SHEET 07 · DECISION SEQUENCE · REV 2026-08
Answer these in order. Most of the disappointment people report after switching platforms comes from skipping question one and starting at question five.
Sequence drawing prepared for this page. It illustrates the order of the questions below and does not depict any product, process or measured result.
Write one sentence. "Be found by hiring managers in one industry" and "spend less time reading a feed" lead to opposite answers. A platform cannot be assessed until the sentence exists.
If you cannot finish the sentence, the honest next step is not a new platform.
Name the specific group: recruiters in a sector, buyers of a service, peers who review work, organisers who book speakers. Then check whether that group is present and active on the platform you are considering — not whether the platform is popular in general.
A network with millions of people and none of your twenty is worth less than a forum with two hundred.
Some professions hire from a written history. Others hire from a body of work. If yours is the second, the question is less "which network" and more "where does the work live, and does the link travel well."
This single question decides whether a portfolio host belongs in your setup at all.
Every platform has an upkeep cost: posting, replying, keeping a profile current. An abandoned presence is usually worse than none, because it is discoverable and out of date.
Budget the time before you sign up. Reduce the number of platforms until the budget fits.
Check the provider's own pricing page on the day you decide. Note what the free tier covers, what triggers a paid tier, whether billing is monthly or annual, and how cancellation works.
Do not rely on pricing quoted in articles, including this one — which is why none is quoted here.
Look for a documented export, what formats it produces, and what is excluded. Connections, messages and posts are often treated differently from one another.
Export terms are easiest to check before you have anything to lose.
Set a date roughly three months out and decide now what evidence would count: relevant conversations started, enquiries received, questions answered. Then keep, cut, or change.
Without a review date, platforms accumulate. Accumulation is how the time budget in Q-04 quietly breaks.
Educational information only. This checklist is general guidance about choosing software. It is not career, employment, financial or legal advice, and no outcome of any kind is promised or implied.
Independent and unaffiliated. This page is not affiliated with, sponsored by, authorised by or endorsed by any professional networking or recruitment company. No platform is named, ranked, recommended or scored anywhere on this sheet.
Verify before deciding. Features, pricing, export options and terms change without notice. Confirm every detail directly with the provider.