I created my LinkedIn account on April 3rd, 2017. In the last year, I have made 512 connections, landed a new job at my school, and was hired for four internships. These accomplishments would not be possible without the creation of my LinkedIn profile.

It all started when I attended a LinkedIn workshop at my university. I had heard of LinkedIn but assumed it was only for adults who were in the middle of their professional career. I was very intimidated by this website because I felt like I had no one to add. At the time, my only existing work experience was food service and retail. None of my friends had LinkedIn accounts.

The woman instructing the workshop was intense. She emphasized the importance of having between 50 to 200 connections, 50 skills, and following and engaging with content from companies you are interested in.

“If you don’t know anyone on LinkedIn, you’ll have to get creative and meet some new people.”

This advice sparked a chain of events. There was less than a month left in the semester, and I had no internship or job lined up for summer. With the break right around the corner, I fully immersed myself in the job search. I spent hours upon hours adding content to my LinkedIn account.

Adding new connections was the primary method to my madness. I started adding alumni from my college with the same major or who work in my prospective field. I added alumni from my high school. I added professors, other students, and went through my Facebook friends list and added everyone I could find that I had some commonality with.

My work finally paid off when I added someone named Jordan.

I had searched my hometown, “Burien,” and the word “marketing,” one of my career interests. Jordan used to work at a car dealership in Burien. He currently works for Juice Marketing, a full-house marketing agency based in Kirkland, Washington. Those buzz words I searched resulted in me finding and adding him as a connection.

I can imagine his confusion when a random college student sent a connection request. We began messaging back and forth and I explained my situation.

A few weeks later, I had the opportunity to go in and visit the agency for an informational interview.

If I had never utilized LinkedIn, I would have never made this connection that resulted in finding an internship.

If you are new to the LinkedIn realm or are inspired to spruce up your account, here is some of my advice to make your profile even better:

1. Fill everything out

Add as many descriptions and experiences as you can on LinkedIn. I have volunteering experiences, class projects, articles, and class courses listed on my profile.

2. Strategically add people

This worked well for me in the beginning, but as my connection network has organically grown I have gone back and removed connections for people I don’t know or that no longer make sense.

3. Engage with others

Comment on posts, share your work, and like content. Follow and stay up to date with companies you have interest in.

LinkedIn can be extremely helpful if you know how to utilize this tool. Here’s to professional development and growing your connection pool!