How to Create Content That Gets Attention – with Mike Peditto

Rhona Pierce:00:00

What happens when a former director of talent acquisition trades hiring plans for hot takes and microwaves foil on LinkedIn?

Mike Peditto:00:08

I I knew that would be funny. I did not know on LinkedIn that it was just like a thing that makes people lose their minds.

Rhona Pierce:00:15

In this episode, I'm joined by the one and only Mike Padito, a recruiting content creator whose mix of humor, honesty, and wild props has racked up hundreds of millions of views. I'm gonna make

Mike Peditto:00:29

TikToks for a living and other things, but that's where I am

Rhona Pierce:00:32

right Mike recently made the leap from full time TA leader to full time creator and speaker, and we're diving into what that transition has really looked like beyond the dopamine of viral posts.

Mike Peditto:00:43

You get that initial dopamine hit, and you're like, shoot. Now I have to figure out how to make money.

Rhona Pierce:00:48

We get into what it takes to actually make the leap to into full time content creation, The strategy and chaos behind the now infamous foil in the microwave video, how Mike handles hate at scale, and why sometimes he leans into it.

Mike Peditto:01:04

When you let people think you're stupid is when they're most likely to interact with you.

Rhona Pierce:01:09

Plus, I put Mike in the hot seat for a new plead the fifth segment, where he answered two spicy questions and named the creator he thinks is actively harming job seekers with their advice. You're not going to want to miss this one. Hey, Mike. I am so, so excited to have you back on the show.

Mike Peditto:01:27

Yeah, I'm excited. This is twice in what feels like a very short span. I feel honored. Am I the only one? Tell me I'm the only one.

Rhona Pierce:01:34

Yes. Actually, you're the only repeat guest so far.

Mike Peditto:01:38

Perfect. That's that's all I needed to hear. Now I'm gonna give you a great a great guest. I'm gonna make it worth it.

Rhona Pierce:01:43

Amazing. So you've recently made this big shift to full time creator entrepreneur. So how did you know it was time to go all in on your content and leave your full time TA role?

Mike Peditto:01:59

Good question. I don't know that you ever know it's time. I was planning to do it probably next year. Think that was sort of in a perfect world. When you think about it ahead of time, you're like, I'll save this money and I'll do these things first, and this is how I'll do it.

Mike Peditto:02:15

None of that happened. And it just became the time now.

Rhona Pierce:02:21

Amazing. Yeah, it's just same for me. I always had like all these plans and everything. And then I was actually gracefully pushed into it. And it's like, Okay, it's now.

Mike Peditto:02:33

Yes, I was I was pushed into it as well. And I don't want to go back to work, so I'm going to make TikToks for a living and other things. But that's where I am right now.

Rhona Pierce:02:45

Amazing. It's very fun on this side of things. So what's been like the most unexpected challenge in these early days of like doing this full time that no one warned you about?

Mike Peditto:02:58

That's a good question. You know what? The biggest challenge for me is I'm really bad at like making my own sort of pressure and schedules. Perform I'm a procrastinator. I perform best under this.

Mike Peditto:03:15

My last boss knew as a procrastinator and I used to just like irk them to no end, but I would just like have things ready when they needed to be ready. Don't talk to me. I'll show up to the meeting. It'll be done. And that doesn't work when you don't have any like real deadlines now.

Mike Peditto:03:31

So that's been sort of these like couple of weeks really trying to adjust to like, you think you're going to wake up and build a schedule and you're like at 08:00 to 09:00, I'm going to work out and from 09:00 to 11:00, going to film this. Just like what happens is I stare at my phone for just like six straight hours. I'm like, oh crap, have go pick up my kids. So that's that's the hardest part at the moment. And then like also when you launch the way I did, right, I have a large following on social media and I made this announcement on LinkedIn and it came with this brand new website.

Mike Peditto:04:06

And, you know, it was like a couple hundred thousand impressions on LinkedIn and people so excited and all this stuff. But then that stops after like three days and you're like, shoot, now I have to figure out how to make money. And I think that's that's sort of just like this, like the dopamine goes away.

Rhona Pierce:04:24

Oh my gosh, I can relate to this so much because I'm also a procrastinator and I 'm not saying that I've solved the issue but it's definitely so much harder when it's on your own. It's like, you know that this deadline isn't real. I know what I've done is I literally announced things on LinkedIn. Like if you see my content right now, like I'm changing this podcast and everything and I say like coming soon, this is being announced. You'll see in a few days that I'll be like in three days or something like that.

Rhona Pierce:04:56

And that's my way of forcing myself to do it because otherwise it will go on forever.

Mike Peditto:05:01

Yeah, no, that's a great idea. And it's like happening with like all of my projects, like the book I'm working on all this. I just like could be done, but I'm like choosing to not be like, I act like having to just like send an email back to somebody is just like, okay, well, there's my whole Tuesday, I guess. And like, that's the issue I'm currently dealing with.

Rhona Pierce:05:20

Oh my gosh, I can't believe like it's so, so relatable to like hear someone else that goes through that because that is, and then I'm married to someone who is the total opposite. Like he'll have this list and he'll be like, okay, I'll do an hour of this, an hour of this and it's like, I see all this motivation and I'm like, on my phone, like I have accomplished zero. Yeah,

Mike Peditto:05:47

I'm researching. I'm researching on my phone for future content. Yeah, today. So side note today, was just like, we have a chandelier in our house that has been burned out for like three months. And today finally, I was like, I'm going to do that today.

Mike Peditto:06:02

That's it's not my job, but at least it's a thing that'll distract me. And I brought in our ladder and I got it up as high as I could. I got to the top rung where I had to reach up. It was my way to reach the chandelier. And now I have a broken chandelier.

Mike Peditto:06:13

So also it's like a lesson to not do things, I suppose.

Rhona Pierce:06:17

Oh, wow. All right. So your recent video, I hope we get to see that on on a video and it'll make sense with my next question. So your recent videos with props like microwaving foil. Oh my gosh.

Rhona Pierce:06:33

That got me triggered have generated like massive, massive engagement. Walk me through like your thought process when you're designing content that you know might trigger some strong emotions.

Mike Peditto:06:48

It's so funny. Like, I don't know what is going to trigger people like that. Like the foil thing. I knew that would be funny. I did not know on LinkedIn that it was just like a thing that makes people lose their minds.

Mike Peditto:07:03

It's funny because you make content and something we always talk about. She's like, you never know. You don't know what's going to be the one that pops off. You don't know that's been the one people respond to because I try other things. I'm like, this is so good and nobody cares.

Mike Peditto:07:16

So, you know, it's just sort of like, what will people notice is the thing, right? Just like, I think the lesson from something like that is like what this feels bad. This is a lesson from Courtney Johnson, who is a master going viral. And she gets me all the time because like she gets me so riled up and angry. So she does this to me.

Mike Peditto:07:39

But she knows what she's doing. And I think it's just like when you let people think you're stupid is when they're most likely to interact with you. That people want to tell you what you're doing wrong. They don't want tell you what you're is funny or good or anything else. Want to tell you you're wrong.

Rhona Pierce:07:55

That is so interesting. And I've had that experience as well. Obviously not on the scale that you have, but if I ever am like, oh, my engagement is down or something like that. And I post just the most random question that I a % know the answer to but you know, like people want to teach you, oh my gosh, I get everyone in the comments like, no, this is how you do it, blah, blah, like, yes. So that is definitely a way evoke emotions in people.

Rhona Pierce:08:26

So like when you create this type of content, do you, and I know it's hard to know if anything's gonna pop off or anything, but do you plan the follow-up pieces in advance or do you like adapt based on the reaction? And I'm asking because of that genius follow-up video that you did with like the mean tweet style response, like reading everyone's mean comments just because you put foil in your microwave?

Mike Peditto:08:51

Yeah. No, I don't. Because again, it's it's I'm only going to do a response like that if it like calls for it. So I make it and sometimes I know, right? Sometimes I make a video that purposely leaves like this open ended loop where someone's gonna go, what am I supposed to do here?

Mike Peditto:09:07

And then I know I'll be able to make a reply video for it, of course. But when it comes to like these emotional reactions, it's just that's an in the moment thing. And this is the second time I've had to do that. I I had a video a long time ago. And, you know, I know this is something you wanted to kind of talk about with me, too, was like the like reactions people give.

Mike Peditto:09:31

I had a video a long time ago go viral. It was a podcast clip. And in the clip, I was reading quotes from Fox News hosts to our guest who was Gabrielle Judge, lazy girl jobs. And I was reading things Fox News had said about her to her. But in the clip, it looks like I am just like berating her and saying these things.

Mike Peditto:09:57

And that did like 2,000,000 views on TikTok and, like, Gen Z came for me harder than, like, I've ever been come for on the Internet. And that was the first time I made a video like that where I was just, like, reading, like, people are just like, oh, bro's calling work a hassle. It looks like going to the gym is a hassle for him and, like, things like that. And I was just like, okay. We're just gonna lean into this, I guess, because it happened.

Rhona Pierce:10:20

Man, people are so unhinged. And it's like, it's funny. And then I I I think I was one of your first ish comments on that foil thing.

Mike Peditto:10:31

Mhmm.

Rhona Pierce:10:31

And obviously, I wasn't coming from like hate or anything. I was like, great video. The real crime here is the foil. And like people, I had to turn off my comments on that, on my alerts on that the other day because I now I find myself defending because people are like, yeah, this is bad. I'm like, why do you feel so strongly about something that's clear?

Rhona Pierce:10:54

Clearly he's not burning his house down because there's a camera inside of the microwave as well. Like clearly this was genius way of getting engagement but it's like people need to touch grass, really.

Mike Peditto:11:07

It's Yeah. You had the viral comment. There's always the one comment on a video like that that just, like, gets almost pinned to the top from likes. And you were the first one. You had a comment, and now everyone's responding to it.

Mike Peditto:11:16

But that's the funniest thing to me. I was just like, you realize this is being filmed from inside the microwave, right? Like, do you think I also microwaved my phone? Or do you think maybe I just opened up the door and didn't turn it on? But again, people want to assume that everyone's dumb and talk to them like they're dumb.

Rhona Pierce:11:31

I think people don't under like, if you're not creating content, you probably don't understand that to get that view that you got from looking at you from inside of the microwave, your camera has to be in there. There's literally no other way of doing it. I think people aren't thinking about that because they don't create videos. Right? So they don't know.

Rhona Pierce:11:49

So what have you learned like about the the balance between grabbing attention and actually delivering something useful in your videos?

Mike Peditto:12:01

Yeah, that's hard. It's something I've always struggled with because when I first came out like making videos and got on this scene, my big thing was like, look, I don't make like dumb stuff. I'm not trying to go viral. I'm going viral because what I'm saying is good and people are connecting with it. But that's become harder and harder to maintain.

Mike Peditto:12:23

It's just like it feels like more and more you have to be figuring out a way. So for me, it always starts with like, what's the message I want to get across? Because that message has to be here. And now what can I do to make people pay attention, even if it's unrelated? And I think that's the big thing for me.

Mike Peditto:12:40

I'm never going to try to catch your attention go viral with some BS about hiring. I'm never going to claim some false stat or something that's going to get you mad. I'm going to get your attention by doing something else. I just posted on Monday on TikTok and it's like 1,300,000 views now, a video where I was like on my kid's chalkboard and I was like moving away pieces of paper that were like had like messages behind them. And I've stolen that from other content creators.

Mike Peditto:13:05

It's something I've seen done before as well. But it made people stop. They want to see what's behind there. And I didn't have to change the message. I was just like, I'm giving resume advice, but I'm doing it in this way.

Mike Peditto:13:17

So I think that's become the big thing for me is just experimenting. Like, what can I do unrelated to my advice that would just make people stay?

Rhona Pierce:13:24

Such a genius, genius way of doing it. And like you said, there's a lot of content creators that do it. I think it started with like the girls doing their makeup and stuff like that. But like the way that you do it to me is like so genius because people still, you can tell from your comments that people are still listening to the message that you had because there's a mix there. Yeah, people are enraged about the hammer or the foil or whatever, but there's still people commenting on this is great advice because at the end of the day, it really is.

Rhona Pierce:14:01

So you can totally tell that you've like found your way of striking that balance.

Mike Peditto:14:09

So yeah, yeah, I appreciate it. Yeah, that is the big goal for me. And, you know, I think back like I think this has been going on for about a year, right? So I've been making content for two years. And I think a year ago, because it just came up my memories, is the first time I did a magic trick on TikTok.

Mike Peditto:14:25

It was just like a real dumb one. And I had like a Beyonce song in the background. It was like a joke about managers disappearing, after an interview. And it was like, made a card disappear. But I think that was sort the start.

Mike Peditto:14:36

Like, people really liked it. I saw you in comments with the guy to watch the video twice, wants to see the magic trick and like wants to listen. I was like, perfect. That's what I want to happen.

Rhona Pierce:14:45

Exactly. Exactly. So you're attracting a massive audience, right? Job seekers, recruiters, even people in the comments that are just there for the drama because those people are there. Who are you really making your content for right now?

Mike Peditto:15:00

That's a good question. And I think I'm trying to figure that out myself. It used to be only job seekers. That was where most of my content went. Now that I branched out on my own and I'm trying to do more, right?

Mike Peditto:15:13

So we talked about like full time on my own. You know, full time content creation isn't really the goal. That be amazing if I can just like make enough money making TikTok videos like nothing else has to happen. But the goal is for them to get me seen enough to be making money doing other things. So, you know, I've started to try to shift a little bit as well to, you know, the kind of audiences that I want to be doing business with.

Mike Peditto:15:35

Not that I have anything against job seekers, but I'm not a career coach. I don't want to be charging $10,000 for networking courses. So for me, is trying to figure out how do I keep attracting recruiters and hiring managers and people who still can benefit from what I'm talking about. So there has been a bit of a shift in a lot of my topics, to really focus on like what we can be doing better, what it's actually like, without preaching about it. You know, I don't think if I made a video that said like, here's how to hire better, anyone would care.

Mike Peditto:16:10

But by poking fun at bad hiring or by poking fun at a lack of training or something like that, I think that catches the right attention and still appeals to job seekers without asking them to be the ones who have to fix something. So that's sort of like the new goal is trying to figure out how to do that for me.

Rhona Pierce:16:27

That is so interesting. And I'm glad that you mentioned that because a lot of people in our space from what I've seen is when they want to go full time on this, they immediately think that they have to be a career coach. And I mean, I get it, I started that way, but it's like, I don't want to do this. I don't want, it's nothing wrong with people who charge money for these things, it's needed, it's a needed service. Not talking about the scammers, talking about the legit people that do it but everyone that leaves TA or HR doesn't have to become a career coach.

Rhona Pierce:17:03

There's so many other things that we can do. So I'm excited to like follow along and see how you end up monetizing this. But yeah, you're on the right track. It's like that balance of attracting both like the recruiters, the hiring managers, the people that can hire you for these things and the job seekers too, because you still just giving them advice as you were before.

Mike Peditto:17:27

Yeah. And I mean, I still have like, you know, job seeking book coming and I still think that like on TikTok, that's still a mostly job seeker audience. But I do think there's a difference in the audience across LinkedIn and then even on the Instagram. So for me, where it used to be make one video, get it out everywhere, now I think it becomes a little bit more targeting who I want to try on each platform.

Rhona Pierce:17:49

Amazing. That is so interesting. So let's talk a little about that strategy because so many people just post the same thing everywhere. And I love your approach like TikTok. Okay, here are your job seekers.

Rhona Pierce:18:02

LinkedIn. Is it more mixed for you there?

Mike Peditto:18:06

Yeah, I think LinkedIn is the spot, of course, where I'm trying to appeal to the most companies. And, you know, it is a hard mix. I do usually wind up posting stuff everywhere because, you know, I'll still see what happens. That foil video I made for LinkedIn specifically because LinkedIn had this like video trending going on. There was some it was like I saw videos popping up on LinkedIn that were saying, like, why my coworkers hate me or my coworkers are going to roast me for this.

Mike Peditto:18:34

That's what it was. That's why I made the fish video. And I was just sort of like jumping into that. And then I was like, all yeah, I'll try it on TikTok and Instagram, too. And it didn't do as well there because I just don't think that's who the audience was.

Mike Peditto:18:45

But yeah, so it is sort of some of that aiming. And I think with LinkedIn, for me, the struggle has been how do I keep making content that appeals to people who don't follow me and I want to get that in and all these job seekers who do follow knowing it has to be something different. So I think I am going to start kind of having like TikTok specific content and LinkedIn specific content. And if it does well, it can go cross platform. We can try it all these other ways.

Mike Peditto:19:13

But I do want to talk to the people on LinkedIn who can be doing something without turning into, like I said, sort of the like preaching of like, here's how to do better because I don't need any more of that.

Rhona Pierce:19:27

Yeah. What about Instagram and threads? You're on there as well.

Mike Peditto:19:31

I don't understand threads. I like post the threads like once a week and maybe that's my problem. I like I can't give any traction there. I'm not fast enough with it. Maybe I become too used to video every time I like post a thread that I think is like important.

Mike Peditto:19:46

It gets like one like on it. So I don't know if anyone out there knows how to do well on threads because I see people making money on threads, and I love to, but I don't know how.

Rhona Pierce:19:55

I don't either. I tried threads because it's like, okay, this is like Twitter, I was doing good on Twitter. So I literally had my VA take every tweet that ever did good that was relevant to my new audience because again, I was on Twitter more when I was talking to job seekers and we put it on threads and like multiple times a day and everything and like some did well, most didn't. But let me watch a show, Real Housewives. I'm watching the reunion right after this.

Rhona Pierce:20:26

Let me like post something about that. Thousands, thousands, it's like none of these people. So like threads, I don't know what's happening there either. I I think it's I'm excited to see where it goes. But yeah, there's people there making money and they're just killing it.

Rhona Pierce:20:44

And I love that for them. I haven't figured it out yet either.

Mike Peditto:20:48

And threads feels very overwhelming to me because like threads, you can't control what's on your feed. So you just sort of if you post on a topic or an actual topic, you'll see a million of them. So every time I open up threads, I just see these like resume writers and career coaches all posting the same threads about ATS, AI keywords, all this stuff. And I just like hate it. And I just sort of like closed down.

Mike Peditto:21:13

I shut down because I want to argue with them. My instinct is going to be to argue and that's not who I want to be anymore. So I just like, I feel like I just avoid it.

Rhona Pierce:21:21

Yeah. So going back to the hate that you get, What was the worst piece of hate that you've ever received that are like generally stung? And like, how did you process that?

Mike Peditto:21:35

The worst piece of hate that generally stung. I get a lot. It was definitely probably goes back to that video I talked about, right, with with Gabrielle, because that was the first time that, like, I felt generally misunderstood. A lot of hate I get, I bring on myself, Right. The foil in the microwave, microwaving fish showing my bare feet in the video.

Mike Peditto:21:59

I asked for that. Or even just making job search content. Right. I ask for angry job seekers to show up. Frustrated.

Mike Peditto:22:10

This video was like, appeared to be the kind of person I'm not and that I don't like. And people thought that was me. And that was really hard because my first instinct was to like defend myself. And I was replying to every comment, like, isn't it obvious? It's a satire or I was reading Fox News quotes or all these things.

Mike Peditto:22:31

And like that becomes a losing battle. Like, one cares. Then I tried making some jokes about like, oh, it's, you know, bad editing. I did that to myself because it was bad editing. Then I edited the video and I was just like, I'm learning all this stuff and like nobody cared.

Mike Peditto:22:47

And like people just started coming about like how because the the quotes were so digging at her. Like the topic of this was like, you know, if anyone who doesn't like know her, like, listen, right? It's like the idea of her like anti work lazy girl jobs is that you shouldn't have to be forced to just like work some corporate job forty hours a week, and there's other ways to do it. And so the quotes I was reading were about how like Gen Z doesn't want to have kids or go to work because it's too much of a hassle. Why don't they want to have these hassles in their life?

Mike Peditto:23:16

And so people could sort of came at me just like, Oh, this guy's poor wife. And like, they knew my name, right? And they were like saying my wife's name or like the fact that I have kids and like that was hard because it was so wrong. You want to call me an HR bootlicker? Fine.

Mike Peditto:23:34

Whatever. But like that stuff was just so personal. Yeah. And like thinking I was just like, you know, they were like, oh, this old boomer right wing, blah, blah, blah. And like.

Mike Peditto:23:44

So I made the one video eventually for a while, it shut me down for a while. I almost like deleted the tick tock or I like couldn't even look at it like it was the it was the only time in making content that I just felt like, I don't know. I don't know if I want this anymore. But I knew it would pass because it always passes. Yeah.

Mike Peditto:24:06

So I sort of I took the tick tock. I took the podcast tick tock off my page, off my phone. I was just like, I'm not going to look at this for a while. And occasionally people would show up on my videos because they just saw me from that or whatever. And then I was like, okay, maybe I'll lean into it a little bit.

Mike Peditto:24:22

I made one of those mean tweet style videos where I just took some of the ones that were true and made jokes about them where was just people are like, the one that said, this guy looks like going to the gym is a hassle. And I was just like, yeah, it is. That's why I don't go. That's why people hate the gym. You're right.

Mike Peditto:24:38

And like things like that. That's stung for a while. It's just hard to watch people like personally attack you.

Rhona Pierce:24:46

Yeah. Yeah, that it is hard. But it's also like, I kind of understand people and it's good that you were able to reflect and understand it's like people don't understand the context. And this is what I tell people sometimes in your all the time, like in your video, you have to be, even in your written content, you have to understand that for some people, this is the first time they've ever seen you, they've ever interacted with you. So be sure that what you're putting out there is something that you're okay with them getting without any context about you.

Rhona Pierce:25:27

Because anyone who's seen any of your videos knows that that's not you, you're not this mean person, you're not this boomer sitting there talking about like, no. But if that's the first time that they see you, I get it. Now, do I get their hate and their personal attacks? Absolutely not, that's not, I don't agree with that ever. But people like it's, I think that's an important thing for anyone getting into creating content or anything to understand is people don't always have context.

Rhona Pierce:25:57

And even if you give them the context, they don't care. Those few seconds is the idea that they made of you for whatever reason And it's hard for them to change their mind in some instances. Some of them don't want to change their mind.

Mike Peditto:26:13

Oh yeah, I mean, many people you like prove, tell them, show them exactly what like they used to show them like, I don't care. I know it was hard and I thought it was obvious, right? I had a caption on. Like, I assume people read captions. I assume some attention and they don't.

Mike Peditto:26:26

And that was a lesson for me in general with making content is like for a long time it took me a while accept that I view and think of my content like a TV show, right? Just like you started episode one, video one, and you've watched it all the way up. But you're right, especially now with the way these algorithms are, most people who see my videos have never seen me before. And I need to kind of keep that in mind in every video. And that does make it hard because people will make a lot of assumptions off the one video they see.

Mike Peditto:26:54

Right? I make a video where I'm just like, hey, you need to change this about your resume. And people are just like, oh, you're just another HR blowhard who doesn't know how it's like to job search. I'm like, oh, you don't even know my story. You don't know that I lost multiple jobs and blew up on TikTok by publicly job searching and that like I'm trying to make the process better.

Mike Peditto:27:14

You just know this video and like, that's hard. You wish people could just like know all that, but they never will.

Rhona Pierce:27:20

They never will. I learned that lesson on TikTok. 2021 TikTok was rough and I decided to share a video with salary negotiation advice. So talking about money on TikTok and I used an example of not wanting $90,000 and wanting a hundred or something or not wanting 85,000 and like trying to get 90 and then I wore wigs and I, because it was different characters, right? So one wig had an afro, the other was me with this hair.

Rhona Pierce:27:56

Then the video before, my husband was on it who's white. All of a sudden now, I'm a person who hates black people and I'm mocking black people with an afro. I'm like, what? Like, where did it like, it's just TikTok is an interesting place. But again, people don't have context.

Rhona Pierce:28:13

People don't understand. And you get all this, hey, off of the it was a thirty second video. That's when I I literally stopped TikTok for probably a year after that.

Mike Peditto:28:25

Mhmm. It it was lot of away. It's chased so many people away doing that stuff. And, like, it's yeah. It is wild to me.

Mike Peditto:28:32

And, like, people are so ready to just like be angry over things. And if you can lean into that and have some fun with it, great. But it's when it gets personal that it's like really hard. Right. And that's again, it seems like the fish video.

Mike Peditto:28:44

Like I was I was not ready for how angry people would be, but like I knew what I was doing. But like, you know, that's totally different. But yeah, it's, people will come for you and they're just ready to be mad. That's what they want to do. They want their instant reaction to be anger.

Mike Peditto:29:00

And they'll make whatever submission, they'll say whatever, and they've sort of felt safe. It is is getting absurd. I had that we had a podcast episode where like right after that video happened, I just started the show and I just kept going like, are you all Okay? Like what is going on? Like are you all Okay?

Mike Peditto:29:18

Why are you like this?

Rhona Pierce:29:21

I love that you refer to it as the fish video because true, it was what you were talking about. But I think I do and everyone else calls it the foil video because that's what got everyone.

Mike Peditto:29:32

There's a lot of people in there mad about the fish. So just like call me how selfish. That's like a lot. So there's two types of comments. There's the people just like calling me dumb because of the foil and then the people who hate me because I'm like a selfish, shitty coworker because of the fish and the feet.

Mike Peditto:29:47

I really thought the bare feet was going be the thing that got people rounded up. Like I snuck in one second of my bare feet and I really thought that's what was going to get But yeah, this morning somebody told me he wrote a comment that said last time somebody microwaved fish at the office, they had to an emergency trip to the proctologist. I, of course, understood this comment, but I wanted to see like what I was just like, what do you mean? And he was just like, oh, I think you can infer, you know, if you're if you're clever at all. Was like, I'm not clever.

Mike Peditto:30:20

What what happened? Tell me.

Rhona Pierce:30:22

Say with your chest.

Mike Peditto:30:23

Yeah. You saying you sodomized that person? Is that what you're trying to say?

Rhona Pierce:30:28

Oh, my gosh.

Mike Peditto:30:29

This is LinkedIn. Your name is attached.

Rhona Pierce:30:31

I don't even get me started on that. It's like, seriously? And like, oh my gosh. Because we know as recruiters, you go to you click on the person's thing and they don't create content most of the time. So the first thing that you see show up there in activity is this very mean comment that has no business out there.

Rhona Pierce:30:51

Look, at the end of the day, I don't judge people off of these things. I judge them off of skills. But do I really want to call the person admitting maybe or maybe not to sodomizing people over fish in the microwave? Do I want to work with them? Absolutely not.

Rhona Pierce:31:10

I don't.

Mike Peditto:31:11

Yeah. And people see that stuff. Like people get so worked up about, like, she'll use the open to work banner, whatever else is. Like, what's hurting you is the way you act on LinkedIn. I said that in a video that it was just like your rants on LinkedIn are hurting your job search more than you realize.

Mike Peditto:31:26

I should be allowed to. You are allowed to, and they're allowed to not like them. Yeah.

Rhona Pierce:31:31

It's free speech, but I'm also allowed to not wanna work with you. So yeah. A hundred Yes. It's like, oh, yeah. I've some of my when I get mean comments, I usually tell people, it's like, I think this was meant for the group chat.

Mike Peditto:31:46

Yeah.

Rhona Pierce:31:46

And it like usually stops them. It's like

Mike Peditto:31:50

Yeah. I

Rhona Pierce:31:50

I don't think you've really wanted this out there, but oh, well. So you spent over a decade just like in TA and leading and your expertise, I'm sure really grounds your content and like on the day to day things that happen, how do you plan to stay sharp on recruiting trends now that you're no longer on the inside?

Mike Peditto:32:14

Yeah, no, that's a really good question, and that's really important to me. And it's a reason that I'm not like trying to become like a full time career coach and things, too, because I've talked so much junk about the people who like got out of recruiting ten years ago and just like still talk about it. Part of my goal, like what I want to be doing is still working with companies. I am still planning to take like advisory positions and consulting roles and work on one off roles to help companies and people I know fill them. And if somebody needs a temporary recruiter for two months who can like do it part time, like whatever, I'll take those roles as well.

Mike Peditto:32:51

And I still kind of doing these trainings and talks with these companies. So that's the goal. I never want to get fully out of it for exactly those reasons, right? I want to help companies when they're looking to make ATS changes or whatever else and kind of work through those things. So that's the hope.

Mike Peditto:33:08

Talk to me in five years and see where it goes. But that is my goal because I do think it's important to stay as someone practicing in this world if you're going to keep talking about this world.

Rhona Pierce:33:19

And this is for anyone listening that's thinking about this. This is very important, especially to brands and to other people. I get it a lot like, oh, well, but you're no longer a practitioner. It's like, first of all, the last time I had a full time role was 2023, like it's not that long ago. Second, these are the things that I do that still have me be a practitioner, I just don't do it full time.

Rhona Pierce:33:47

But that is very important for brands and they're seeing it because your credibility. Again, we've had so many people who've 20 ago recruited and are still out here giving job seekers advice. And it's like, you don't even know how this works anymore, to be honest.

Mike Peditto:34:03

My I mean, my resume advice has changed so much over the last two years, let alone ten. Right when I first came out and I like made I made a resume template and like a resume making guide and stuff like everyone does is like free downloads. And like six months later, I deleted them. I was like, I don't believe in any of this anymore. Like, this isn't the thing.

Mike Peditto:34:25

And like, I change the advice I give people every few months based on like what the market looks like. So I need to stay on top of that stuff. I think everyone does. So I see people giving resume advice based like the same advice they gave a decade ago. I'm like, advice that came a decade ago like involved these huge like resume bloat was everything back then.

Mike Peditto:34:42

And now it's all about like efficiency and quick time to value. And if you haven't updated your advice then you're not you don't know what you're talking about anymore.

Rhona Pierce:34:51

And I wanna make sure people understand, I'm not saying and I don't think you're saying either. It's like, oh, never like always have to keep recruiting or things like that. It's just like, adjacent to the industry, right? Stay like have friends that are in the industry, talk to them, go to webinars that other people So yeah, it's easy. It's like, okay, you're no longer needing to buy software or anything.

Rhona Pierce:35:19

So you're not gonna go to these webinars that the brands are doing. I actually go to them because I wanna hear what people are saying, the questions that they're asking and just, that's how you stay current in the industry. It doesn't mean you have to recruit and you have to work. I haven't worked direct in a year or well, since 2023. However, all of my business that I have, I work with employer branding teams and with talent acquisition teams at creating videos for talent attraction and that type of purpose.

Rhona Pierce:35:54

So I know the problems that they're having and we brainstorm together on how to solve them through content. So stay adjacent to the industry, never be this person that's so far away in your world that you don't know what's really happening because it changes daily.

Mike Peditto:36:10

Yeah. And yeah, it is exactly that. Yeah. Watch these demos do this stuff. Yeah, like recruiting is almost the least important part.

Mike Peditto:36:17

It's understanding the tools, understanding what candidates are doing. It's understanding what recruiters and hiring teams are going through. And you have to know that stuff. But yeah, it is it's tough because you see a lot of people just get out it. And it's like anything else.

Mike Peditto:36:32

I mean, if you wanted to be if you if you used to be a basketball player and you want to get back into and you want to become a basketball coach, but you just like didn't watch or play any basketball for ten years, now you want to get back like the rules change, the game change. Yep. You have to be up to date on those things.

Rhona Pierce:36:51

If someone's listening is like side hustling right now and dreaming of going full time, what do you wish that they know before making that leap?

Mike Peditto:37:02

I don't know. What should I know? I'm sort of similar to it. I mean, so I guess the answer is just like it's okay to still be figuring it out, I hope, because I don't know yet. I don't have everything figured out for myself.

Mike Peditto:37:19

And I had a plan and a thought. Within like a few weeks, even I'm just sort of like, okay, this isn't going how I thought it was going to go. You know, what do I need to do? So I think it's just sort of like you need to understand it's going to take a while that like you get that initial dopamine hit we talked about, but then just kind of like, I'm making less money now than I would have been, and I'm probably going to be for quite a while. And I was talking about this with like my therapist, when like before going in, she was like, oh, you sound excited about this.

Mike Peditto:37:48

And it's just sort of like, it's like, well, what are you going to do if things don't feel like they're working? And you have to like be ready for that, right? You have to know, like I've made this decision for the long term. This isn't a, if it's not working in a month, give up, which means you also have to be in the life position to be able to do that. So I think that's the big thing to know is just sort of like go in with a long term plan and be ready to not panic about it.

Rhona Pierce:38:17

Yes, yes. Amazing advice. And as someone who I think now I'm over that hump of like, okay, I'm doing this, I'm making less money. Now when you get to the other side, it's so rewarding, but it's rough. So having a therapist or having friends or in a support system, having a plan and just understanding it is a business.

Rhona Pierce:38:44

So like any other business out there, you have to have a plan, you have to think about it as a business perspective. You can't be getting caught up in the dopamine of going viral because that doesn't necessarily translate into money. You always have to be thinking about it's like, okay, this is my business, this is how I feed my family or feed myself. What's the strategy behind it? And you also have to be okay with it changing because it's gonna change.

Rhona Pierce:39:14

What I thought I was gonna do when I first started versus what I'm doing now, never in a million years. But like, if you're out there, if you're just testing out things, you'll just like, it will come to you. And also this space, HR and TA space, other creators, and I'm not saying it because of me but we're all very supportive of each other. Of course, there's people out there that you just stay away from and stuff like that. But don't be afraid to ask people questions.

Rhona Pierce:39:49

It's like, I do it all the time. It's like, hey, I saw you got a deal with this company. I'm trying to get a deal with them or with one of their competitors. Can you tell me how, like, how did you pitch them or what are they looking for? Like, that type of thing, and you'll be surprised.

Rhona Pierce:40:06

People will answer. They'll be like, oh, let's get on a call right now. People tell me like, I charge this. I spoke to this person. This is what I did, blah blah blah blah.

Rhona Pierce:40:15

And it's like, wow. That's very different from other creator spaces because I have friends that are creators in other niches. It's very different. So in our niche, that's something to really think about and rely on and just like leverage it. So for anyone thinking out there.

Mike Peditto:40:32

Yeah. For sure. Yeah. I have people who I text constantly just sort of like, hey, what do they pay you for this? Like, who'd you talk to?

Mike Peditto:40:37

Or like, someone told me they were trying to get with like this company and I was like, oh, they actually reached out to me a while back. Like, here's the person. And like yeah, I think sharing all this is very helpful because that's not a competition. These brands aren't like, I'm only going to work with one person, fight it out. And when you're like looking at business and companies to work with, you and I might both be trying to kind of get companies to pay us to talk about branding or do this better or whatever else.

Mike Peditto:41:06

But like they're going to come to the person they know and have seen kind of gone through. It's not like they're putting out open wrecks and are like everybody fighting the comments for who's going to do it and why you're better than the next person. Right? There's room out there for everyone. And yeah, that is me.

Mike Peditto:41:20

I'm in that experimental phase where I'm like, oh, maybe I'll try this or this and make this money and do this money. And that's really hard, especially when you're somebody who's not super disciplined like I am. So I think that it's being okay with all that stuff and then seeing what works. And I've booked some business and I'm like, that's one route that I have. But I also want to try this thing and this thing and this thing.

Mike Peditto:41:43

And, you know, there's some freedom and fun to that. But it's not a game. It is still trying to make a living.

Rhona Pierce:41:51

Exactly. All right. So it's time for everyone's favorite segment. And I love how I say everyone being that I haven't released this version of the show yet. It's my favorite segment.

Rhona Pierce:42:03

It's called Plea to the Fifth. And I'm going to ask you three questions, you can answer honestly or you can plead to the Fifth. But here's the thing, you can only plead to the Fifth once.

Mike Peditto:42:15

Oh my gosh, okay. I'm going ask By asking no one question.

Rhona Pierce:42:18

Yes, I'm going to ask the questions one by one, you don't get to hear them in advance so choose wisely.

Mike Peditto:42:24

Okay. I'll just answer all of them. Let's go.

Rhona Pierce:42:27

All right. So first question. Do you secretly think a lot of recruiting content out there is just bad?

Mike Peditto:42:33

Yes. But not secretly. I openly think a lot of recruiting content out there is just bad. Do you want me to name names? I'm not going to.

Rhona Pierce:42:44

Are you? So have you ever shared job search advice that you knew wasn't universally true but would go viral anyway?

Mike Peditto:42:54

Oh, that's a good question. So yes, but I don't think in the way that that question is implying because I don't think there's any universally true job search advice. I have never shared advice that I would just consider bad advice that I thought would go viral, but I've absolutely shared advice knowing it will be controversial and that tends to go viral. But I believe in the advice still.

Rhona Pierce:43:19

Okay. Okay. So last question. Name a popular LinkedIn content creator in the career space whose advice you think is actively harmful to job seekers.

Mike Peditto:43:32

Oh, okay. Let's see, give me a second here. Actively harmful consistently. I'm trying to think through because I think of posts. I can think of individual posts, but I don't know of like name of somebody who's constantly doing this because I probably blocked a lot of them.

Mike Peditto:43:55

Okay, I've I've called plenty of this out before. I think that. Think while having gotten better, it's more getting better from one side. And I do think that Jerry Lee of Wansulting tends to fall into that second type of question you asked and is much more concerned with what will go viral and get people to agree than if it actively helps. Some examples even are, right?

Mike Peditto:44:25

Like, you'll see him pop up and say, oh, if you see Workday, run away from the application. Like, yeah, I get it. Workday sucks. We all hate Workday. But not applying to a job is a thousand times worse than applying to the job.

Mike Peditto:44:38

I think anyone who's out there kind of fanning the flames of how angry job seekers are already without really providing help other than like something for sale beneficial. And that's always what I've tried to avoid in the content. And I know it could go viral doing that a lot. It's just sort of like leaning into what makes people angry. And I do think he tends to do that.

Mike Peditto:45:08

And and I think I've I've said that openly enough times.

Rhona Pierce:45:12

Amazing. I am so excited that you answered that question. Thank you so much for playing Plead of the Fifth.

Mike Peditto:45:20

Yeah. That's good. I wanna see what you do to other people with that and find out who's. Yeah, don't tell them that last question and see if they use it first. Yeah, I mean, I think most people wouldn't do that.

Mike Peditto:45:31

And I will say, right, even having said that. So Jonathan from OneSulting, who's the other I have OneSulting, I consider a friend. We text when I launched my own, he actually texted me and congratulated me. I was like, let's catch up. I've texted him for advice on sort of making content.

Mike Peditto:45:49

Him and I had dinner last year when we were at like the same event together. And he told me a lot about how as a company they used to try to go viral with bad advice all the time. And like, doesn't want to do that anymore. He just helps people. So I do think there has been a shift.

Mike Peditto:46:04

So I do want to kind of like call that out. But like I said, that's why it's more about one of them than the other. But in general, I used to be this person who feuded with any content creator I disagreed with, And I don't want to do that anymore. I don't think you should be hurting people with the advice you're giving and should get called out for that. Greg Langstaff, who I should have said, but too late.

Mike Peditto:46:28

But I don't know if he's that active on LinkedIn. But, yeah, ultimately, as long as you're not just like selling some BS at people, whatever, go do your thing.

Rhona Pierce:46:38

Amazing. Amazing. So this has been an amazing conversation. I'm so excited to release it and for everyone to listen to it. How can listeners connect with you?

Mike Peditto:46:48

You can find me on LinkedIn. It's Mike Padito, slash mpedido is my LinkedIn name. You can find me on TikTok and Instagram and YouTube at realistic recruiting. You can also find me, mikepodido.com is the new website I mentioned. It's a very pretty website.

Mike Peditto:47:05

You can sign up there to get info about like the book release when it is coming as well. Don't fill out the form on the site if you want job search help, just email me. There's a form on the site for companies who would love to work with me or learn some more. Most of the form fillings out have been people who are just, like, wanting some free job search advice. Just email me.

Mike Peditto:47:23

But those are all the ways to find me.

Rhona Pierce:47:26

Amazing. Thank you so much for being on the show.

Mike Peditto:47:30

Yeah. I'm honored to be the first guest on the the rebrand and the first double guest.

Rhona Pierce:47:34

Amazing. Thanks to Mike for being on the show and for being such a generous guest. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out his content across LinkedIn, TikTok, and on his website, MikePadito.com. And if you're curious about other ways content can impact hiring, next week, I'm talking to a TA leader who stays behind the scenes but gets her hiring managers on camera. Her strategy has helped her attract more qualified candidates without being the face of the brand herself.

Rhona Pierce:48:02

It's a different approach, but one that's working. So make sure you're subscribed, and I'll see you in the next episode. Workfluencer is produced by Perceptible Studios. Learn more about how we can help you use video to attract, engage, and retain qualified talent at perceptiblestudios.com. If you're enjoying the Workfluencer pod, share it with someone who's changing how we talk about work or who should be.

Rhona Pierce:48:25

And, hey, if this episode gave you ideas or inspiration, leave us a five star review. Reviews help other listeners find us, and, honestly, it makes my day. Thanks for listening, and I'll chat with you next week.