Premium Career

Premium Career is LinkedIn's cheapest Premium tier, costing around $30/month and positioned squarely at active job seekers. It is the gateway product for individual upgrades, with no team or recruiting features.

What you get: 5 InMail credits per month to message hiring managers and recruiters directly, full visibility into who viewed your profile in the last 90 days (free accounts see only the most recent 5), applicant insights that show how you compare to other candidates for a job posting (years of experience, skill matches, top schools), salary insights for posted roles, and access to LinkedIn Learning courses.

The "applicant insights" feature is the unique pitch. When you click "See how you compare" on a job posting, Premium shows you the median experience, top skills, and seniority of the applicant pool. This is useful directional data when deciding whether to apply, customize your resume, or skip.

Who-viewed-your-profile becomes meaningful when you're job searching because recruiter views are a leading indicator that a search firm is sourcing for a role you'd fit. Free accounts only see the last 5 viewers, which can be useless if a recruiter viewed you three weeks ago.

Most users only need Premium Career for a few months around an active job search. LinkedIn makes cancellation easy. A common pattern is to subscribe for the duration of a search, use the InMail credits to reach hiring managers directly, and downgrade once an offer lands.