You have probably seen the notifications from LinkedIn asking you to sign up for Premium services to get access to more features right? If you are like most of us, you probably skipped it. You are already getting so much for free from LinkedIn, why would you pay for more? In our August edition of Unthinkable Coffee Break, our Convener, Alex Muriu posed this question to Nelly Ndonye, LinkedIn Marketing Specialist based in Nairobi, Kenya. Here’s what she had to say.

The premium subscription gives you full access to all of LinkedIn’s four verticals i.e. Learning, Sales navigator, Marketing and the Talent vertical. Some of the enhanced features you get include:

• While you can access some learning courses on LinkedIn Learning, these are limited. Full access is given to the ones subscribed to Premium. LinkedIn learning allows you to take courses online within LinkedIn. It gives you alerts reminding you of the hours that you are supposed to put into your learning and tracks your progress as you move along. With Premium, you get a certificate for each training you take which you can easily add to your LinkedIn profile.
• In the Sales Navigator vertical, you get full access to potential clients who are registered on LinkedIn. You can easily start a conversation with various decision makers in their respective fields, and generate business leads. Nelly says this is one of the best features of the LinkedIn Premium
• In the Talent vertical, once you apply for a job role, you are able to see how you rank compared to the other candidates. It compares the requirements of the job to your qualification and it gives you feedback on whether you are the best suitable or least suitable. It’s almost like you have your own private recruitment consultant.

The premium subscription can be taken in various ways. There is the business premium and the individual premium. A company can subscribe its employees to the service and an individual can subscribe to the service on their own.

Nelly Ndonye was a guest on Un.thinkable Coffee break, our monthly talk show on future skills which are changing the world as we know it.

Watch the recording below