A few weeks back, I met some family, one of whom was going to pursue an international degree this year, right after high school. I am sure she has been receiving a lot of advise on how to navigate this exciting new phase of life. This made me think — what advise would I give her and other students like her, that would benefit them for a long time to come.

Just one advise.

Here’s the marketer in me talking — If I told you that the hiring team can get to know you ‘before’ you meet them in-person, would you believe it? If I told you that you can MAKE this happen, would you believe it? As a student who is about to start college or who will be graduating soon, you can get a head-start to landing your dream job or building a dream career.

Start BUILDING your LinkedIn profile. It does not end with creating a profile with a picture of yourself.

LinkedIn is an on-going process, much like the real-life networks that you have.

As first steps, fill out all the basic information about yourself and put up a nice picture. Keep it professional. There are plenty of websites that offer free tools to edit pictures and design a banner. The free versions of Canva and Adobe Spark have served me well so far.

Start writing. Talk about your experiences, share your perspective and tell the world what did you learn. Show your growth towards a professional life. College can be a life-changing experience in many ways. If you are an outstation or an international student, the move to a new city and a new country is in itself life-altering. There is plenty to share — how are you adjusting, how are you coping up, what are you doing to make new friends, how did you find out about a great student deal on winter coats and such. Start small, if you wish. Start a blog (many websites offer free services for this) and share it on LinkedIn. Use LinkedIn’s ‘Featured’ section to pin your favorite articles. Use tools like Grammarly to help you proof-read and edit your write-up.

Dedicate some time to LinkedIn every week. Add professionals from your industry to your LinkedIn network. I would strongly advise you to send a message with the connection request. Tell them that you are pursuing a degree in the field and want to learn more about it. Or, that you really liked what they wrote in the recent post and what are your thoughts about it. Engage with other professionals.

Update your profile every 3–4 months. Put a reminder in your phone or in your calendar. Add any newly acquired skills. If you worked on a new project, write 3–4 points describing it and how did you contribute to it. Talk about the subjects that you are studying, what have been your take-aways or what can be improved about them?

Show an active interest in your dream career and the field that it belongs to. Share articles on your feed. Better still, share an opinion on the said article. Subscribe to newsletters and publications so that you get the latest posts right in your inbox.

Present yourself as a positive and an amiable personality. Engage with people by congratulating them on their achievements.

From the very beginning, build yourself up as a professional on LinkedIn. Because when the time comes, you will be ready for it.