Landing a job in IT isn’t just about passing your certifications, though that part matters a lot. It’s about what employers find when they look you up before they ever schedule an interview. And they will look you up.
Victoria Moore knows this better than most. A senior account executive at Largemouth Communications, a Raleigh-based PR firm working with clients from local businesses to Fortune 500 companies, Victoria also serves as president of the North Carolina chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. She joined Get Into IT Live recently to walk us through what she sees working, what she sees failing, and what most job seekers completely overlook.
The conversation started with a simple question: what exactly is personal branding? Her answer cuts through the noise quickly.
“Personal branding is you jumping off the page,” Victoria said. “It speaks to everything from your values to your expertise, but my favorite part of it is your personality. It’s what makes you human.”
That’s the part most people skip. They obsess over certifications and bullet points and forget that hiring managers are also trying to answer a different question: is this person going to fit here? Your personal brand is what answers that question before you walk in the door.
The Job Market Is Honest With You Whether You Like It or Not
Here’s the reality Victoria laid out plainly. The job market is saturated. You click “apply” on LinkedIn and the listing already has 85 applicants, and it’s been live for three hours. Staring at that number is genuinely demoralizing.
But here’s the flip side: most of those 85 people have identical-looking profiles. Generic headlines. Sparse bios. No recommendations. No personality. Which means showing up with a strong personal brand isn’t some extra-credit project. It’s how you compete.
Build Your LinkedIn Profile Top to Bottom
Victoria’s approach to building a LinkedIn profile is refreshingly practical: go top to bottom, because that’s how people scroll. Here’s what she focuses on at each level:
- Profile photo and banner image. The photo should show your face clearly, from the shoulders up, with an expression that reads as engaged and approachable. The banner is more underutilized than almost any other element on the page. Victoria keeps the Raleigh skyline as hers because it reflects where she’s from and what she cares about. For an IT professional, it could be a tech-related graphic, a photo from a conference, or a clean image that connects to the kind of work you want to do. Anything beats the default gray box.
- Headline. LinkedIn calls it a headline for a reason. It needs to communicate what you do and what you’re going for. “Entry-level professional” tells nobody anything. “Entry-level IT professional seeking help desk and support roles” tells someone exactly where to place you. Keep it specific and keep it honest.
- Bio. This is where you answer not just who and what, but why. Why are you in IT? Why are you making this move? What perspective do you bring that somebody else doesn’t? Victoria’s point is that LinkedIn has increasingly become a social platform, not just a resume repository, and your bio should reflect that. A well-written bio isn’t a list of credentials. It tells a story.
- Recommendations. The one part of your profile where someone else makes the case for you. A professor you had a solid relationship with, a classmate who worked alongside you on a project, someone from a previous job who can speak to how you solve problems under pressure. “It’s really just an extension of your personal brand for people who are close to you,” Victoria said. Two or three genuine, specific recommendations carry more weight than a perfectly polished bio.
- Featured section. This is where you start customizing. A PDF that captures a project you completed, something you wrote for school, a case study, a work sample. The best use of this section is showing something you couldn’t show anywhere else on the page.
Having a Profile Is Not the Same as Being on LinkedIn
A lot of people have LinkedIn profiles. Far fewer actually use them. Victoria’s take on what “being active” actually looks like: carve out 15 to 20 minutes a day. That’s it.
But she’s specific about what to do with those 15 minutes. Posting is fine, but posting without a network doesn’t do much. Engagement does more. That means commenting thoughtfully on posts from people in your industry, asking questions in comment sections, responding to what companies you’re interested in are sharing.
“If you go out of your way to say something substantive in someone’s comment section,” Victoria explained, “that person sees your name. And when you apply to their company six months later, you’re not a stranger anymore.”
She also made the case for direct messages, done well. Not the copy-paste template that reads like a form letter. A personal note that references something specific, a talk they gave, a post they shared, a role they’ve described. Something that signals you actually paid attention. Then you ask for 30 minutes of their time on Zoom, or a coffee if you’re both local. Most people will say no because they’re busy. Some will say yes. And one yes can change your trajectory.
The Other Platforms (Yes, They Matter)
Instagram, TikTok, X. Do they have a role in a job search? Victoria’s answer is yes, because your personal brand isn’t just what you show in professional spaces.
“Instagram is your highlight reel of your life,” she said. “What you’re posting is a reflection of you, your family, your friends, what you do for fun.” Employers who look you up will sometimes find those platforms. What do they see?
TikTok is doing something interesting for early-career professionals. The platform’s reach and relatively low-pressure format lets people establish themselves as subject matter experts without the formality of LinkedIn. A short video sharing what you learned from your latest IT certification study session, or breaking down a cybersecurity concept for a general audience, builds credibility and visibility at the same time.
X functions similarly to LinkedIn in its purpose but with far less space to say anything. Victoria still sees value in it for the tech world specifically, where a lot of organizations and industry voices maintain active presences. If engaging there feels natural to you, go for it. If it doesn’t, your time is probably better spent on LinkedIn.
The consistent message across all of them: whatever you’re putting out is part of your brand, intentionally or not.
The One Thing That Kills Your Credibility Fast
Victoria didn’t mince words here. The fastest way to undermine your personal brand is to sound like you’re not actually the one talking.
“If you’re crafting a post, it’s supposed to come from you,” she said. “It’s not supposed to come from that AI source.” Buzzwords and jargon, words like innovative and transformative thrown around without any specifics, signal to a trained reader that nobody home actually wrote this.
And then there was the moment in the conversation that will resonate with anyone who’s been paying attention to this particular shift in writing culture. Victoria mentioned the markers that tell readers something was AI-generated: “M-dashes, everyone knows. People know at this point.”
The irony of having that conversation on a show produced by a team that has specifically eliminated em-dashes from all of its content was not lost on anyone. The point stands regardless: authenticity is the currency of personal branding, and anything that signals you’re performing rather than communicating is going to cost you.
Do You Need a Personal Website?
Victoria’s answer is yes, but with an important caveat.
A portfolio site is not just a second LinkedIn. If it reads like a copy of your profile, it’s a missed opportunity. The value is in showing something you couldn’t show in a resume or a social profile. For IT professionals specifically, the site itself becomes a demonstration of your skills. A clean, well-built portfolio tells an employer something before they read a single word on it.
“The most impressive portfolios I’ve seen are ones where I have a fun time clicking through,” Victoria said. “I’m learning about this person in a way I can’t from their resume.”
Add the link to your resume and your cover letter. Make it easy to find. And then make sure it actually shows something worth finding.
The In-Person Piece Isn’t Optional
Networking is the word that makes a significant portion of people want to pull the covers over their heads and stay there. Victoria acknowledged this directly.
“Networking is scary. Networking for someone who is a people person, I’ll be the first to say it’s draining,” she said. “But the connections you forge in person are something completely different.”
Her practical recommendation: look for local events, not just national conferences with travel budgets attached. Most industries have professional associations with regional chapters that host free or low-cost events. The IT and cybersecurity space has no shortage of them. ISACA, CompTIA, local tech meetups, career fairs, even community college-hosted panels. The goal isn’t to collect business cards. It’s to have a handful of real conversations with people who are doing what you want to do.
The informational interview is the underused tool Victoria kept coming back to. Find someone on LinkedIn who has the job you want, or who works at the company you’re targeting. Send them a genuine, personal message. Ask for 30 minutes. You’d be surprised how many people will say yes, because most of them remember being where you are now.
The 45-Minute Action Plan
Victoria ended the conversation with something concrete for anyone starting from zero: no network, neglected profile, no idea where to begin. Break it into 45 minutes a day, split into thirds.
- 15 minutes on your LinkedIn profile. Build it out the right way using the framework above. Don’t try to do it all in one sitting. Work on one section at a time until it actually represents who you are.
- 15 minutes on engagement. Comment on posts from people in your field. Respond to what companies you’re interested in are sharing. Send two or three personalized connection requests or DMs per week. Keep them specific and keep them human.
- 15 minutes on research. Find events in your area. Look up professional associations in the IT space. Identify two or three people you’d like to reach out to for informational interviews.
“If you even did that for a whole week,” Victoria said, “you’ve already provided yourself with a really awesome foundation to go step foot in the world.”
The most important thing she said in the entire conversation came at the very end. “Know your worth and what you bring to the table. Even as an entry-level professional, you bring a wealth of knowledge from your life experience. You already have a strong personal brand. It just isn’t visible yet.”
That’s the whole point of the exercise. The skills are there. The certifications are coming. Personal branding is just the work of making sure the right people can see what’s already true about you.
Ready to Add the Credentials That Back It All Up?
If you’re building your personal brand in IT, the next step is making sure you have the certifications to support the story you’re telling. Learn more about how MyComputerCareer prepares students for IT careers and see what programs might be the right fit for where you want to go.
Not sure IT is the right direction yet? This might help: 7 Signs You Should Consider a Career in IT