Back to Basics: Premium subscription or not?

I get this question all the time: should I purchase any of the various the premium LinkedIn subscriptions or not?

Being independent of LinkedIn, I usually advise against it for most people, unless:

• you are underemployed and wish to avail yourself of a more robust job search on LinkedIn
• you are a salesperson and seek new clients vial Sales Navigator, the premium service for you to dive deep
• you use InMails a lot, then you may want the premium subscriptions
• you want to know all the people, not just the last 5, who looked at your profile
• you need a deeper, more granular search function (really only needed for large-scale search assignments)
• you like to pay monthly (or worse, yearly, which is not refundable!) and promise you will use it daily/weekly/monthly to its max!
• you have a finite period you need the premium services and will put it on your calendar to sever the subscription before the end of the month you no longer need it!

Don’t forget, they want you to forget you have it! Their gold LinkedIn seal of subscribership is not a brand of courage on your profile that shows you are different or better, just that you believe that you spent money when you don’t necessarily need to!

If this puts it in perspective, I only once paid for a subscription while researching something for a client for 2 months, and then dropped it. I am a power user of LinkedIn, as you may suspect, and I don’t suggest it for everyone, just certain above-mentioned needs.

Don’t forget it’s there. Don’t forget to end it when no longer needed! No strings attached!