Comment by Christopher Perez on April 19, 2011 at 1:45pm

Katherine, I consider LinkedIn to be an invaluable tool, and I am speaking as someone who only has experience with the free version. I have toyed with "upgrading" my account, but frankly I have found that I can accomplish most of the same things with the free account, especially the ability to message just about anyone I want to reach. This may be a rationalization, but I also believe that by sticking with the free version, it subtly forces me to stay sharp with the other communications skills that are necessary to be effective.

Sorry I didn't answer your primary question, and like you I'm interested in hearing what paid users think. I'm open to persuasion but the benefits probably also have a lot to do with the industry and type of recruiting that is being done. Thanks for posing the question.

Comment by Katherine Lebeck on April 19, 2011 at 1:48pm

Thanks for the insight Christopher- much appreciated!! Hate to think I am missing out on something great.

Comment by Tami Brittain on April 19, 2011 at 1:54pm

I'll have to agree with Christopher on this one... I, too, have the free version, and have found it very effective in my searches over the years. (Hey, all in all, it's Facebook for professionals!) Though I have not upgraded, I haven't had issues reaching people, either.

Comment by Christopher Perez on April 19, 2011 at 1:59pm

If you want to look at it another way (bottom line metrics), I have made lucrative placements of executive level talent (CEO/President, VPs, Directors) using the free version of LI. Of course the initial overtures that were made there were followed by more traditional discussions on the phone, etc., but there is no doubt that LI played a key role in enabling those conversations. In some cases, I was introduced to the placed candidates by people I had only ever met on LI, and never in person! I should qualify my experience by adding that I practice in a very specialized niche of the medical communications field. I have more of a "boutique" practice that relies on my background and existing network in this industry, so I don't take the typical volume approach to my practice. Depending on what I learn from this thread, maybe I will!  Chris

Comment by Matthew Murr on April 19, 2011 at 3:28pm

I agree with everyone that you can do pretty much anything with the free version.  I have had a lot of succes in the past.  However;  yesterday I decided to upgrade a little.  I upgraded to the business account for $25 a month.   The reason is the 3 inmails.   I wanted to be able to use them if needed.   It is too early to tell if it will be any different.  If I was a betting man then I would assume that it isn't going to make a difference, but I at least wanted to try it out or I would always wonder if paying a little may have been worth it.  You can do so much with the free version that I hesitated to upgrade.  We will see how it works out.

Comment by Pat ODonnell on April 19, 2011 at 4:13pm

I am at the $860 per year prepaid level and I am glad I did it. Get to see many more names and profiles. Don't use the Inmail, I just call someone on the phone. Was hitting "technical difficulties" in LinkedIn until I upgraded from the $300/year level and low and behold all the "server too busy" messages went away. Was receiving "are you a machine" messages in Google when I could not get into LinkedIn through the password (because server busy.) So my opinion is that higher level users on the free account level and the $300/year are penalized and moved to slower access.

Comment by Christopher Perez on April 19, 2011 at 4:16pm

I'm sure that LinkedIn would deny that, but it is a pretty eyebrow-raising coincidence, isn't it, Pat?

Comment by pam claughton on April 19, 2011 at 5:24pm

I'm on the $600 a year plan, and for $50 bucks a month it more than pays for itself. Though I call most people first, it is nice to have the option to inmail and I've found that it often makes a 'cold call' a lot warmer when there's been an initial contact via inmail. There's also nice features where I can save up to 7 searches, and I use that all the time as well as making notes on profiles within linkedin and saving into folders. For what I get out of LinkedIn, it's well worth $50 month.

Comment by Katherine Lebeck on April 20, 2011 at 10:08am

Thank you all for your comments- this has been very helpful!

Comment by Chuck Klein on May 2, 2011 at 2:40pm

A few of you using the free version said that you never had trouble reaching out to anyone. How is that? If you contact someone who is not a fellow group member nor a first level contact, you need a way to  contact the person. Are you sending an inviation to connect? Or just trying to find them via telephone (which is far more time consuming).

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