> Since he's only targeting 15 companies doing a quick search on LinkedIn for HR/recruiting types at those firms and sending a message like that could probably be done in under an hour, and I'd think it might be a bit more effective than the ad.

If you do several targeted searches like this in a month LinkedIn now blocks the results and says "Looks like you are a power searcher, upgrade to premium to see results". It even blocks the "people also viewed" results on individual profiles. Makes it nearly impossible to actually find a number of specific recruiters.

I believe you, but I have a standard account and run lots of searches (maybe a couple hundred a month?) without running into this issue. I expect by 'several' you must be doing several hundred searches a month to get that issue, or scrolling through lots of profiles (looking at 10 pages of results for each search).

I often do searches as an exercise with clients live, and I use the filters (location, title, etc.) to try and target results so I'm not scrolling through pages of profiles.

Far, far less. Search a company like "Airbnb", view employees, filter the results by geo, job title, whatever, and parse through the pages. Do this a few times with different companies and you get blocked. I don't do this often, certainly less than 20 times per month, and hit the paygate. Perhaps they have different limits for different accounts, but I have never, ever conducted hundreds of searches.

That's interesting. I know I'm well over 20 a month on searches like that. I'd wonder if they base it on other things (like connections). I did have a paid account in the past, but it's been a few years since I opted for the free one.

It’s possible they have an A/B test running to see if limiting searches increases Premium subscription conversion. You’re probably in the control bucket.

It's worse than that.

I have a LinkedIn Premium account, and despite that, one month it decided I'm a power searcher who must upgrade to the next level (2.5x more expensive).

My searching is only limited to looking up companies I might want to work for, and browsing what kinds of people work there, or in some cases, looking at people who have already messaged me, and from there their company.

I guess I'm just too curious.

Yes but you can do a free trial of Premium which for in-demand professionals is more than long enough to get enough interviews for an offer or two.

Unfortunately, this is not true. I got hit with the paygate while searching for people I used to work with, because I would like to find a job. I was told by LinkedIN that I must be a recruiter, so I would have to signup for premium. So I signed up for the free 30 days of premium, and it still refused to let me search for the people I used to work with. I filed a bug report, and it took more than a day for the LinkedIN staff to admit they were still intentionally blocking me because they really really wanted my money. 30 days free doesn't mean what I think it means. I paid them with a credit card, and my searches worked. I was going to wait until I get hired to blast LinkedIN (and Indeed.com) for their evil patterns, but I could not resist adding a comment to this thread. Suggestion to LinkedIN execs-- if you need my money, just ask. Don't over promise and under deliver.

Hi Dave,

How can a regular free user write messages to a non-connection? LinkedIn requires a premium for 'Premium InMail'

It depends on the user's settings.

If it was possible, it's not anymore. I just went through, there's only the option of allowing "InMail"

https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/1584 says InMail allows you to directly message another LinkedIn member that you're not connected to.

Note: If you have a Basic (free) account, you can only directly message LinkedIn members that you’re connected to. You must upgrade to a Premium account to use InMail

I just send a friend request accompanied with a short introduction. It worked last October, but I haven't tried since.