Last Updated on December 30, 2025 by Fly High Coaching
Personal branding on LinkedIn is your advantage in today’s hidden job market, where recruiters search first and post later. Having a standout presence isn’t optional; it’s essential for visibility, credibility, and inbound opportunities. This episode shows how to build a brand that attracts opportunities, not just interviews.
In this episode, you’ll learn practical ways to optimize your profile and presence without overwhelm. Host and CEO Porschia, alongside guest Mher Mardoyan, share clear steps to sharpen your headline and about hook, showcase impact, and use value-driven comments.
You’ll also get a simple, weekly cadence for networking, DMs, and content.
They explain how LinkedIn differs from Instagram/X, why keywords and visuals matter, and how referrals beat cold applications. Expect tactics for authentic storytelling, consistent engagement, and making your profile recruiter-ready. Small, repeatable actions compound into authority and results.
Mher Mardoyan is a career coach, former “Recruiter of the Year,” and an MBA in management (HR). He’s interviewed 170+ HR leaders and executives on youTube, translating recruiter insights into practical steps for job seekers. His approach blends branding, networking, and profile optimization to help clients land interviews faster.
What you’ll learn
- Why personal branding on LinkedIn is essential for discoverability and recruiter outreach
- How to craft a sharp brand statement that entices others to want to learn more about you and connect
- The profile elements that drive visibility: keyworded headline, compelling about hook, quantified experience, skills, and recommendations
- A weekly, sustainable plan for engagement that you can use to reach your LinkedIn goals
- Key differences vs. Instagram/X—and why authenticity and visuals win on LinkedIn
- Common mistakes executives and professionals make with their personal branding on LinkedIn and simple fixes
As a thank you for listening to this episode of the Career 101 Podcast, we are sharing our FREE master class – Career 911: Solving the Top 5 Challenges Executives and Professionals Have! It’s a training based on solving the common problems our clients have experienced to reach their goals. You can get access to the master class here!
Resources:
- Episode Transcript
Porschia: [00:00:00] Hello, I’m Portia Parker Griffin, and I wanna welcome you to the Career 1 0 1 Podcast, a place for ambitious professionals and seasoned executives who want an edge in their career. We’re talking about all of the things you were never taught or told when it comes to career growth, development, and change.
Now let’s get into it.
Today we are talking about personal branding on LinkedIn with Maher Ian Maher. Ian moved to Vancouver, British Columbia from Lebanon 12 years ago and now resides in St. John’s, Newfoundland. I. He holds A MBA in management with a focus on HR and has earned his HR certification from BCIT in 2018. Maher was recognized as Recruiter of the year in 2017 for his outstanding work at People Ready [00:01:00] Agency.
- Maher’s coaching philosophy centers on personalized support and actionable advice. He has conducted one-on-one coaching sessions and group workshops and has delivered comprehensive career development programs designed to guide clients from job search through to successful employment. For the past seven years, he has interviewed more than 170 people, HR managers, executives, entrepreneurs, and leaders for his YouTube channel.
The purpose of his channel is to give free valuable job search strategies, career insights, and inspiration for job seekers, offering them practical tools to elevate their career prospects. Hi Maher. How are you today?
Mher Mardoyan: Hi, how are you doing? Thank you for having me here.
Porschia: Well, we are excited to have you with us to discuss personal branding on LinkedIn, but first we wanna know a little more about you.
So tell me about 7-year-old Maha. [00:02:00]
Mher Mardoyan: Oh 7-year-old Maha. Energetic creative, always painting family time. Which I believe things are still a guide with me. If you can see my background, those are my paintings. Whenever I go, I try to be creative team player, a family person and I feel that those foundations have guided me over the years.
Whenever we know that life can trust ups and downs, but those things had always been my focus and my faith.
Porschia: So what did you wanna be when you grew up? Maha?
Mher Mardoyan: Ooh. I always knew that I wanted to be something in the art industry or in art related, but my parents kind of suggested me, oh, arts doesn’t bring money or it doesn’t help.
And even I would say fashion designer, because both of my parents were tailors and I was influenced by them. And I said, okay, I will design and you guys [00:03:00] will do the rest of the thing. But they didn’t encourage me in that area. I always been with my mom. If she’s designing something, we go together, you know, to buy the traps and everything and give her guidance.
But as I said, that creative part has always been me. That’s why I keep painting. Maybe sometimes watch, watch fashion shows and things like that, or give my critic opinion whenever there is an event, you know, Oscars or fashion shows that, okay, this is good, this is bad. And usually my predictions are.
Almost good as other people say. But yeah, the creative part is in me and wherever I go in any job. I wanted to bring that creative mindset, open mindset. There’s no there’s no one job fits all, one coaching fits all. That’s why it’s always personalized. What works for one person might not work for the other person.
Porschia: So tell us about some highlights or pivotal moments in your career before [00:04:00] you started your business.
Mher Mardoyan: I would say the highlight has been first having the confidence in me because moving from one country to another, I. You have totally to change your mindset because you grow up with certain mindset from your country, from your family, and when you’re moving to a new country in Canada, although it was very open, easy, but again, the mindset needed to shift so that to have the confidence in me that I can do this or.
I can be prospect. So after that shift happened and I also hired someone to help me, I think after that pivot moment came, okay, now I can do this. Because at the beginning I was a bit hesitant. Can I do this? Who am I that to give this advices? But because I went through and I know the process as an immigrant, as a job seeker, the process or the issues that they face.
I felt that I was ready to give back to the community or to help others [00:05:00] who’ve been in my shoe and help them not to suffer or not take long time for them to understand the importance of networking, the importance of LinkedIn, and nowadays the importance of personal brand, creating what makes you unique, what makes you, you.
Porschia: I think you started answering this question, but I definitely wanna ask it. How did you decide to focus on career coaching as one of your areas of expertise? I would
Mher Mardoyan: say I. Like, I’ve heard this from other people also by chance, you know I went through and I was, okay, I have a job now. I, and I wanted to help others.
And then friends start popping up here and there. Or can you help us or do you know any tips or do you know anything? Okay. I started helping, giving tips and then. As I hired someone to help me, he was doing one minute motivational tip, and [00:06:00] the idea came from that. Okay, I can give one minute. Recruitment tip or employment tip.
So at the beginning the videos were one minute. Those were on my on my, on the X or Instagram. But then I said, okay, I’m liking this. How can I improve it? Or I can make it better. And then I started asking friends who are recruiters or hiring manager, Hey, can I ask you four questions, five questions you have any tips?
So at the beginning it was. I would say it was via Skype using my phone, and I was behind the camera. I was asking the questions, and I You were, and you were going to see only the person. I think later on I start using the Zoom when I’m doing my interviews and the listener or people watching can go and check my YouTube channel, Maher, Mario, and Kerry, coach.
All the tips are there. And now the interview has gone to 180 people and now it’s very like the setup that we [00:07:00] have using the Zoom and, and yeah, it’s, it, it became a very organic, but I also felt that. I want to give people not just tips, because nowadays they can get all the tips online, something practical, something that works for me.
So that’s why whenever I’m meeting with a client, I’m trying to first understand who they are, their values, what makes them unique before we move to other areas.
Porschia: So back in episode 74, we discussed personal branding tips. Why do you think personal branding is important? Maha.
Mher Mardoyan: I think personal branding is very important these days, and a famous quote from Jeff Bezos that says, your personal brand is what people say about you when you’re not injured.
Rome, which is very important these days because at the end of the day, you as a job seeker. You’re selling your stuff, you’re selling your skills, your [00:08:00] experience, your values, and what makes you unique that sets you apart from others. And now, nowadays it’s very important to create a very memorable and authentic.
Personal identity, which will help you. And we know that 70% or more of recruiters check LinkedIn profiles before making any decision. And a strong online presence can increase interview calls by 33%. So the personal brand is important to tell people. What your values are, what you can bring to the table, your accomplishment and your skills, and there are, in order to develop a personal brand statement, I would say there are four things that you need to ask yourself and answer it so that you can develop your personal brand statement.
The first one is. Who you help. Identifying your audience is important because you need to speak to their language. Second, [00:09:00] what you do and highlighting your unique expertise. Example can be is I help business grow their brand presence through data driven strategies and creative storytelling. So you’re showing your unique self.
The third question that you need to ask yourself is what you stand for. Showcasing your distinctive approach or methods. You know, the example can be, I value authenticity, innovation, collaboration, all my work. Ensuring that every project aligns with the client’s core business. So you’re bringing your values, which is also important to know who you are before helping your audience, before helping your client, and finally, the impact you’re making.
So sharing your results and value value delivered is very important these days. So once you have answered all those questions, and again. It takes time. You might not get it from first time practice makes perfect and you can you can take [00:10:00] time to make it better to polish it because as we spoke earlier, where are you going to put your personal brand, especially nowadays.
The first place I would say is on LinkedIn. Again, based on your audience, based on your job search, based on your business, you can put it in X on Instagram, but I would say LinkedIn is the guest place to start putting it. And other areas can be in networking events when you go to meet in person, because there are some times people say something.
But in reality, they are totally different. So your online presence should meet your in-person presence. So when you’re attending events, you should ta talk about the same values. When you’re attending engagements or webinars, you should be the same PLA thing. So that’s why authenticity comes in place.
Hope that answered the questions very long ago.
Porschia: It did. It did. I love it. And I [00:11:00] really think it’s important that you share that personal branding statement and those four questions, you know, who do you help? What do you do? What do you stand for and the impact that you’re making. And I, I really think that’s important for people to reflect on before they just, you know, start going out here and thinking about their, their personal brand and just trying to create content.
Yes. If that makes sense. Mahar? Yes. So I think you kind of started down this path, but I wanna ask LinkedIn. I think it’s an incredible platform for executives and professionals. Yes. Why do you think having a LinkedIn profile is a necessity today?
Mher Mardoyan: Yeah, I would say me, also myself. When I came in in Canada almost 12 years ago, I didn’t know anything about LinkedIn.
What is this? I have no idea. Okay. LinkedIn. Okay. Job search. Okay. I think it started as a job search platform. Now it’s part of your online presence, part of your who you are. [00:12:00] It’s a supplement of your of your resume and it’s your online presence, your digital presence. As you do research on employers, employers are researching you and they’re checking your LinkedIn account.
I was teaching the other day to students and I was telling them. For every job there is maybe 400 or 500 application. Recruiters will only interview 2%. So eight people out of the eight, one person is going to be hired. So in ref, when you are doing just applying online, you’re competing almost 70% of your competitors.
So what you need to do is, rather than focusing. On that, which is applying online, you should focus on referrals. And referrals is down through LinkedIn, through building those relationship. And it takes time. So if you get a referral and the referral person will most probably, fight for you, then you’re [00:13:00] competing maybe 30% of people who are applying.
So, and I got my first job to referral, and I give this example, it took me nine months. Nine months, constantly attending events networking talking to people till I reach someone. He said, oh yeah, I know someone who’s hiring, and then I put your resume on top, and that was it. That’s all. You need your resume on top of the others, and then you need to do the rest.
So in terms of personal brand, as we go back to LinkedIn, there are areas that you can put your personal brand. Let’s start with headline. In the headline, you should tell very key, key word, reach and descriptive because recruiters will check I need, software developer, or I need pharmacy assistant. If you don’t have that key word in your headliner, you’ll not be found.
Second, it’ll be in your about section. Telling your story is very [00:14:00] key. What, how did what? Past, present, future? And at the very end, you should put call for action. DM me, message me. Let’s have a chat. Let’s connect. The other area that you can put in your personal brand is your experience, which we talk about the impact your achievement using action words.
The other area is, I feel that this area is not being used with a lot of people is in the skills and endorsements, because nowadays employers are looking for people. I, I read this study that there are three skills that they’re looking for, communication, problem solving, and teamwork. If you have those.
Your skills are transferable to any area that you’re going. Of course you have piece of paper that says you have this degree, but we all know that during covid times, a lot of people lost their jobs. So those skills, those transferable skills was important. And that’s what it’s, I, that people should make [00:15:00] skills and endorsement.
And the other part also is recommendation. A lot of people don’t use recommendation because recruiters will check, is this person, hireable? Is this person, someone is endorsing them to hire again? And the last part will be in the content creation part to show your personal brand. And I also feel that on LinkedIn networking.
Personal brand content creation, those are all interrelated. If one is missing, the other will not exist. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, your personal brand will not be shown. You cannot network, you cannot create content. So those four are interrelated, and it’s important to have consistency if you don’t have a plan on how to create your personal brand and how to show it on social platforms.
You cannot create this your own presence because if you say, oh, I need to [00:16:00] create something this week, and then you don’t do anything for three or four months, and then you come, you people will forget about you because you’re not in defeat constantly. Now, I’m not saying create content every day. Again, it’s up to you how I want to create three times, two times, once a week, but be consistent.
And the other part I want to emphasize is. Authenticity matters. Authenticity matters because you need to be true to yourself, which means that true colors, your skill, your experiences, and your values. Don’t fabricate anything. Don’t exaggerate anything. This will set you apart because when you are authentic, which means that you are building trust, you’re setting yourself apart, and sustainability.
So those are key, important ingredients. On LinkedIn to express your personal brand, being authentic of who you are.
Porschia: [00:17:00] A lot of great information there, Maher, and I just wanna kinda underline two things. Mm-hmm. When you were talking about the necessity of LinkedIn, you mentioned, you know, when people apply for jobs themselves and you know, 2% of people get the interview.
Yeah. And then referrals. One thing I wanna add onto that is that, you know, having. What we internally call an optimized LinkedIn profile. And so a strong personal brand on LinkedIn that can also help you with attracting job opportunities to Yes. So as you know, there are recruiters out there that just use the recruiting LinkedIn platform and they do not put up a public job posting because to your point, they don’t want.
300, 500 resumes to come in. They just tell their internal recruiting team or their external recruiting firm. Hey go find us our next operations director. Yes. And those recruiters are actively using LinkedIn to find people. [00:18:00] Mm-hmm. So some people call it the hidden job market, but you want to have that strong personal brand like Maher was saying, so that recruiters can find you.
Yes, too. So just wanted to add that and then what you were saying about the different sections was so powerful. A long, long, long time ago, LinkedIn had this career expert program and I was one of their career experts. And a stat that they said back then, and I’d love to get your thoughts on this, they said that over 80% of people are gonna check out your about section.
And from there, make a determination on what they wanna do. Mm-hmm. Do they wanna keep reading or scanning your profile? Do they wanna send you a message or are they gonna click away and go look at someone else? Right. And so that about section is prime real estate, like Maher was saying in terms of talking about your background and you know, the value that you can bring and really setting the stage for your personal.
Brand.
Mher Mardoyan: Yes.
Porschia: So what are your [00:19:00] thoughts about that when I say those?
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Show notes.
Mher Mardoyan: Yeah,
I think I read recently that research is saying that 70% of people will read the first three lines of your about section, which is the hook. Like reading a book. Mm-hmm. We read the first line. If you get us interested, we’ll continue reading and then 34% will continue reading the whole thing.
Like in the movies, the first five minutes, either we are liking it or not. Mm-hmm. Now, on Netflix, we have the option to to change. Right. But when you’re in the movies, you’re [00:21:00] kind of stuck or you can live also. But that hook is very key. How can I hook them? I would say asking questions, asking curiosity questions, and leave a space.
I always give this example, I dunno, that stuck with me. It’s like, do you know that Einstein and me have something in common? Question mark and leave space. Then write it down. Because some people don’t know that you, you can’t leave space so that recruiters will click on see more part. That part, then they will click, oh, this is interesting.
Or put something related to your major, or an accomplishment or something. Curiosity questions is key, I believe because recruiters are human beings. They will make decisions based on what their feelings seeing and really based on their senses. Your picture, if you’re not smiling. What’s wrong with you, or if you are not telling [00:22:00] specifically, or there’s no banner, there’s nothing.
You are a ghost. So you need to use all that in order to make recruiter inviting to your word, which is all. LinkedIn is your website. Don’t you want your website to be the top of the top? Every feature, everything is perfect, polished, so if you don’t do it. Constantly. And I also tell the students, don’t put a picture of your graduation.
Okay, congratulations. That’s fine. But we need a recent picture. I change my profile every year. My looks are different. My maybe aesthetics is different, but there’s always blue color because blue is my color. So everything is blue in my profile. If you guys go, guys, go and check it out. Again, it comes to the authenticity part because that’s the key.
I’m true. I’m trying to be true to myself. And the other part you’ve mentioned is in terms of referrals is, I tell students is identify [00:23:00] 10 to 15 companies that you want to work. Follow them on LinkedIn, engage with their content. And nowadays the researchers saying, commenting and adding value is important.
That will generate, you know, this post get went viral. And I know someone, I believe, when I was recruiting this person back in Vancouver, he told me that they were a social media company and there was this one person constantly commenting, sharing. The marketing person reach out to this person, Hey, what’s your deal?
Why do you like, and he said, I like your company, and I like to work there. And they had a conversation and they offered him job. The job was not positive, even as you’ve mentioned, because that’s what happens. And building relationships takes time. I always give examples to students or people I’m helping is when you go to a bank on day one and you open an account, do you withdraw from day [00:24:00] one?
- No, you put money. Mm-hmm. After a while, you withdraw it. So it’s the same thing with networking. When you connect with someone, you don’t ask them, Hey, can you help me? Can you find me job? Can you refer me? Can you read my resume? The mindset of me. Should be change. It’s all about them, not about you, and you need to add value in their content.
You can do that by commenting. You can congratulate on their accomplishment, or you can say, I read this article, I, I thought about you. You can share you can send it to them or maybe you can, when you are posting something, you can tag them so that they can also comment on you. But again, be careful on.
Don’t take all the time. So there’s a lot of balance. But I would say the key is you need to have a schedule. If [00:25:00] you don’t have a schedule on what are you doing on LinkedIn, it’ll not work. So maybe Monday morning you’re going to comment 10 companies. You’re working Tuesday, you’re going to share an article Wednesday, maybe take the dime off because you’re busy or something.
Or Thursday maybe you want to post something and ask questions, and that’s where you get data and then you can share with the people who post it and maybe every Friday. Create content that’s related to your journey, related to your expertise. So if you are a career coach, put everything about career coach, if you’re a fashion designer, fashion design trends, if you are a pharmacy, pharmacy trend, something related to your industry that you are interested, and that’s the key.
Consistency is the key.
Porschia: I love it. I love it. And I really like how you talked about adding value in the comments that’s so [00:26:00] important to take it a step further than just, this is great. Congratulations. You know, those comments could be good too, but you wanna add a little bit more? I had heard a couple of years ago that like, LinkedIn was prioritizing comments that had like a certain number of words.
I think it was like eight to 10 words in the comment.
Mher Mardoyan: Yes.
Porschia: So
Mher Mardoyan: I, the latest data I received, I believe was last year. Nine to eight words. Mm-hmm. Key words. It has to be in your headliner, in your about section in the feature section. In the experience section, volunteering and the skills section nine to eight key words should be there.
And I also want to say, okay, you have your personal brand, we talk about LinkedIn. Now how are you going to use it in on the steps, the steps to build your personal brand? These are the five steps that I recommend everyone to do it. First, reflect on your unique [00:27:00] strengths, which we talked about. You know, what’s what makes you unique.
Second, define your target orders. So you want to maybe to connect with startup people, or maybe you want to connect with project manager people. Third, optimize your online profile, which mostly will be on LinkedIn for share consistent, value driven content. And finally networking with authenticity. Those five things, if you do it, your personal brand and your presence online will be much higher.
And that’s how you’ll make differentiate yourselves from other, but be aware, ’cause there are some common mistakes to avoid. Don’t over promise, don’t exaggerate things. Being inconsistent in your message is not important. So one day you’re talking about pharmacy. The other day you’re talking about something else.
Third day you’re talking about something else. No, you need to be constantly talking about the same thing, personal branding. You’re [00:28:00] going talk about teamwork, you’re going to talk about. Software developer thinks that you are wanted to be found or to want to be known. And finally neglecting visuals and verbal presentations these days are key because people are very visual person.
They want presentations. So don’t be just words and learn from me, because at the beginning, I was only doing words. Then I saw that no other people are also doing visuals. Okay, now I, I’m using Canva. Now I’m using videos. Now I’m using other small things. So. Try to diversify your, how you’re delivering your message.
Porschia: I love it. You touched on something Mahir that I wanna zero in on. It was your step five on networking. Back in episode 11 we talked about how to network on LinkedIn. Hmm. I’m sure you’ve seen this with clients too. When people hear network, they get overwhelmed. What does that actually actually mean?
Networking on LinkedIn. Yeah. So tell us, you know, your thoughts [00:29:00] about networking on LinkedIn.
Mher Mardoyan: I was telling the student is, identify five to 10 companies that you want to work. Try to find people who are already working there, not the recruiter or the hiring manager. ’cause they’ll be bombarded with similar options.
Try to find a new hire that you can find in your their profile. Again, if they are active. Not everyone is active on LinkedIn, so that’s why it takes time to find those people. Or maybe someone with a similar job title that you want to go in. Before sending them personalized message. Go to their profile, go to their activities, make comments that we talked about earlier, value driven, not like, this is good, this is nice.
Not add something, oh this, add my curiosity. Oh, I have more questions about this. And then send personalized message and say, Hey Maha, I know that you are working in this company. I’m very much interested in your career profile, on your career journey. I like to connect with you. To [00:30:00] share ideas, and then once that person accepts, then you can send.
Thank you Mahe for accepting my my request. I know that you posted about this. These are my thoughts. What do you think? Again, not everyone will accept. Not everyone will do so that’s why it’s important to have that schedule. If you don’t hear back after three to four days from this person, try to find someone else.
But you need to be consistent. And again, not everyone will accept, not with, not everyone will help you. So don’t bombard them. I always gave seven day schedule. Send a message after three days. If they don’t, didn’t answer, maybe follow up and after that, try to find someone else. And then it takes time.
The networking part takes time. And then when you’re going to in-person events again. Have a small talks, tell them what’s your intention at, [00:31:00] what’s your intention attending this event? And then talk about them. Listen, before asking any question or before asking anything anything before, I always get networking requests and out of the suddenly they are sending me their resume or they’re telling me, oh, do you know this person?
Can you help me? Like, I don’t know you. Why I’m going to help you. So people will help other people when they know and they, when they build a report. I have 6,000 connection. I don’t know everyone if you tell me that. Hey, can you introduce me to Jennifer? Jennifer asked, let’s say. Yeah, I know Jennifer, but I never engage with her.
There’s no communication between us, so I cannot make that introduction. So again, don’t expect other people to do things just because they are connected. So
Porschia: yeah. Great points. Networking [00:32:00] definitely takes time. Hmm. So, Mahir, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve seen people have with personal branding on LinkedIn?
Mher Mardoyan: I would say I, I want to give this personal brand checklist. If they follow these checklists, they’ll not have a problem. First. Optimize your LinkedIn profile As we spoke previously, all the areas, everything should be optimized Second. Professional photo and consistent visuals, that’s a key these days.
People are, have very limited span of attention. Visuals speak louder than words sometimes. Third, have your personal statement written. Check it constantly updated. If your things are changing in your life, in or in your career. Thought, active online presence. So that’s why we spoke earlier. If you have a schedule, what you’re doing every day, it’s [00:33:00] key.
I am active online. I don’t have to, but I’m online ’cause I want to learn, I want to grow, I want to build relationship. This is how we ended up here doing this podcast. Mm-hmm. And the third, fifth to one is networking and personal story sharing. Because people will connect with you if you tell a story that’s very personal to you.
So if you do this personal branding checklist, I don’t think you will have any major issues in in your personal brand.
Porschia: I think that’s a great checklist. A question that I get a lot from clients or prospective clients that don’t really understand LinkedIn is and so I wanna ask you Mahir question.
What is the difference between personal branding on LinkedIn and other platforms? Like Instagram or X, right? Formerly known as Twitter.
Mher Mardoyan: Yeah. I would say on LinkedIn you have [00:34:00] more opportunity to talk, to do visuals. To share, to share or maybe one minute video or longer time. I feel that Instagram, again, this is my point of view, Instagram is more visual and picture.
If you wrote it down, it’s like the words are so small to magnify, to read it. And usually people on Linked On on Instagram, they’re just for the picture. They’re liking, maybe commenting. So again, it depends what you want to do on Twitter or XI would say. I’m trying to avoid Twitter and X these days. I don’t want, I’m not an expert there.
Maybe again, my humble opinion may be a statement. One or two statements. That’s all I think. And I don’t know if it’s going to add anything or it’s going to add communication. So personally, I stopped using it for the last three years. Nothing related to anything of this current [00:35:00] political stuff. Right. But I felt that it wasn’t adding anything to me.
So I’m focused more on LinkedIn, Instagram, I would say I stopped it last year. Again, I felt that it wasn’t adding anything, so my whole focus is now on LinkedIn, building those relationship, commenting, putting consistency, and just being there.
Porschia: That’s great. You’ve shared, you know, a lot of great tips from your checklist to your personal branding statement.
I think the biggest challenge I see with people when it comes to personal branding on LinkedIn is, or just overwhelmed by it all. Yes. You know, to your point, it’s like, how do I get started optimizing the profile? What should be on there? What should I do, when should I do it? And then they just get tired and they don’t do anything.
Mher Mardoyan: I would say one step at a time. Don’t overwhelm yourself. So let’s say this month or this week, I’m focusing on my LinkedIn profile to optimize every area, [00:36:00] headline or picture about section skills in it. Once they’re done, then okay, what’s the next step? What is my personal brand? If you follow the guidelines that we talked about, that will help you.
Okay, I did that. Okay, next steps. Content creation and networking. Okay, what am I going to do in networking? Overwhelmed. Okay, let’s me identify five companies. Let’s start small. I mean, everyone starts on LinkedIn with zero connection, with zero comment, with zero likes, so don’t overwhelm yourself. Start small and go from there, and then we know the algorithm.
Then once you start adding, I don’t know, project manager, people on the site, he will add you. Suggestion. Suggestion again. Don’t just send, connect, connect, connect, personalized message. You have 34% chances. So someone will accept you if there’s a personalized message. I get a lot of requests. Sometimes I’m like why I need to add this person or why this person wants from me.
But if there is a message, it’ll help open the [00:37:00] door more. And finally, I would say. Call for action. There are six points. I want to point out that if you do these six points, call for action that will help you with your personal ability. First, audit your online presence. Am I active there? What are people are talking about?
Google yourself. See what will come up. Okay. Second, create a strong LinkedIn profile. As we mentioned earlier, we are repeating that the about section, the headliner, even your banner. Again, remember LinkedIn, use your website and you want your website to have a perfect. Ingredients. Third, share your expertise authentically.
Authentically. So when you are putting content, when you are posting on weekly basis, include real examples from your work. This will increase your chances of visibility and people will reach more about you [00:38:00] board when you are creating content. Post value driven content, content that it is valued. And when you are commenting, also put value driven comments because that will generate conversation with the person or with your audience.
Five, engage with your network. As I mentioned earlier, when you have a schedule. Those 10 companies or 15 companies go to their content and engage with people there. And even I heard that in the engagement part of a post, there is a potential to network with this person. Let’s say Sam is commenting and I’m commenting and I can reach out to Sam.
Hey, we both commented on the same topic, so we like this comment. Let’s have this conversation between us. That’s a way you can reach out to the person and six, and finally, update visual branding. You know, your picture on your LinkedIn, your banner. Those are the [00:39:00] visuals. And then whenever you are creating content, use visuals, use conva.
There’s a free version there. So I feel that with this call for action and the audit that we talked earlier. I think people have enough things to do on about personal brand.
Porschia: They do. They do. You have been very generous with all of your insights and your tips. And you know, if anyone else is still overwhelmed you know, they can always, you know, reach out and, and hire you.
Maha. We do LinkedIn makeovers that where we. Completely rewrite them. And all people have to do is copy and paste the content into their profile. So we’re giving you the information where you can try it yourself, but you know, if you’re still overwhelmed, you’ve got help here. Yes, you’re here.
Time. Yes. Mahara, tell us about your business.
Mher Mardoyan: My business is it has changed over time. So I started at the beginning helping new immigrants because I was an immigrant and I wanted to help [00:40:00] them. Then I pivoted to immigrants and students. Then I pivoted to early, early or new graduate. Now I’m focusing more mid-level professionals and up, I still get requests from the immigrants student.
I can, I do them my 30 minutes free consultation. Mm-hmm. And after that, if they still want. There’s packages for them also, so, but I’m focusing more on the mid-level professor. But I understand the immigrants, I understand new students and I always tell them I’m here to help you as much as possible.
The free stuff, you can use the YouTube channel. All the videos are there 180 videos now and growing, which is great. But as a career coach, I’m here to be your accountability partner because it’s easy. To do things, but someone is not paying you accountable, [00:41:00] then you’ll not be held accountable. I mean that nothing will come to you on a silver plat.
You need to do the homework, but I’m here to guide you. If I tell you that you need to do 10 comments and you don’t do it, you do five, then don’t expect different result because I gave you homework, I gave you an assignment. You need to do the work. To get where you want to go.
Porschia: Yeah. Love it. Love it. We will be providing a link to your website and your social channels in our show notes so people can find you online. Yes. Now I wanna ask you our final question that we ask all of our guests. How do you think executives or professionals can get a positive edge in their career?
Mher Mardoyan: Hmm.
I would say being authentic is key These days. Be yourself because all other because all other people are taken and there’s only one here, there’s only one send. There’s [00:42:00] only one. Jennifer, and know yourself as we go back at the beginning of the podcast is identifying who you are, what’s your values.
Mine is creativity all the time from age seven till now. My faith has been my rock all the time. My family has been my rock all the time and and being, I would say teamwork and listening to others over the years, which grow my skills as a leader has been my foundation. So. Know who you are before you help others, before you be on LinkedIn, before you talk about your personal brand, because people will listen to you if they are related to you.
If there’s a kind of a relationship with you, oh, this person just like me, or this person’s story is just like me. So telling some those stories. On LinkedIn, personal stories that we are seeing lately a lot [00:43:00] is becoming very vulnerable and very key. And I’m seeing people are sharing their struggles or their addictions or things like that, and the response is very high.
So, but know who you are before you go on the platform.
Porschia: I love that. And that ties into personal branding and everything. Maher. You’ve shared a lot of tips with us today, and I’m sure that our listeners can use it to be more confident with their personal branding. We appreciate you being with us.
Mher Mardoyan: Thank you for having me.
And again, for everyone wants to reach out to me. I’m, I’m available on LinkedIn, Mihir, Marion. Just send a personalized message how you heard about me and that would me give an idea.
Porschia: This episode was brought to you by the Brave Bird Career Alliance, the go-to membership designed for seasoned executives and ambitious professionals with everything you need for [00:44:00] career planning, strategy, training, and support. Thank you again for listening to the Career 1 0 1 podcast. I hope you have at least one key takeaway that you.
Can use in your own career. If you enjoyed hanging out with us, please rate, subscribe, and share this podcast. Until next time, here’s to your success.
