Linkedin : Suggestions for new product features

Linkedin is the world’s largest professional network with more than 600million users worldwide. Almost every professional and college student in the world has a Linkedin profile and use it for various purposes like networking, online learning, job hunting, profile building, etc. The following analysis presents a set of possible new features in Linkedin that could enhance the user experience and make it an even more powerful platform.

Linkedin Cloud CVs

• A new section within Linkedin for creating and saving CVs, instead of using external word document tools.
• Import Linkedin profile as starter template and add further details
• Create multiple variants for different profile types
• Job Application methods:

i, Authorise the job-posting company and recruiter to view the online CV

ii, Auto-generate a PDF or word version and email or upload as attachment

• Auto Job search mode : When enabled by a candidate, Linkedin auto scans the hidden CVs for details and matches the candidate to suitable job openings and provides suggestions

Revenue potential : Users can be charged for professional CV templates, more number of CV variants, CV review services and enabling of AI powered job search mode that auto suggest suitable jobs

Digital Certificates

• A solution to fully digitise academic and professional certificates. Replace paper format.
• Institutes and Corporations can publish digitally signed certificates to users’ Linkedin IDs
• Linkedin Junior : A minimal version of Linkedin to onboard school students with a unique Linkedin ID for receiving certificates. Handled by parents or school authorities.
• Verified entities : Organisation and institute profiles can be verified to increase authenticity of the certificates

Revenue potential : A monthly fee can be charged to the publishers of certificates, for providing them a permanent digital repository

New age hiring tools

• Shared Talent Pool : A feature that allows companies recruiting for similar roles within same timeframe to share candidate interview feedback , thus speeding up hiring for all
• Warm Pool Creator : A solution to the problem of talent shortage for niche skills. Companies can post tentative openings several months ahead with suggestions for required skills and preperatory courses, thus giving time for interested candidates to upskill and apply for the roles later
• Digital offer letters : Companies can send digitally signed offers to candidates Linkedin ID. Candidates can digitally sign and accept offers received via Linkedin
• Organisation Chart : A feature that allows the management and HR to draw organisation charts of current employees, map potential hiring needs in the chart and auto-convert them to job postings in Linkedin

Revenue potential : The above tools could be part of the premium tiers

Quick Company Launcher

• A platform that enables to setup the digital presence of a company in a few minutes
• Provides the best info and service provider details for legal registration, licenses, etc
• Coworking Space aggregator : Singe place to book seats across any coworking space provider

Revenue potential : Monthly fees for website and email hosting , as per standard cloud charges. Commission per seat of coworking space booked through Linkedin. Referral fee for service providers listed in the platform

Linkedin University

• A platform that catalogs and compares the online courses from all major edtech companies
• Recommendation of courses based on topics of interest , career plans , ratings by others, etc
• Option to sign up for courses with Linkedin ID and auto publishing of certificates on completion
• Scholarships for enrolment and premium job search features on graduation
• Tie-ups with corporates to evolve this platform as the ideal destination for employee upskilling
• Digital textbooks : Option to search, purchase and read relevant e-books within Linkedin

Revenue potential : Referral fee can be charged to the different course providers for signups received through Linkedin

Linkedin Surge

• A vernacular app that empowers blue collar and skill based professionals
• Notifications on all Public Sector jobs with details of application
• Upskilling Tools : Latest tutorials on skills needed for different industries
• Digital credentials : A digital repository for experience certificates and recommendation. Option for employers to create digital certificates within Linkedin even for very short work duration.
• Trust Score : Linkedin as a common platform for employees to build a trust score based on feedback, user rating, etc from across different jobs
• Mobile School : An option for semi skilled workers to improve their educational qualification part-time by learning through the app and take exams later to earn school or college degrees
• Continued Benefits Hub : For sectors where hiring is for part-time or short term contract openings, option for workers to keep benefits like family health insurance always active via a minimal payment, till next gig
• Assisted job search : Option for assistance by professional volunteers for digital job search

Revenue potential : Basic fee for courses and other services provided

Career Lamp

• A chat buddy that answers any queries on education and jobs
• Converts user’s conversations to queries on Linkedin’s massive database and returns a customised and context aware response

Revenue potential : All basic conversations must be free. Advanced insights maybe restricted to paid users of the platform. Also course providers and institutes can be possibly charged for referrals

Events and Conferences Center

• Event Page : A page for organisers to publish and promote events
• Speaker Invites : Organisers can do profile search and send formal invites to potential speakers
• Event Registration : Linkedin users can find all education & professional events and register / RSVP in one click using their profile
• Option to attend virtually through Linkedin Live
• Enhanced event interaction section that makes Linkedin the preferred destination for event day conversations over other social media platforms.

Revenue potential : A small percentage of the ticket fee for bookings done through Linkedin

Linkedin for Institutes

Ready to use solutions for admissions, alumni connect & placements

Revenue potential : Monthly or annual fee for portals built using Linkedin

Linkedin for Companies

• PR Hub : Linkedin company page as the center for official Press Releases by companies.
• CSR and Sponsorship : Linkedin as a platform for companies to collaborate with external stakeholders for their CSR initiatives and to receive sponsorship requests
• Widgets and APIs to power team, blog and career sections in websites : A new set of tools that enable teams to import jobs section, team profiles and blogs from Linkedin and display them in relevant pages in the official website by embedding as widgets or using Data APIs

Revenue potential : Monthly or annual fee to companies for using these features

Linkedin Contact Cards

A sample contact card

• A new section within Linkedin that collects the QR contact cards. For each card, send a connect request in Linkedin or import into CRM tools
• Multiple card versions : A person can create multiple versions and share chosen one.

i, Casual contacts : This card version shares only work email and landline number

ii, Trusted contacts : This card version shares personal email and mobile number

• Dynamic updates : When a person updates his/her contact details, the same will update in their contact cards collected by others
• Option to scribble meeting details for each card

Revenue potential : A small fee for collecting more than 1k+ cards, etc. A fee to enable option to import to CRM tools