
I had spoken about this topic briefly in the when he asked me about the ways to handle a personal brand during the early stage of one’s career.
It could be perfectly applicable to students in higher secondary classes or in college.
These days, when we think of the ‘personal brand’ construct, we assume that a younger person’s (in school or college) personal brand is primarily on Instagram (and TikTok before that). Or that they may be an ‘influencer’.
But these are far and few. Sure, younger people are mighty active on Instagram doing their own things, sharing pics of things that happen in their lives, but a majority of them will be looking for conventional jobs too after their college degree (UG or a PG).
So, besides chilling out on Instagram and unlike serious ‘influencers’, they could aim to build a professional (personal) brand digitally too.
The first question most such students/youngsters ask is this: ‘I do not have any work experience. I’m studying in a college (or in higher secondary) now. I’m not a ‘professional yet! So, what kind of professional (personal) brand can I even think of building for myself?’.
This is a fair question.
For a person with work experience, there is a starting point already – the companies they have worked in (so far), the area of work they are into, a few recommendations, and so on.
When someone is not yet a ‘professional’, how could they build their brand? Where would they even start?
The first point to consider here is to understand that a personal brand is not just about work. A personal brand is far beyond mere work/profession. Sure, work/profession lends credibility and weight to the brand, but it is not everything. Particularly for youngsters who haven’t even started working yet, or just starting out.
A personal brand’s purpose is to construct, project, and live up to an identity for yourself.
Such an identity could be about just one thing or a few things. We are humans, and we have interests in assorted things. But the fewer (more focused) our projection is, the easier for others (particularly strangers) to create a mental association of who we say we are.
For a working professional, this usually starts with where they work, and the industry they work in.
For a school student or a college student, given that there is no work as a starting point, a good starting point is interest areas. Such interest areas could be of 2 broad kinds: interested vs. hands-on interest.
Hands-on interest is easy to understand: sports, some kind of music/instrument, fashion, biking, outdoors, photography, specific subjects in school/college, and so on. Generally, hands-on interest, at a school/college level, tends to be non-work, non-professional. And this is perfectly understandable and ok.
Interested: You may only be studying higher secondary school-level economics, but you could exude interest in the world economy. Or leadership. Or business management. Or investment. Or marketing. Or hiring. Or start-ups. Or specific technology – like coding, e-commerce, supply chain, and so on. The ‘interested’ areas for someone at a school/college level are the real stepping stone towards becoming a professional.
But, what could someone at a school/college level talk about even if they are interested in marketing, HR, coding, investment, e-commerce, among others, considering they haven’t worked on any of this… yet?
Simple.
You demonstrate interest. Consistently.
How do you demonstrate an interest in a topic that you have no hands-on experience in? There are 2 steps to this.
Internal – this happens with yourself:
By reading about it.
By thinking about what you read.
By reading more.
By talking to people who have hands-on experience; broaden your own understanding.
External – this is where you project and showcase your interest:
By talking about what you read and think, with your point of view/perspective added to it.
You could be a Class 12 student with an interest in say, marketing. You have no experience in it, of course. But you have access to the entire world of marketing via the internet. Read as much as you can. Keep yourself abreast of what’s happening in the world with regard to marketing. The more—and better—you do, you would start to form opinions and questions in your head. Start sharing them, not sounding like an expert, but simply as a passionately interested person. Remember that you are demonstrating your interest, not showcasing your expertise or knowledge. You are learning and your demonstration is about enjoying that learning process.
Why is this relevant?
You could talk on Instagram about life, college/school, friends, food, fun, partying, hobbies, etc. That projects a kind of a person. Someone who is a normal student in the eyes of strangers.
But you could also talk consistently about your learning and interest in topics that you eventually want to build a career on, on LinkedIn. That projects another kind of a person. Someone who commits to, and makes an effort to learn about things that interest her professionally, in the eyes of strangers.
If you do only the former, you would be seen as a normal school-going/college-going kid.
If you also do the latter, you’d be seen as a normal school-going/college-going kid with an active interest in X, Y, or Z.
The choice is yours.
The difference usually manifests in the real world too. When you start attending interviews after college, if you talk about your interest in marketing when applying for a marketing intern’s position, for instance, the company would look you up online. If they find the usual, college’y stuff on your social media handles, it doesn’t say much about you and you are just one among many who look the same. But if they find a consistent demonstration of interest in the very area you wish to start your career in, even before starting to work, that puts you on a small pedestal above several others.
No, it doesn’t mean you’d have it easier than others. But you would stand out. When you explain why you want to start a career in marketing, it may not seem like mere/empty words to that company when they also notice that you have showcased this interest in the 2-3 years before that interview, and have made an effort to understand, learn, and be more actively and vocally curious about it.
Is there someone you could look up to, to understand what I’m saying here? Of course! I have written about 2 of them earlier too. I first noticed Tanya on LinkedIn when she was in class 11 in 2019, and when Vinusha was a 10-year-old, again on LinkedIn, in the same year.

So, what could a higher secondary student or a college-going student do on LinkedIn? There are a – that’s a separate topic in itself.