I am a big believer that all of us need to need to help the generation of professionals that is following us. For me, that means giving back in any way that I can to our country’s colleges and universities. This spring has been a busy one on that front as I have had the chance to speak to local classes at both the University of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky University, present at Pi Sigma Epsilon’s National Convention, and attend the Board meeting of the VCU BrandCenter. In every single one of these sessions, a common question was asked by students:

“What should I be doing in order to get a job in marketing and / or brand management?”

Of course this is a question that is always going to be on the minds of college students as they near graduation. But with competition for jobs even higher this year because of the economy, it is a question that is more important than ever.

And with the importance of the question, I have thought hard about the answer and what I would do if I was in the shoes of students today. At then end, the answer is a relatively simple one:

College Students need to start going the extra mile today in order to get their 10,000 hours of practice in marketing.

I have written before about Malcolm Gladwell’s theory that being great at something takes around 10,000 hours of practice. The same holds true for anyone that hopes to get a job in marketing or brand management. They should be viewing college as the first few hundred (or even first few thousand) hours of practice in their marketing careers.

But I am not talking about just the classes. Those are extremely important of course, but the best and the brightest go beyond that. After all, everyone has to take roughly the same classes to graduate so just doing that workload won’t set you apart from the other 1.5 million students graduating in the US this year.

So how do you set yourself apart? As I told students at those recent classroom visits, setting yourself apart starts with three simple steps:

1. Join a professional organization to start gaining real world experience: My good friend Anthony Portuesi recently wrote on his blog Driven Leaders on the topic that “College Students: Professional Organizations Can Separate You From the Pack.” Anthony and I were both fortunate enough to be members of Pi Sigma Epsilon during college. In this marketing fraternity, we had the chance to work for dozen of real marketing clients including Procter & Gamble and Ford Motor Company…all while going to school. The best way to start your career early is to start getting work experience early. Professional organizations like PSE are the perfect way to do just that. And it gives you real things to talk about in an interview instead of just this great group project that you did in a marketing class.
2. Choose an internship over that study abroad program: This might not be a popular choice, but I think every student should be thinking about an internship instead of studying abroad for a summer. Sure that summer in Europe or Asia will be a great time and you will get exposure to another culture. But skipping that internship will put you 3 months behind the person that choose a paycheck over a fun trip. And more importantly, you never know when that internship could turn into a real job…which means your senior year will be much less stressful when you have an offer in hand before the year even begins.
3. Use social media for real networking instead of posting photos from last night’s party: This is Google’s world and we are just living it. That means that anything you put up on Facebook, MySpace or Twitter will be there for any recruiter or HR manager to see (whether you mark that profile private or not). So instead of using Social Media to just be social, start putting those networking skills to use by marketing yourself. Step one is to embrace LinkedIn. Fill out your profile to 100% completeness and make sure it has all the buzz words important to your career choice. Step two is to start becoming involved in industry chatter online. This does not mean finding everyone that works for a company in your field and asking them for a job. Instead, start interacting with people in your industry early in your college career. Follow them on Twitter and ask them questions. Read their blogs and leave insightful comments (not on every post… you dont want to be a stalker). Social Media is for participating and it gives everyone an equal chance to talk with the smartest people in their industry. Embrace that level playing field.

Now that does not sound all that tough, does it? Just remember that the key is not waiting until your senior year to start thinking about your career. Start practicing your marketing skills early on and you will get those 10,000 hours of practice in sooner than your colleagues.