In this episode of The Aspiring Psychologist Podcast, we explore why LinkedIn matters for psychologists, even if social media feels uncomfortable or intimidating. I’m joined by Shirin Yazdian, and together we discuss visibility, authenticity, neurodiversity, advocacy, and the fear of getting things wrong online. We explore how LinkedIn can support aspiring and early-career psychologists through networking, learning, conferences, volunteering, Master’s applications, and professional development, while also addressing boundaries, professionalism, and digital footprints. This episode is ideal for aspiring psychologists, psychology students, early-career clinicians, and anyone curious about using LinkedIn in a way that feels safe, ethical, and genuinely human.

Timestamps:

1. 00:00 – Why many psychologists avoid LinkedIn and why that might be a mistake
2. 01:05 – Early assumptions about LinkedIn and what changed
3. 01:42 – Humanising LinkedIn: being yourself first, professional second
4. 03:28 – Getting past the “cringe” of first posts and fear of visibility
5. 04:30 – Why LinkedIn can feel safer than other social platforms
6. 05:59 – Turning online connections into real-world opportunities
7. 08:17 – Providing value through curiosity, comments, and sharing resources
8. 09:14 – Finding courses, talks, and opportunities via LinkedIn
9. 11:19 – TEDx opportunities, imposter syndrome, and self-doubt
10. 13:38 – Practical tips for optimising your LinkedIn profile
11. 15:26 – Advocacy, values, and building a personal brand
12. 17:14 – Neurodiversity, authenticity, and choosing aligned workplaces
13. 21:44 – Being a person first, psychologist second
14. 26:50 – Final reflections and encouragement to engage

Links:

📲 Connect with Shirin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shirin-yazdian-neurodivergent-speaker/

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People working in mental health often avoid LinkedIn because they're scared of getting it wrong, but what if avoiding it was the actual mistake. Today's guest used LinkedIn to find a masters, connect with leaders, and even speak on a TEDx stage. We are talking about why visibility specifically on LinkedIn doesn't have to be risky and how it might help advance your career in a safe and even a fun way. Hope you find it so useful. If you do, come and connect with me on LinkedIn where I'm Dr. Marianne Trent and like and subscribe for more. Hi, welcome along to the podcast. I'm Dr. Marianne, a qualified clinical psychologist, and today I am joined by Shirin Yazdian. Hi, Shirin.

Hello. Thank you so much for having me.

Well, thank you for being here and thank you for being my LinkedIn connection. I, as you know, I'm a big fan of LinkedIn and you were like, "I think we should get more aspiring psyches on here because this is really a good place to be. " Could you tell us why you think that, Shirin?

So I kind of had this idea that only finance students or people in corporate roles post on LinkedIn. And it's only to find jobs. And because in psychology, we tend to apply to jobs anonymously. Having a LinkedIn profile doesn't seem very relevant to me, but actually the more actually with you, you inspired me to go on LinkedIn. And the more I looked into it, the more I realised the value of connection and learning that comes from LinkedIn. So that's why I think more aspiring psychologist or psychologist or anyone in healthcare needs to be on LinkedIn.

Yeah. And as I said to you before we hit record, even last week I was having a conversation with my husband and I said that I've got 19,000 connections or followers on LinkedIn now. And he was like, "That'll be helpful." It really is. LinkedIn is not what you think it was. For me, it's where you can be yourself first and then your profession or whatever you're doing second. And people are choosing to connect with you as a person because they like the way that you see the world and maybe you'd make them laugh because of course about a year ago, maybe a little bit longer, LinkedIn introduced the laughing emoji, which was really part of the humanising aspect of LinkedIn, I think. Does it make you laugh? Do you have a bit of fun on there as well?

Yes, I do. Actually, I've got lots of comments from people throughout the time that I've been posting a little bit more than a year that some comments have been funny to people that I've posted, but I think I was just being my authentic self.

Yeah, absolutely. So I like to post on LinkedIn, but I also like to engage in other people's content. And sometimes I think people think, "Oh, maybe I'm not interesting enough to post something," or maybe I'm not psychological enough to post something, but I think it's okay to speak to whatever kind of grabs you, whatever's taken your interest. It might be psychology related. It might not be. One of my favourite LinkedIn connection is Dr. Amy Jane Needham. She regularly talks about her rats. She's a forensic psychologist. And I would say whatever floats your boat, if you're being authentically yourself, that's kind of okay on LinkedIn. Would you agree?

Yes, 100%. Have fun with it. I do think the first post kind of feels a little bit cringe, especially because we see lots of posts of people announcing that they got a job or announcing that they want a prize, which is really exciting and good for them. I really root for that. But at the same time, it can be a little bit daunting to post anything but that or to post that you got a great achievement or a great result for your undergrad. But I think when you add a little bit more authenticity in it and a little bit more of you, as you just said it, makes it really fun and engaging and as you said, more human. And I've found that to be one of the main reasons when I reach out to people that we can actually, I can get a reply back or I can just have a chat with them, learn from them.

And yeah, I feel like it can be a little bit cringe to post first few times and put yourself out there, but you get a lot out of it and there's a really lovely community out there that you can connect with.

Yeah. I think the same is true for social media generally. It can feel difficult to put yourself out there. I think especially if you're starting out in business as well, you think, oh, and people aren't going to be interested in what I think or say. No, they're not going to care. And I would say LinkedIn is likely the place where people will care the most. So yeah, I would think you are okay to be yourself and to say hello to the world, I would say, because it's international, isn't it? So I connect more with people in the UK, but I do look at people's job titles and their backgrounds when they send me connection requests. And if I'm interested in them and their story, and I think we might be able to have some good chats, I do accept international people as well.

Yeah. I think it's a really good way actually to learn about how other people do things and learn about, for example, like I'm interested in clinical psychology to hear what people do in Asia, what are the things on their mind? What are the values that they talk about on social media? I always find that to be also something really interesting that I would've not learned any other way. So yeah, I do really like connecting with other people. And actually I just got invited to talk at a conference in Canada. So yeah, you can also have fun, get invited to things that are maybe a little bit outside of my comfort zone, for example.

Yeah, absolutely. So this can take us to in real life stuff, can't it? And actually, one of my biggest pleasures this year has been taking stuff offline and making it IRL. So meeting up with a couple of people I've only ever seen online, many of whom I actually connected with for the first time on LinkedIn. And that's been a real treat. And I'm looking forward to hopefully catching up with Dr. Dana, who is the killer psychologist over on YouTube. Don't know if you or anyone else listened to our episode, but she's American and we did an episode together about kind of childhood trauma and kind of what led her towards her career in psychology. And I love it. It's one of my favourite episodes ever is like, she really slowed me right down. I think something about her kind of American accent just made me really thoughtful.

And I really, I'm hoping that we can get together in person because that would be really lovely. It's just you never know who you might connect with, who you might get on with really well.

Oh yeah, that's really exciting. Yes, 100%. Totally agree with that. And I feel like from perspective of a student, so I just graduated, I've been able to reach out to lots of people, ask for their advice on multiple different things, like on applying to conferences, on asking for kind of recommendation on how to draught a master application. And I do say I've reached out to maybe like 20 people and three, four people have replied back for one question that I had, but four or five people have replied back and they helped me a lot. So yeah, I think it's very exciting to connect to people and also provide value as well, which I think is another thing that sometimes as aspiring psychologists, we forget that we can also provide value on our LinkedIn by commenting on other people's posts. If something sparks an interest, if we've read a really interesting article on that topic, like I really, really enjoy just putting in a link to an article under someone's post when they're talking about something or when they're asking for recommendations.

And yeah, I feel like there's so much value that we can also bring to LinkedIn that we often forget as students.

Definitely. And I think one of the real benefits of LinkedIn is that because it's your name that you're using, then anyone that you're commenting with or interacting with will begin to learn your name, will begin to kind of associate your name with what kind of comments you might say or what you might have to offer. And then I think that resonates with them in a different way. So of course on Instagram, you could be my favourite Cat84 or something, and that's not necessarily helping someone to know who you are or hold you in mind in the same way. So yeah, I think it's the ability to be seen and potentially to network for job opportunities. And as you found even education opportunities, you said that you'd found out about your masters that you've just completed on LinkedIn.

Yes. That's where I first actually came across it. So I really enjoyed my master's. It was psychology and neuroscience of mind and body interface at IOPPN, Kings College London. And honestly, it was exactly what I needed. And it just one day popped up on my LinkedIn feed, and that's how I learned about it a few months before the applications opened up. So yeah, honestly, there's no limitation to, I think, what you can find on LinkedIn. I've actually gone to lots of really interesting talks that I found on LinkedIn. I found really cool charities to volunteer for because I saw that their values really aligns with mine. So actually, I first saw a conference, a student conference on LinkedIn a few months after I joined, and I pitched a talk 20 minutes before the deadline. So I'm ADHD dyslexic, and I do tend to leave stuff quite till last minute, and I applied to that one quite last minute.

I got a slot to give a talk, and I loved it. I had so much fun. It was in leads. I was living in Brighton. I went just for a 20-minute talk, and I loved it. I had so much fun. I actually won a prize for the presentation that I gave, but more importantly, that gave me an opportunity to connect with people that really aligned, like their values that really aligned with mine, their aspirations really aligned with mine. And yeah, I started working for Future Frontline. I don't know if you've come across them or not. It's a not- for-profit charity for aspiring healthcare students and healthcare students. And yeah, I met so many really awesome people and they really encouraged me over the last two years that I've been volunteering with them to try new stuff. And lots of them have come from LinkedIn and has come from connecting those people on LinkedIn, seeing what they do, going over their profiles, getting inspired.

That was actually on LinkedIn was the first time that I learned you can apply for TEDxTalks. Before that, I thought you're approached for a TED Talk. And I do know that happens as well, but I thought that's the only way that you can do one. But no, I started on LinkedIn that you can actually pitch a talk. And someone actually in Future Frontline, which again, comes from LinkedIn, told me once after I gave a talk, a different talk, that they think I should go for it and I should apply. And that was actually the first time that I thought about going for it myself, and I got it. I pitched a talk very randomly. I didn't know that at TEDxNHS, when you go to their event, they have a pop-up that you can just pitch a talk. And I just pitched a talk and I got it.

And it was very exciting, very fun, honestly, a lovely experience for me. And yeah, I did a talk on how we can support neurodivergent healthcare professionals in September, which was super fun. Sorry I got distracted. We went on it.

Well done. No, it's all relevant, isn't it? It's come from LinkedIn. I've never done a TEDx. And I have to say, I will share with you and with our audience, I don't think I'm interesting enough. Oh God,

Please. Oh my God. I can think of like 10 different topics for you that you'll be amazing at it and it'll be super interesting to hear.

Thank you for the vote of confidence. See, even us qualified psychs who talk a lot can have imposter syndrome. But yeah, the idea of taking to a stage for 20 minutes, I don't know what I would have to say or who would want to listen, but if you're watching, if you're listening, let us know in the comments if you think that I have got an interesting idea for a TEDx, because maybe that will shove me in the right direction. But Shirin, if people really are brand new to LinkedIn or they haven't been on for 10 years, is there like a quick kind of way that they can think about optimising their profile? So my toptic would be make sure you have got a nice headshot photo and use your full name. What else do you think works well on LinkedIn?

So yeah, I think the headshot is the first thing to go and also have a banner. I think for some reason that makes it more professional and get creative, have fun with it. Definitely the profile picture, try to have it more on a professional side. I think when you put in the things that you've done, volunteering, it doesn't need to be ... If you're a student, it doesn't need to be you thinking of like very specific jobs that you've got paid for. They can be volunteering, they can be like working in a cafe, but think about and reflect on what are the things that you are gaining from that role or you've gained in the past. Have them in bullet points. Have a bio, one or two lines, say what you're interested in. I think when you have a full profile and you reach out to someone or you comment on someone's post, you're more likely to get a reply if that's something you're interested in.

And then I think the other thing is to think about what can you get from LinkedIn? What is something you want to get out of it? Because as we said, you can't really apply for most psychology related jobs, you can't really apply through LinkedIn. So people won't see your profile, which is a good thing, by the way. I'm not saying that's not a good thing. I think it's good that we're anonymizing applications, but yeah, see what you can get from it. So for me, I realised that advocacy work is really big for me and that's what I wanted to do on LinkedIn. And true that I learned that like, okay, so if this is my goal, how can I build my personal brand? What is my personal brand? So kind of like going and learning about that, thinking about your values, like lots of things that we do in our reflective practise, bring that to your LinkedIn.

And I think that can be a good start and don't feel like you need to post. I think maybe for first couple of months, if you feel comfortable, just observe, like, comment if you can, add value in your comments, share your reflections in your comments. And if at one point you feel comfortable to post, go for it. And I will be the first one that likes your post.

Yeah. I feel like that can be a good starting point to think what you want out of it. Do you want to just find events, conferences that you can go to? Because that's another thing that I've done. I found more than 20 talks to go to last two years or different conferences that I can apply to. Even if they're passed, even if someone is reflecting on that conference, you can put it in your calendar for next year to apply for it. Yeah, I think that's a good starting point.

Very good starting point. And yeah, I think just having a little bit of a think about what someone might think as they land on your page. So for me, I don't accept any connection requests with someone without a profile picture. So yeah, I would say the same with Instagram as well, to be honest, like you should have your face on Instagram, not a cat or if you're a business, not like your brand logo because for me, it's part of that know, like, and trust, people want to see who you are and not too heavily filtered if you can kind of tolerate that either, as kind of naturally you as possible. But yeah, just I know social media can be tricky for people in the mental health space because they're like, "Well, I don't necessarily want my potential clients or what if my manager or the CEO sees me saying this, that, and the other." How would you consider speaking to someone with that viewpoint you're in?

So actually, that's one of the things that I've been reflecting on for more than two years. And I think with time, my perspective on it has changed a lot because I tend to talk about my brain. I tend to talk about neurodiversity and I use lots of my own examples because that's something I'm comfortable Shiring. And actually, I've got lots of feedback from lots of different people that maybe that's not a really good idea to do, which I do really appreciate because I know that those people really care about me and I really appreciate that they've took the time to think about it and come back to me with that feedback. And there were lots of points that I kind of doubted what I'm doing and thinking about if it is a good idea, if I'm being professional as a student, there's always this ... I think this might not go away fully if someone is qualified and working, but especially as a student, there's always this kind of lingering thought that like, "What if I'm making a mistake?

What if because of my presence on social media, I won't get a job." That's actually something that a lot of people told me and my reflection currently on it is this is who I am and I take my full self to work. And if someone comes across my profile and decides they don't want to hire me or they don't want me on their team because I talk about minor diversity, I talk about challenges that I face, I talk about disability being disabled, then I don't think I want to work for them. Then I don't think I want to work in that practise. And I do recognise that that comes from a privileged point of view to be able to say no to a job, no to an opportunity. I do really recognise that and possibly at one point in life, I won't feel that way anymore, but I do recognise that now I can also say no and they can say no.

And my value is to be my authentic self. One of the main reasons I talk about neurodiversity is I grew up knowing I'm ADHD, so I got my diagnosis at nine, but I didn't know anyone, any adults who had ADHD and who would talk about ADHD. And I grew up in Iran, so I got my diagnosis in 2009 in a very deficit based. They went over all the things that I found difficult and gave me a diagnosis and I left that clinic thinking I'm broken and I was also promised that I will grow out of it. And then I didn't, I didn't grow out of it. I turned 18, I woke up and I still had the same brain and it was quite disappointing. Don't get me wrong, it was very disappointing. But yeah, I'm talking on LinkedIn about it because I didn't know you can be a healthcare professional and have ADHD.

That is a bigger value for me to have that out there than what someone might think about me. And I do recognise when working in healthcare, it might be very different and like hopefully as an assistant psychologist in a different field, definitely when I'm in the room, I'm working with that person and with that individual and it's about them. But at the same time, I'm okay with them knowing that I'm ADHD, I'm dyslexic, I'm possibly autistic, but I do recognise that different people have different views on this and my own view has changed over time on this as well. So yeah, I would love to hear what you think about it and about your experience on it.

Yeah. And everybody else listening or watching, let us know in the comments. I would agree. I would want, I think more and more now people are choosing to work with me as their clinical psychologist, because they have engaged with my content and they've studied and they've compared and they're like, "No, I want you. " And that's despite or because of the fact that I talk openly about grief, that I'm talking in the media, that I've got a podcast, that I talk about compassion, that I talk about some of my own personal experiences of parenting. They're like, "We see you as a person." And it's not like when they're working with me that we're friends, we're not. Definitely I am a psychologist and it's a professional relationship. Well, I will always be a person first and a psychologist second. And so I would want somebody to be able to ... I guess this is a private practise benefit, is that people are able to choose who they want to work with and they're able to choose me.

Whereas if you're in employment, you don't always get that opportunity, do you? And so yeah, people are choosing me and then I have to live up to it. Sometimes it's- I'm sorry you're amazing. Okay. Okay. I'll do my best. But yeah, they like what I say and what I stand for. And I think my integrity as well, and I'm not too wild. Whatever I say on socials, I'm always aware that I have an HCPC registration, that I'm professionally qualified, and that I need to obviously not say anything too outlandish. So I do try to hold that in mind. And I would urge you guys when you're considering posting on socials to hold that in mind as well. So whilst you might not be qualified now, you would hope to be qualified in the future. And what we know is that it's not quite like the newspapers of old, that a digital footprint can potentially last forever, especially if someone screenshots it.

And so yeah, just try to be mindful and respectful and just find that right balance, I think, is really important.

Yes, I completely agree. Thank you. Thank you for Shiring that.

So you touched on it briefly about, can you be neurodivergent and a health professional? I would say absolutely. I don't know if you've heard of or maybe even read, there's a book that Nikita and Vicki Jervis and I wrote, put together called An Autistic Anthology, and it's about real life kind of reflections of autistic health professionals. And so if someone's like, "Oh, I didn't know that these things could align," then please do check that book out. Shubin, is there anything we haven't said that you think we should before we finish?

Ooh, I first wanted to say that's a great book and I've read it and I love it. And something, I think it's about being you and I think different people have different versions of themselves on social media. And sometimes we do go on LinkedIn and we see people getting lots of awards and we do see people doing tens of really cool stuff. And that can impact how we see ourselves and how compassionate we are towards ourselves, especially in field of psychology. I feel like we're doing a lot of work and sometimes that's not always recognised. So I would also like to remind people that people don't often post when they don't get an award, when they apply for something and they don't get it, when they apply for a master's and they don't get it, when they apply for a PhD, we are seeing more and more of people also talking about that, but I also want to remind us that we choose what picture of ourselves.

We're posting on LinkedIn, we're posting on social media, so kind of like reminding everyone to be compassionate towards themselves and see that as inspiration, see that as possibility of different things that you could apply for or things that you might be interested and you've never thought about it before, like a TED Talk or joining a charity. And I also just wanted to say one other thing is to start following people in different kind of healthcare, so not just psychology and LinkedIn, because you can get lots of opportunities, you can get inspired by what medical students are doing. I think medical students are amazing people to follow. They're doing lots of really hard work and it's always very inspiring to see different things that they're doing. But yeah, be compassionate towards yourself.

Yeah, very good advice. I really like engaging with Dr. Ali Jaffe's content. She's a psychiatrist. Yes.

And yeah, I like chats with psychiatrists and yeah, like you said, other people who work in different areas of mental health because it can inform us and kind of reduce our biases and just you might have that connection with someone as well. Shirin, thank you so much for your time. It's a really interesting conversation for the podcast. People do message me and they'll say, "Have you got any jobs?" And I'm like, "No, no, I haven't." But yeah, I do welcome people pitching to me and kind of telling me if they like my content, that's always allowed, right? So yeah, LinkedIn is a key part of my daily, I'd say maybe five to six days a week I'm on there at some point. So yeah, please do come and connect with me. Shirin, how can people find you on your LinkedIn profile? How can they follow you?

Do you welcome connections? Do you prefer follows? Talk us through that.

Yes. I'm always open to connection. I'm always up for talking. If there's anything that you think I can help with, send me a message. I'm always up for talking and Shiring my experience in anything. I love research, so if there's anything research related or neurodiversity related, just shoot me a message and I always reply.

Perfect. If anyone wants to connect, the details are in the show notes or in the description. Thank you so much for your time, Shirin.

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Thank you so much to our guest, Shirin, for pitching that episode to us. I hope that you found it really helpful, inspiring. Has it inspired you to join LinkedIn or to refresh your profile if you were on there already? Do come and connect with me. I'm Dr. Marianne Trent over on there and let me know that you heard about us on the podcast. If you think you might find the book we mentioned helpful, here it is. It's called An Autistic Anthology: Neuro Narratives of Mental Health Professionals. It really is a lovely, inspiring, eye-opening, interesting book. You can grab that on Amazon or you can simply click the link in the description or in the show notes. Have you got ideas for podcast episodes you think would be useful? Of course, it will count as a dissemination if we do go ahead and record. So bear that in mind as well.

Thank you so much for being part of my world. If you're also looking to get yourself a little bit further ahead, why not consider checking out the aspiring psychologist membership, which you can join for just 30 pounds a month with no minimum term.

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