As part of their latest re-fresh, LinkedIn has also been re-arranging some functions, moving them into alternate paid brackets and removing them from lower tiers.
This has caused some angst within the LinkedIn community. For example, LinkedIn has removed some of the advanced search filters which were available to Premium users - including 'years of experience', 'function', 'seniority level', as well as the ability to search in Groups - shifting them into the more expensive Sales Navigator platform. Users are still able to use these qualifiers, they just have to pay more to do it.
But LinkedIn's also adding new measures to their Premium offerings. As outlined in a new blog post, users of both their 'Premium Career' and 'Premium Business' options now have access to some handy new data tools to help them make better use of the platform.
1. Career Data Tools
First off, Premium Career members can now access a new range of insights for LinkedIn Jobs, including connections at the hiring company, positions you'd be a top applicant for and notes on companies which are growing quickly for professions similar to yours.
More specifically, on each job you find interesting, you'll now be given access to a new range of information, including the team members you might be working with, competitive data on other applicants and the company's wider growth and hiring trends - all presented within the job posting.
Premium Business members meanwhile now have access to new company data insights on any company page, including employee growth trends.
"As of last week, we've also unveiled an enriched Who's Viewed My Profile experience, which surfaces data on the particular companies whose employees are viewing your profile. This proprietary information can be valuable to any professional, from the small business owner gathering relevant information on key competitors and market trends, to the investment professional trying to uncover the next "hot" company."
2. Salary Comparison
LinkedIn's also expanding their Salary Comparison tool - LinkedIn Premium members can access salary data without having to enter their own salary information (a requirement for non-paying users), which also enables LinkedIn to add the function into the premium job seeking experience.
"You can now filter jobs by salary and have immediate access to more precise salary information on the job postings you're interested in, bringing much needed transparency to the job seeking process."
3. LinkedIn Learning
Both Premium Career and Premium Business subscribers now also get unlimited access to courses on LinkedIn Learning - which is the evolution of Lynda, the education platform LinkedIn purchased back in 2015.
There are more than 9,000 LinkedIn Learning courses, and with the added context of LinkedIn's vast professional and career insights, the platform's perfectly placed to recommend relevant courses to guide you on the path to your ideal career.
These are some handy additions, and once again, it's great to see LinkedIn putting its vast professional data graph to use. Of course, not everyone needs to be a Premium user - according to reports, only some 20% of the platform's 467 million users actually go on to become paying subscribers. But that number is growing, and there are clear benefits - these new tools add to the capacity being provided to paying users.
The new LinkedIn Premium tools are available now.