Is The LinkedIn Free Trial Worth The Try?

Is The LinkedIn Free Trial Worth The Try?

If you have a regular LinkedIn account, then you must also be seeing promos of the LinkedIn Learning free trial around the interface.

But you’re probably wondering…

Is it a good resource? Can you get anything out of it at all? 

Don’t worry, because you were just like me. And I now have 51 new certificates and over 10 new certified skills on LinkedIn. YES, it’s possible, and I’ll tell you how in this article.

I started my LinkedIn Learning free trial with 3 objectives…

1. First, I wanted to master one specialty – content writing. Through my freelancing years, I’ve experienced working in various roles for different industries. However, some of them are not as fulfilling as writing is for me.

2. Second, I wanted to earn more certificates. Let’s face it, certificates are great displays of your knowledge and skills besides your portfolio.

3. That’s why I wanted to focus on it, and third, I wanted to take my freelancing to a business approach.

So the free trial of LinkedIn Learning helped me with those goals.

But what does this mean for you?

Benefits of Claiming LinkedIn Learning Free Trial

Each LinkedIn account is entitled to 30 days of LinkedIn Learning free trial. However, not all users pay attention to what such subscriptions have to offer.

I’ve been one of those users for a few months until I decided to finally give it a try.

For me, here are some of the advantages of claiming your free trial.

1 . Preview to the Premium

LinkedIn Learning is just a bonus from your Premium Account trial. It means that you’ll also have a preview of what a LinkedIn Premium Account looks like.

For one, I was able to acquire more profile views and connection requests than I did when I only had a free account.

I haven’t tried it, but a premium account also allows you to see how you compare to other applicants when applying for a job.

2. Unlimited access to the whole library

Imagine having access to over 16,000 courses from renowned professionals which you can dive into however and whenever you want.

I can’t even think of how much all the courses I took will cost if I had to pay for each one of them. I’m not saying that it’s not worth it to pay for courses, because it’s actually one of the many ways you can invest in yourself and support other professionals.

BUT, then again, you can gain all of this for free when you claim your free trial that comes along with your LinkedIn account.

3. Personalized recommendations

Not sure where to start? Don’t sweat it. When you’re already inside the interface, you’ll see recommendations tailored to who you are based on your LinkedIn profile.

This is not required, but it will be a nice idea if you optimize your LinkedIn profile first before fully diving into the experience.

It will also set the grounds for when you are finishing your courses and are about to add certificates and skills into your profile.

4. Certificates and skills

Each course provides certificates of completion – not generic ones – with your complete name on them. Most of them have short quizzes within the lessons and exams after the course, too.

Other than that, some courses also carry certified skills which you can automatically add to your LinkedIn profile once you’ve finished the course.

Of course, these things are not just for display! Your earned certificate and skills can serve as breadcrumbs that your colleagues and future clients can trace back to you.

Not only will you be able to grow your network, but you can also lead your ideal clients to your profile. PLUS, you can tell them that you are just who they’re looking for without having to sweat on the introduction.

5. Interactive learning

I get it, getting courses is not exactly the most exciting activity in the world, much less online ones where there are no face-to-face interactions.

Still, LinkedIn Learning has made learning experiences a bit more bearable with instilled interactions in the courses.

If the courses have quizzes, then you’re in for a treat. Some courses even require passed exams with a 70% passing score before you can claim the certificate.

So far, I haven’t failed any of the exams I took to gain my 51 certificates. You only need to pay attention, then they will all be easy-peasy!

Take some notes, too, so you can have something to go back to if you don’t intend to subscribe to the Premium after the free trial. 

How I Bagged 51 Certificates in 30 Days

There’s no doubt about it:

30 days is a lot of time when used wisely. In my case, I took a break off of client work so I can focus on learning for a whole month.

But even if you still have work to juggle alongside these courses, don’t back out just yet. Remember that these lessons are self-paced, so you can engage in your courses at your own convenient time.

Before I subscribed for the free trial, I’ve been seeing social media posts from freelancers in the community who are doing 30-day challenges of upskilling with LinkedIn Learning.

So that’s exactly what I built my upskilling system around.

Here are some tips on how I seized 51 new certificates within 30 days.

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1. Prepare before hitting the subscribe button.

Before you dive in, ask yourself these questions:

• What do I want to learn?
• What skills do I want to improve?
• What fields interest me?

With your answers here, research the courses and learning paths that are most recently updated and most aligned to your objectives.

This way, you save time by preparing before the allotted 30 days of the free trial.

Also, you earn more time to explore learning paths that are strategically ordered so that you can learn more about a topic or skill.

2. Map out the courses per duration.

While researching, make a list of your ideal courses by copying and pasting their titles and duration in a spreadsheet.

Then, create formulas so that each time you finish a course, it adds up the total hours you’ve finished, and subtracts from the total hours that you still need to consume.

What I did was I also created formulas so I’ll know how many more days I need to complete the courses if I spent a specific number of hours per day.

By going this extra mile, you can strengthen your mindset to achieve S.M.A.R.T. goals:

• You’re taking specific courses and learning paths
• With measurable results in the form of certificates
• The numbers are attainable because you’ve mapped them out beforehand
• The courses are relevant to your interests and needed skills
• Your formula-based spreadsheets will keep your efforts time-based

3. Compile exercise files before starting.

It’s better to download and review exercise files before starting each course. Some of these files contain lecture copies and glossaries which are helpful visual aids.

Also, knowing that you have these downloadable resources already can save you time from taking redundant notes.

4. Take screenshots as notes.

Instead of having to pause the video lessons for you to jot down notes, just screenshot the presentation and paste it on tools like Evernote, Google Docs, and MS Word.

Not only will this hack save you time, but it will also make elaborate visuals and graphics easily accessible and understandable for when you look back on them.

5. Increase the watch speed.

This last tip is optional, but it worked wonders for me.

I’m a fast talker myself, so it’s also easy for me to listen to fast speeches. Hence, I watch my video lessons set at 1.50-1.75 speeds.

And, it keeps me from dosing off – these are courses after all!

(Disclaimer: None of these tips are required in using LinkedIn Learning free trial at all. These are just tips that I wanted to share based on my own experience.)

How to Get Started with LinkedIn Learning

Think about it…

LinkedIn Learning free trial is, as the name suggests, free. Anyone who has a LinkedIn account is entitled to this free trial.

So what’s stopping you from upskilling and grabbing those certificates?

You can easily get started with the LinkedIn Learning free trial with this step-by-step guide.

Next Steps…

Here’s the deal…

This journey doesn’t end after 30 days of your free trial.

You now have new certificates and new sets of skills that you can wear like a badge on your LinkedIn profile.

If you’re in the corporate setting, you can also add some of them to your resume, especially those with accreditations from esteemed organizations.

But you’re probably wondering…

What’s next?

Here are some of the “next steps” that you can take after the 30-day free trial:

1. Update your LinkedIn profile, especially your About section and bio statement.
2. Update your resume. Add important certificates and upgrade your indicated skill set.
3. Upload your certificates on your professional social media profiles. It can be as an album on your Facebook page or a highlights section on your Instagram profile.
4. Bookmark your notes on your web browser so you can easily refer back to them anytime. If you want, you can also print them out into a bookbinder compilation.
5. Practice regularly. Because, really, what’s the point in claiming those newly-acquired skills without putting them to practice, right? PLUS, your practice can also be compiled into a portfolio.

That’s it! I’ve compiled my LinkedIn Learning free trial experience in this article. For me, this experience is more than worth it.

What started out as an interesting fad in my community turned out to be a career-changing experience for me.

Are you interested in doing this 30-day challenge as well?

Share your experience with me! Leave a comment below or connect with me through LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.