Are you maximizing the potential of your LinkedIn profile? As a job seeker, LinkedIn is a powerful tool to find opportunities and be contacted for roles. Employers and recruiters will be seeking you out through the platform based on how you have optimized your presence. Check out this LinkedIn profile checklist to get the most out of your job search using the platform.

• Use a photo that is updated to what you currently look like and not blurry. The photo should be up close from about the shoulders up. Complete the top of your profile with a header photo related to your career path or interests. For example, if you’d like to work in ag mechanics, use a photo that represents that.
• If you can, put that you are open to work on your profile. This can be done with a photo frame or in your profile biography.
• Utilize the bio to talk about your career goals, your passions, and your specialties. It is the first impression you will make alongside your photo.
• Add an email and phone number to the Contact Info section of your profile.
• Include all your past education and work experience.
• Follow hashtags related to your job search. For example, you could follow #CalAgJobs, #AgJobs, or #JobsinAg.
• Follow the accounts for companies you’d like to work for. You can also follow the CalAgJobs LinkedIn to keep up to date on what roles are becoming available throughout the industry.
• Post regularly on your profile. These posts should be about your career, education, volunteer work, life milestones, or sharing helpful job related or industry tips.
• Add skills to your profile that are related to what will be required of you in the field you are trying to enter.
• Add companies to the interests section of your profile that relate to what you want to do in your career. For example, if you’d like to work in education, add academic institutions of interest to you.