Hey there,

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Back in 2019, when I got a job at FSSAI (without an interview), I started getting multiple messages from college students every day to guide them on how to get a job there.

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Since I had already done it, it wasn’t rocket science for me.

But I knew personal branding was relatively a new concept to my audience, so I made a video about my story: https://youtu.be/iHL9qHD_K2o

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Some students said I just got lucky.

Some students said they were inspired.

But only a few of them tried posting content.

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Whenever I got a message from a student who lost all hope during the job search, I’d recommend posting content and connecting with industry professionals via LinkedIn.

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They said ‘I’ll try’

Some of them did try.

But gave up too soon.

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The common excuses for giving up:

‘It takes too much of my time’

‘No one liked my first 3 posts so there’s no point’

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We will get back to the 2nd point later someday (because it’s mostly a perspective reset).

But in today’s issue, let’s tackle the first point: Having no time to create content

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Let me step into the shoes of a student for a minute.

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I have assignments to do.

I have classes to attend.

I have exams to tackle.

So… I have no time….right?

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If I look at my screen time, it’s 3+ hours per day currently.

(Guilty)

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Now don’t come at me saying that you need 3 hours of daily social media to ‘relax’ after the classes.

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You’re lying to yourself and you know it.

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Even if you cut back 30 minutes of screen time per day, you have 3.5 hours per week.

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And believe me, when I say, it’s more than enough to create content for an entire week.

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Now if you can’t even invest 3.5 hours per week to market your skills to the recruiters, don’t come complaining to me when you don’t find work.

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(Yeah, today I woke up and decided to give you my tough love)

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When you know 200+ applicants apply for just 2 positions in an organization, it makes sense to at least give content creation & personal branding a fair chance.

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You have a moral obligation to go after your dreams!

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But I’m not going to just give you some platitudes.

Here’s a day-wise plan I use to create weekly content for a client on LinkedIn:

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1. Monday: Research and idea generation. (1 hour)

I don’t spend much time generating ideas, because I almost always keep a doc on the phone or laptop to jot down ideas whenever they come.

It’s mostly researching and fact-checking that takes some time. This step shouldn’t take more than an hour.

However, if you are creating content for the first time, let go of the expectations to create content quickly.

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2. Tuesday: Writing drafts (30 minutes)

Depending on the type and frequency of content, this could take 30 minutes to an hour.

If I write a YouTube script, I usually take a few hours to write and then refine it.

However, for LinkedIn, it takes significantly lesser time. If you struggle with perfectionism, set a timer for 30 minutes and do it within the time limit.

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3. Wednesday: Design/Final draft (2 hours)

If you decided to create carousels, that will take around 2-3 hours. However, you can save time by directly using templates from canva.com

I take around 1.5 hours to create 5 carousels only because I have templates ready for the content to plug and use.

If you don’t want to create carousels, it takes even lesser time.

You would be able to refine and polish the drafts within an hour.

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So Areeb, what about Thursday to Sunday?

You can use that time to rest, reassess your content or engage with other creators.

You don’t really need 20 hours of content every week to build a personal brand.

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So, to summarise:

• Monday: Research and ideation (1 hour)
• Tuesday: Draft (30 minutes)
• Wednesday: Final draft (2 hours)
• Thursday: Connect/Reassess and rest

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Follow this schedule and not only will you save time but avoid creator burnout as well.

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Liked this newsletter?

Let me know by simply responding to the emails.

(And I read all your emails!)

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Have a great weekend,

Areeb

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