As I near the halfway point of my junior year, I have been thinking a lot more about the professional side of my life. A week ago, I was a junior with no internship lined up and about 15 connections on LinkedIn. Today, I have an internship secured for the spring semester and I have over 200 connections, and counting.

Are you looking to grow your professional network? Here's how I did it.

One night last week, I was doing the usual endless scroll through TikTok, when something unexpected happened; I came across a "LinkedIn following chain" video on my for you page. User @alyboekholder posted the video that started it all. Even though she posted it as a joke, the TikTok ended up accumulating over 8,000 comments of people dropping their LinkedIn names.

As someone that has been struggling to make connections, I knew this was the opportunity I've been waiting for. So, I scoured the thousands of comments and requested as many people as I could. The next morning, I woke up to a slew of notifications from people accepting my connections.

The more people I connected with, the more mutual friends I was being recommended. I even came across a Google Sheet someone created called "@alyboekholder Tiktok - LinkedIn Friends!." The sheet has over 700 young professionals' LinkedIn's listed, and is a great resource if you're looking to grow your network. It's even sorted by major, so you can find people in the same field as you.

I already knew social media was a powerful resource, but this experience really solidified that idea for me. I never expected to make so many connections from TikTok of all apps.

If you're looking for a place to start, I am open to connect with anyone! My major is public relations, and you can find me here. I have connected with over 200 young professionals looking to grow their networks, so feel free to go through my connections and request people.

2021 will be our year. Let's take advantage of this opportunity and grow our networks together!