ago

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Lindsay Fritts San Diego, CA

I never had crazy luck using Linkedin for jobs, but I have gotten some interviews in the past through it. I can see if I have any mutual friends or alumni of my college working at companies who are hiring. I can reach out and find good connections that way. I don't love the job search engine though, doesn't give many results that I want.

7 years ago

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Derek Scoville Pleasant Grove, UT

Linked In is the best way to network. I use it to find other professionals that provide service that I need, but also to network myself for potential job opportunities. It is the best social networking site for professionals.

7 years ago