Free vs. paid hiring tools on LinkedIn

Your guide to unlocking the resources you need, for any recruiting goal or budget.

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Finding the right tools for your needs

There are many ways for hiring managers and recruiters to find, attract, and recruit top candidates on LinkedIn. Let’s break down the difference between free and paid solutions by taking a look at two different people — Felix and Penelope.

Felix uses free tools.

Felix only hires once or twice a year, so he doesn’t feel it’s necessary to make a strategic investment. These tools meet his needs, but he has to finish many tasks manually.

•  Share jobs with his network.
•  Search for candidates within connected circles.
•  Send unlimited messages within his network.
•  Manage communications and pipeline status manually.

Penelope uses paid tools.

As part of a company with a talent acquisition team, Penelope has steady hiring needs and will be hiring for three or more roles this year. She wants a more strategic approach and a hiring ecosystem.

•  Find the right candidate with 40+ advanced search filters.
•  Send 150 monthly InMail messages to any of LinkedIn’s 800M members (and enjoy better response rates).
•  Share projects with teammates.
•  Access tailored talent pool and company insights.

Here's what Felix and Penelope can do.

With free solutions,
Felix can:

With paid solutions, Penelope can:

With paid solutions,
Penelope can:

Free | Member access

Access 3rd-degree connections.

• View profiles from his extended network up to a 3rd-degree connection across LinkedIn.

Paid | Member access

Access all 800M LinkedIn members.

• Get unlimited access to all of our 800M members through LinkedIn Recruiter.

Free | Search

Leverage six search filters.

• On LinkedIn.com, conduct high-level searches using six filters, including job title, industry, and name.

Paid | Search

Leverage 40+ search filters.

• In LinkedIn Recruiter, conduct more advanced searches and home in on candidate shortlists by using 40+ advanced search filters.

Free | Messaging

Message 1st-degree connections.

• Contact 1st-degree connections using LinkedIn’s messaging platform.

Paid | Messaging

Message anyone on LinkedIn.

• Reach out to anyone on LinkedIn with 150 messages per month — and use InMail to get a 3x-higher response rate than email.

Free | Job posts

Post a free job.

• Post 1 free job at a time for a maximum of 30 days.
• Free job posts appear in non-promoted search results with limited visibility.

Paid | Job posts

Target jobs to relevant candidates.

• Purchase an unlimited number of job posts and use job posts to set a budget, target qualified professionals, and only pay when your job post is viewed.
• Or purchase job slots on an annual basis and rotate your active jobs into the slots when you need to target qualified professionals.

Free | Collaboration

Track processes manually.

• Manage communications and track pipeline status and applicant response rate manually, using external spreadsheets and messaging platforms.

Paid | Collaboration

Make insight-driven decisions.

• Share candidate profiles and feedback with teammates in one pipeline.
• Use LinkedIn Talent Insights to make informed decisions based on personalized industry and market trends.
• Get on-demand, intuitive reports about effective InMail templates, applicant demographics, and more.

Free | Company Pages

Create a LinkedIn Page.

• Create a LinkedIn Page to share the big picture about his business.
• Post open roles on his LinkedIn Page feed to connect with potential candidates more quickly.

Paid | Career Pages

Create a Career Page.

• Create a Career Page to highlight company culture and get 19x more job views.
• Find candidates through employees’ networks by running Work With Us Ads, which get up to 50x higher click-through rates than typical recruitment ads.

Use the right tools for you.

Whichever tools best suit your needs, we offer hiring and recruiting solutions for every step in the process. Find and engage the right candidates, build your brand, and make even smarter talent decisions with LinkedIn’s data and insights.

Learn how LinkedIn Talent Solutions can help you through all stages of the employee lifecycle

Planning
Make informed talent decisions around diversity, hidden talent pools, and more with real-time data.

Hiring
Get the right people in the door with easy-to-post jobs, smart sourcing, and branding.

Developing
Nurture the people at your company with learning, engagement, and performance tools.

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