LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 722 million members worldwide. As the go-to platform for professionals, LinkedIn offers a variety of products and services to help members network, find jobs, connect with business opportunities, and more. One of the key features of LinkedIn is the ability for employers to post jobs and source candidates directly through the platform. But an important question for many employers is – is it free to hire on LinkedIn or are there costs involved?
The short answer is: Yes, there are free options for hiring on LinkedIn, but access to some of the platform’s advanced talent sourcing and applicant tracking features requires a paid subscription. In this article, we’ll break down the different recruiting products and services LinkedIn offers, their capabilities, and their associated costs to help you understand what is available for free versus paid when it comes to hiring on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn’s Recruiting Products and Pricing
LinkedIn offers three main levels of recruiting and hiring capabilities based on the type of subscription you purchase:
- Basic Access – This is the free level of access included with a standard LinkedIn member account. It allows you to post jobs, search LinkedIn profiles, and connect with potential candidates.
- LinkedIn Recruiter Lite – This paid subscription starts at $99/month and adds features like InMail, candidate insights, and basic analytics.
- LinkedIn Recruiter Corporate – The top tier paid subscription starts at $200/month and offers talent pool management, automated candidate matching, interview scheduling, and other advanced recruiting features.
Next, let’s look at the key capabilities available at each tier and whether they are free or paid.
Posting Jobs
Posting jobs is free on LinkedIn. Any company page or user account can post job openings directly to LinkedIn’s job board. Your job postings will appear on LinkedIn’s job search pages and in relevant candidate search results. One thing to note is that free job posts are only active for 30 days before expiring, while paid subscriptions allow for 60 day job post durations.
Searching LinkedIn Profiles
Searching LinkedIn member profiles is free. You can use LinkedIn’s search tool and filters to find candidates based on keywords, location, skills, education, experience and more. Profiles display each member’s work history, education, skills, accomplishments and other relevant information to assess fit for open roles.
InMail for Recruiting Outreach
InMail allows you to directly contact LinkedIn members you are not connected to. However, InMail credits must be purchased as part of a Recruiter Lite or Recruiter Corporate subscription. You cannot send InMails to potential candidates with a free LinkedIn account. Each InMail credit allows you to send one message. Packages start at around $40 for 25 credits.
Candidate Insights
Accessing candidate insights such as likelihood to respond, qualified status, and comparative analytics requires a Recruiter Lite or Recruiter Corporate subscription. These insights are not available with the free LinkedIn access.
Application Tracking & Interview Scheduling
LinkedIn’s application tracking system (ATS) and interview scheduling integration are only available with LinkedIn Recruiter Corporate. This top-tier plan provides tools to track applicants, manage your hiring pipeline, and coordinate interviews. The basic free account does not include access to these features or any ATS capabilities.
Analytics & Reporting
Usage analytics such as page views, applicant conversion rates, and other metrics are only available with a paid Recruiter Lite or Recruiter Corporate subscription. The free LinkedIn account does not provide analytics on your job post performance or hiring process.
Free Options for Hiring on LinkedIn
While certain LinkedIn recruiting capabilities require a paid plan, there are still a few ways job seekers can use LinkedIn for free when looking to hire, including:
- Posting job openings – As mentioned, any employer can post jobs for free on LinkedIn to reach the platform’s wide talent pool.
- Searching member profiles – Use LinkedIn’s powerful search tools to find and evaluate potential job candidates.
- Joining relevant LinkedIn Groups – Participate in industry or role-specific LinkedIn Groups to connect with more targeted talent.
- Following companies – Follow prospects’ current employers and connect with their team members.
Additionally, there are third-party applications available that integrate with LinkedIn’s API to provide added functionality:
- Save job postings – Tools like LinkedIn Post Saver let you save job posts to repost later if needed.
- Candidate sourcing – Browser extensions like Recruitee can identify prospects based on your criteria.
While limited compared to LinkedIn’s recruiting subscriptions, these free options provide a starting point for sourcing candidates on a budget.
Should You Pay for LinkedIn Recruiting Services?
Deciding whether to upgrade to a paid LinkedIn recruiting plan depends on your hiring needs and budget. Here are some factors to consider:
- Volume of hires – For occasional hiring needs, the free tools may suffice. But frequent recruiting likely warrants a paid plan.
- Targeted outreach – If you want to contact passive candidates directly, InMail credits are a must.
- Process sophistication – If you need tracking, pipeline management, and scheduling, a paid ATS-equipped plan like Recruiter Corporate is very useful.
- Data & insights – Paid plans provide valuable data like candidate responsiveness and hiring metrics to refine your process.
- Budget – Weigh the costs against the time savings and results the paid tools may provide.
Many recruiters and talent acquisition specialists find that LinkedIn’s paid subscriptions significantly enhance their hiring outcomes and are well worth the price. But for more modest hiring needs, it’s possible to get by with the free features.
Conclusion
LinkedIn offers beneficial recruiting and hiring capabilities to its 722+ million members worldwide. While certain tools like InMail, application tracking, and advanced analytics require paid subscriptions, LinkedIn does enable employers to post jobs and search profiles for free.
Basic LinkedIn access allows you to reach a wide audience with job posts and discover candidates through searches and Groups. However, recruiters making frequent hires often find great value in LinkedIn’s Recruiter Lite and Recruiter Corporate products to connect with ideal candidates and streamline the hiring process through features like InMail, ATS integration, and pipeline management.
Understanding LinkedIn’s recruiting products and pricing tiers allows employers to select the set of tools that best matches their hiring volume, budget, and needs. Taking advantage of LinkedIn’s unmatched professional network and talent pool can yield great results – whether through free or paid resources.
