CIO — LinkedIn announced this week a new paid account exclusively for job seekers called the Job Seeker Premium Account. The upgrade, LinkedIn says, is intended to help LinkedIn members stand out from the crowd, reach out to hiring decision makers and manage their job search more effectively.

This is the latest feature LinkedIn has added to its site that is tailored specifically for job seekers. Last month, LinkedIn announced a free tool that matches users to job openings.

As a member of the premium account, you will be moved to the top of the hiring manager's list as a "featured applicant" when you apply to jobs on LinkedIn. When hiring managers log in to their LinkedIn accounts and view who's applied for a job, "they're highlighted and displayed in a more eye-catching way than a non-featured applicant," says Parker Barrile, director of product management at LinkedIn. Hiring managers, Barrile says, have responded positively: "These job seekers stand out to hiring managers because they've invested extra time and money to make their job search successful, so they know they're serious about it."

The premium account also lets you to send InMail messages directly to hiring managers, even if they reside outside your network, and you have access to the Profile Organizer, which lets you save profiles, add notes to the profiles and keep track of contacts from your job search.

[For more articles on LinkedIn, check out LinkedIn Tips: Getting More from the Social Networking Service.]

As a paid account member, you also have access to tutorials and videos on how to use the premium features such as InMails and the Profile Organizer (which are also part of the standard upgrade account) in a way that can help you in your job search.

There are three account tiers you can choose from: basic, job seeker and job seeker plus.

Basic: The basic account costs $19.95 per month. You're allotted five folders in your Profile Organizer and can view 100 profiles of hiring decision makers per search. You're also allowed 10 introductions to inside sources at companies.

Job Seeker: This account costs $29.95 per month. You're allotted five InMails that let you contact hiring managers directly and ten folders in your Profile Organizer. You can view 250 profiles of hiring decision makers per search and you're allowed 15 introductions to inside sources at companies.

Job Seeker Plus: The Plus account costs $49.95 per month. You're allotted 10 InMails, 25 folders in your Profile Organizer and can view 500 profiles of hiring decision makers per search. You're also allowed 25 introductions to inside sources at companies. All three accounts come with a webinar on looking for jobs on LinkedIn.

Staff Writer Kristin Burnham covers consumer Web and social technologies for CIO.com. She writes frequently on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google (GOOG). You can follow her on Twitter: @kmburnham.