Indeed vs. LinkedIn at a Glance

Indeed aggregates job listings from thousands of websites. Many job seekers use it to find open positions based on search filters for industry, job title and experience level. On the flip side, employers use it to comb through candidates who apply to their openings on the platform. There is also a resume database that recruiters can use to source qualified candidates that haven’t applied.

LinkedIn is primarily a social media platform for professional networking. Millions of workers and companies have profiles on it. Recruiters can use their profile or their company’s profile to reach out to qualified candidates who may be a good fit for their open roles. However, there is also a smaller part of the platform for posting jobs if recruiters want candidates to come to them. 

Large and small companies across all industries are vying for top talent on both sites. However, LinkedIn may be better for small businesses that want to connect directly with potential candidates. Indeed, on the other hand, works well for big or international companies that want to cast a wide net.

Indeed Pros and Cons

No platform is perfect. Here is a list of the pros and cons that come with using Indeed.

Pros

• Free job posting: All Indeed job postings are free. However, you have the option to pay for a sponsored placement if you want to boost your post’s reach.
• Affordable sponsored placement: As previously mentioned, you can pay to boost the visibility of your job post so that it appears at the top of Indeed’s search results. This costs as little as $5 per day.
• Company profiles: You can create a company profile on Indeed to showcase your mission, values and culture. This information gives potential applicants insight into what it would be like to work for you.
• Resume database: Indeed has a database with over 245 million resumes to help you find qualified candidates for your open positions. You can sort them based on education, skills, experience, location and more.
• Virtual interviewing: You can interview applicants directly on Indeed using the site’s on-platform video tool. 

Cons

• Strong competition: There are so many job listings on Indeed that yours needs to be unique to stand out and attract talent.
• Resume database fee: It costs between $120 and $300 per month to access Indeed’s resume database.

LinkedIn Pros and Cons

LinkedIn has its own advantages and disadvantages. Below are a handful to consider.

Pros

• Free job listing: Like Indeed, LinkedIn has free job posting. As applicants roll in, you can filter them into three groups — yes, no and maybe. 
• Sponsored job listing: LinkedIn also has an option to boost a job post’s visibility for a fee. Like with Indeed, you set your own budget.
• Business profiles: You can create a LinkedIn page for your business that summarizes your company mission, workforce, culture and more.
• Personal connections: You can tap into your network of school peers and past coworkers to source qualified candidates who would be willing to consider a new job even though they’re not actively searching.
• Recruiting resources: LinkedIn Talent Solutions expands recruiting and hiring help beyond simply job posting.

Cons

• Talent Solutions fee: LinkedIn Talent Solutions comes at a cost. The Lite version starts at $139.99 per month after a one-month free trial. The advanced version doesn’t have transparent pricing; you must contact sales.
• No interviews: The platform has messaging but not interviewing. 

Indeed vs. LinkedIn Pricing Comparison

Both Indeed and LinkedIn have several free features. With Indeed, it is free to post as many jobs as you want at a time. For LinkedIn, it’s free to post one job at a time. You can also source potential candidates for free by looking at their profiles.

For a summary of their paid offerings, review the comparison table below. 

Indeed vs. LinkedIn Features Comparison

Indeed and LinkedIn have various tools to help you source, vet and manage job candidates. We have a table with explanations of the main features below.

Resume Search

Indeed has an extensive resume database that you can access for a monthly fee. You can do as much searching and filtering as you want on the database, but you have a monthly limit in terms of how many candidates you can contact. The limit is either 30 contacts per month or 100 contacts per month depending on the Indeed Resume plan you choose.

LinkedIn doesn’t have a resume database. However, you can search for and view as many profiles as you want for free. Seeing as personal profiles on LinkedIn often have sections for experience, education and skills, they are effectively resumes. Similar to Indeed, you’re limited in who you can contact. You can contact anyone who is a first-degree connection. For a second- or third-degree connection, you must pay for the Recruiter Lite plan.

Employer Dashboard

Every employer gets a dashboard on Indeed and LinkedIn. Indeed’s dashboard lets you track, message, invite and interview candidates. You can also update job statuses, filter applications and access templates. It’s essentially a one-stop shop for managing your hiring process from start to finish. 

LinkedIn’s employer dashboard isn’t as robust, but it does have some foundational features. You can see how your job post is performing by looking at the number of views and applicants. You can also filter out unqualified candidates and message qualified ones.

ATS Integrations

If you use an applicant tracking system (ATS) for recruiting and hiring, you can integrate it with Indeed for free. Indeed integrates with more than 300 ATSs, so yours is likely to be on that list if you use a well-known one. You can also integrate an ATS with LinkedIn. However, LinkedIn doesn’t offer as many integrations, and the integrations aren’t free. 

Screening Questions

Both LinkedIn and Indeed allow you to include screening questions with your job listings. There are pre-made as well as custom questions to ask about education, location, experience and expertise. You can mark the questions as “required” to filter out any candidates from the start who don’t meet the job’s qualifications.

Skills Assessments

Indeed has hundreds of assessments that you can use to test hard or soft skills. Tests vary in complexity and length depending on the topic. Candidates get a score at the end, which you can see while reviewing their other qualifications. 

LinkedIn doesn’t offer skills assessments.

Virtual Interviews

You can schedule and conduct video interviews directly on Indeed, but LinkedIn doesn’t offer on-platform video interviewing. 

Job Listing Templates

Indeed and LinkedIn both have templates to help you craft job listings that are as engaging and attractive as possible. LinkedIn also has a new AI feature that it’s testing out that writes job descriptions for you. In either case, you can edit the listing template or the AI-generated description to fit your needs.

The Bottom Line

Indeed and LinkedIn are both effective hiring platforms. They start with free job posting and offer paid services if you want more recruiting help.

Their main difference lies in how they work. Indeed aggregates millions of job opportunities from other sites, including LinkedIn, whereas LinkedIn is a social media platform for professional networking with recruiting tools on the side.