All Episodes

April 27, 2023 11 mins

Today, host Ramses Ja speaks with Raj Register from CareerBuilder about the company's new job coaching initiative . 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The partnership between the Black Information Network and career Builder,
the global talent acquisition leader and job marketplace platform, has
already yielded noteworthy results. In addition to the launch of
the one hundred thousand Careers Initiative, the platform that aims
to connect employers who are seeking a highly qualified and
diverse workforce with Black American job seekers who are looking

(00:20):
to advance to higher levels or start a career, is
now kicking things into high gear. To discuss things further,
we have today's guest, Raj Register, or director at career
Builder and Vice president Marketing at Cisco. This is the
Black Information Network Daily Podcast, and I am your host,
Ramsey's Job. All right, Raj Register, Welcome to the show.

(00:43):
How you doing today?

Speaker 2 (00:44):
I'm doing well, Thank you? How are you?

Speaker 1 (00:46):
I'm thriving. You are quite the vision and I'm really
excited to talk to you today. I know that you
have an amazing story to share. But first off, everyone's
really excited about this new initiative front career Builder. So
tell us a bit about the new career coaching that
is being offered by career Builder. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
Absolutely, so, outside of just in general career Builder making
an investment in the black community through b I in.
I just want to call out one that this is
a very intentional move by the company and it really
means a lot to have, you know, this opportunity to partner.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
But for the career coaching, this is something.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
That we offer to all b i in users by
going to CareerBuilder dot com backslash b i in and
this is where you can sign up for one on
one coaching to really get that authentic one to one conversation,
to get.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
The support that's necessary to help you advance your career.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Why don't you tell us a bit about how you
started your career.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah, so I'm originally from Detroit and I like to
just give you know, a shout out to my city.
Many of us grew up in environments where you may
had a choice between public or private school. My parents
were educators, and so I went to public school most
of my academia life. And so when I was in
high school, I got a chance to participate in a

(02:12):
pre engineering program, and so my undergrad degree is actually
a mechanical engineering, which a lot of people don't know.
So half of my career was on more of a
technical space and then I decided to do a career
transition and switch over into marketing. I started off my
career at Ford Motor Company, where I had some amazing
opportunities to really learn about all aspects of our business.

(02:35):
I launched almost every product in our portfolio. But then
I also had some unique opportunities to spend some time overseas.
So I did an international assignment in Istanbul, I did
another one in Colonne, Germany, and while I was in Cologne,
that's when I decided to go to business school. And
I was really fortunate Duke had a dual NBA program

(02:57):
with Gerty University at the time, and so I was
able to start my executive NBA program in Frankfort while
I was living in Cologne. And so when I completed
that program and I repatriated back to the US for
it had a really unique opportunity for me to join
what we called a marketing leadership program.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
So it was.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
Set up for top talent to go through very visible
but rigorous assignment. So I was able to do projects
in brand marketing. I worked with our dealers, I worked
in marketing communications, global brand and our events platform. And
then lastly I was head of battery electric vehicle marketing

(03:39):
before this opportunity at Cisco came. And so right now
I am head of Marketing at Cisco. I'm over all
of our US marketing and global brand and in this role,
I own or I have responsibility for managing all aspects
of marketing for the company. So when I think about

(03:59):
my path from this kid from Detroit, this mechanical engineering,
and you know, getting all these different experiences, this was
really a perfect platform for me to take the art
and the science, pull all of that together and lead
a company. So for Cisco, we're doing a lot of
new and innovative things. I've had a chance to grow
our team almost one hundred percent since I've gotten here,

(04:22):
and so more to come as you know, the years
and beyond come, you know, into us.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
So excited about being here.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
That's absolutely incredible. I want to make sure that we
take advantage of this though. So obviously you're someone who
has leveled up several times in her career. While you're
here for our listeners, if what advice would you give
to those who are at the beginning or the middle

(04:51):
of their careers who are wanting to advance or maybe
kind of dealing with a bit of adversity.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
Yeah, And it's interes because one thing I've always been
clear on is what's meant for me is for me right,
And so in order for you to focus on yourself,
you have to really be able to understand, from my perspective,
what things are you gifted with and what are your
passions lie. And so when you're able to take the

(05:18):
things that you know you're good at as well as
the things that you're passionate about, and you marry those together,
that's typically where success is. And so many times when
we experience resistance or things that aren't going well, or
things feel hard. And I'm not saying life isn't hard,
but when you're able to really understand what your talent
is and really bet on yourself and start making those moves,

(05:41):
that's where I say you start to see more success.
The other thing is, you know, when I think about
mentorship versus advocacy, one thing I didn't understand in my
career early on was what was the difference. And I
like to add a layer into that as active advocacy.
So you can have someone mentoring and coaching you in
the background, but the advocate, the active one is in

(06:04):
the room when there's decisions to be made, they're actively
having conversations on your behalf. They're actively trying to help,
you know, make those moves for you. And so when
you're betting on yourself, you also need to make sure
that the person that is advocating for you is betting
for you as well, and that they're speaking on your
behalf when you aren't in the room. And so all

(06:24):
of these things. You know, it's not all going to
come overnight. It's not, you know, something that just falls
into your lap. But you have to have the grit,
the tenacity as well as the courage to even raise
your hand and let people know, well, these are my desires,
these are the things.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
That I want to do.

Speaker 3 (06:40):
When I was in engineering and I was switching over
to marketing, I have people questioning me like, you're a
great engineer, why would you ever want to do that?
But I knew for me and what I wanted to
deliver upon for myself, it was a space that I
felt like I could thrive in. I was really interested
in customer insights and really looking at well, what happens
after a product has developed, how do you sell it?

(07:01):
How do you talk to customers about it, and so,
you know, I just always felt like betting on yourself,
understanding what you're good at, and then making sure that
the people at the table that are there to support
you are advocating for you, and your mentors are also
giving you that clean and clear advice.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
And you know, there's something that I want to establish
for our listeners. You are a black woman. Now you
mentioned mentors and advocating, I recognize that oftentimes for black
women and black people that it's there are different and
unique challenges to carving out a career path. I want

(07:44):
to ask you how important in your estimation are DEI
that's diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the workplace, and
which ones are the most valuable in most spaces.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
Gosh, that's a tough question to answer because I think,
you know, it really depends on the environment that you're in.
DEI is so important and it's something that I live
and breathe in every space that I go in. And
so for me knowing that I have the responsibility to

(08:21):
not only make the room better you know after I
leave it, but I'm also responsible for adding more chairs
to the table. Having the tough conversations, pushing back and
speaking up when it's not comfortable because I'm in a
position to do so. Before that, I really was a
student of my surroundings and really tried to pay attention

(08:44):
to really identify who are the people I can really
trust versus those that I can't. And then also when
I understood who I wanted to be like from a
brand perspective, and I was very consistent in what those
things were and how I showed up and how I
delivered with results. And it's not always going to be fair.

(09:07):
It's not going to be something where you know, just
because you do a good job and you keep your
head down, the accolades will come. That's where like the
humility and like I said earlier, the betting on yourself,
how do you start to tell that story and tell
your own narrative and then also be bold enough to say, hey,
raise my hand, I want to do X, Y and Z,
and here's why I'm qualified. But the conversations have to

(09:29):
continue to happen. I'm the one asking the uncomfortable conversations
many times because it's important, and I know that for
my peers and those that are around me, they know
that about me so they know how I show up.
Part of my brand is like, Okay, she's going to
be pushing. I'm going to talk about pay, I'm going
to be talking about positions, I'm going to talk about
interview panels, I'm going to talk about you know, the

(09:52):
makeup of the team. And so you have to be
true to yourself to even enforcing any of that, and
it can't be conditional. Has to be something that you
live and breathe.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Day to day.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
Sure, Sure, And that that kind of brings me to
the next point. I do want to mention that a
career Builder is offering listeners free one on one coaching
sessions as part of the one hundred thousand Careers partnership
with the Black Information Network, And if you want to
find out more about that, you can check out CareerBuilder
dot com, slash bi in and before we let you go,

(10:25):
for all those folks who might be inspired to either
learn more about your story or keep up with you
on your journey, are you on any sort of social
media LinkedIn, email addresses or place folks can go to
just read and learn more? Do you want to share
with you?

Speaker 3 (10:42):
So I'm on LinkedIn, So it's my first name rajuell
r A j oh I E L L E. And
my last name is Register, like a cash register, so
fantasy football cash register.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
So r E G mis tr. So you got to
have some phone with it when you have a unique name.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
So I love it all right, Well, thank you very
much for your insight. Once again, today's guest is raj Register,
board director at CareerBuilder and Vice president Marketing at Cisco.
This has been a production of the Black Information Network.
Today's show was produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts
you'd like to share, use the red microphone talkback feature
on the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to

(11:24):
hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. I'm your host,
Rams's jaw on all social media. Join us tomorrow as
we share our news with our voice from our perspective
right here on the Black Information Network Daily Podcast
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.

The Joe Rogan Experience

The Joe Rogan Experience

The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.