October 22, 2024 • 34 mins
Are you planning on creating content at the next conference you attend? There's more to conference content than just posting selfies. Mike Peditto shares his real experience creating content at RecFest USA and the practical lessons learned along the way.
You'll learn:
- How to plan your content strategy before the event
- Essential equipment for quality content creation
- Balancing being present vs. capturing content
- Tips for getting quality audio at busy events
- Best practices for editing and reviewing event footage
- Understanding and creating for your target audience
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
🎥 Create Video Clips using Opus Clip: https://www.opus.pro/?via=throwouttheplaybook
🎬 Get 1 Month’s worth of social media videos done for you: https://throwouttheplaybook.com/video
//TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 INTRODUCTION
02:52 Lessons from RecFest: Content Creation Challenges
06:14 Planning and Equipment for Event Content
09:03 Balancing Presence and Content Creation
11:48 Engaging with Interviewees at Events
15:08 Editing and Reviewing Content
17:59 Target Audience and Content Strategy
24:12 Reflections and Future Plans
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODE
→ #14: Ditch the Cold Calls: Build a Talent Community Instead - with Taylor Desseyn
****
🌟 CONNECT WITH MIKE
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpeditto/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@realisticrecruiting
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realisticrecruiting
🎙️ Podcast: https://www.corporatepizzaparty.com/
🌟 CONNECT WITH ME
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhonabarnettpierce/
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/rhonab
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rhonabpierce/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rhonabpierce
🌐 Website: https://www.rhonapierce.com/
💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/throw-out-the-playbook/id1740429498
🟢 Leave a rating on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/4R6bJ4JZpqOlFdYelWwsBr
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mike Peditto (00:00):
I started creating content after I went through a
layoff and started a new job andwas sort of bored in the new
job.
Rhona Pierce (00:09):
Mike Pedito is a content creator and talent
acquisition leader who startedbuilding his personal out of
boredom and never looked back.He's now helping job seekers
navigate the world of workthrough relatable and impactful
content.
Mike Peditto (00:24):
Now I do because I get all this attention and love
it and don't want to stop.
Rhona Pierce (00:29):
At a recent event, Mike discovered the power of
creating content at conferences,but not without some struggles.
Take us back to Wreckfest. Whatwas your initial goal with
creating content there?
Mike Peditto (00:42):
I knew I wanted to make a video talking to ATS
companies. I knew I wanted tomake a video asking, do
recruiters read resumes, or doesAI do that? I knew I wanted to
make a video with commonquestions just being answered by
recruiters, and then it rainedthe whole, like, rest the first
day.
Rhona Pierce (00:58):
Despite setbacks, including faulty equipment, Mike
shares valuable lessons onbalancing being present and
capturing great content.
Mike Peditto (01:07):
Tip for anyone out there, invest in good
microphones.
Rhona Pierce (01:10):
Learn from Mike's experience on how to turn those
struggles into great content.
Mike Peditto (01:15):
I mean, I just have footage of me making a lot
of people laugh when talking.Right? Or I have footage of I
did a time lapse video. They hada character artist there, and I
did a time lapse video of themdrawing a character of me or me
playing some of the video gamesthat were there.
Rhona Pierce (01:29):
So looking back at your journey, like, in TA and
content creation, what's the onepiece of advice you would give
to someone who's wanting tostart?
Mike Peditto (01:39):
I wish more people who are actively working in TA
would.
Rhona Pierce (01:44):
Tune in to hear more about Mike's journey,
including his plans for levelingup his conference content and
why he's not done with breakfastjust yet.
Mike Peditto (01:52):
I thought about right before the conference, how
nice it would have been to be.
Rhona Pierce (01:57):
Thank you so much for being on the show today,
Mike. I'm so excited for thistopic.
Mike Peditto (02:02):
Yeah. I'm excited to be here.
Rhona Pierce (02:04):
Amazing. So I guess I wanted to start. Why do
you create content?
Mike Peditto (02:09):
It's kind of funny. I don't know. I know
that's, like, not supposed to bethe answer. So I started
creating content after I wentthrough a layoff and started a
new job, and was sort of boredin the new job, and felt like I
wasn't getting to do a lot ofwhat I wanted to do in it. So I
started making content just likeI went through this job search.
(02:30):
Let me help some people do it.And it took off and it worked
for me. And then I just keptdoing it. And now I do because I
get all this attention and loveit and don't want to stop.
Rhona Pierce (02:43):
Fair enough. That's it. Yeah. I think a lot
of us that create content,because I I have a lot of people
who create content on thepodcast. When you look back,
it's really something thatstarted like, oh, well, let me
do it.
There was no, like, masterstrategy behind it. And then
it's like, well, it works. Letme keep doing it type of thing.
Mike Peditto (03:02):
Yeah. I mean, I have text to my friend who I was
just like, oh, I'm gonna get onTikTok. I'm gonna make a video.
Right? And then, like, she waslike, oh, you got a 100 views on
that video.
And I was just like, I was like,yeah, this is dumb. I was like,
you have a 100 followers? Shewas like, yeah. No. But I'm
never gonna hit, like, the 1,000to be able to go live.
I'm never gonna hit the 10,000to be able to monetize it, and
then it just kept going andgoing.
Rhona Pierce (03:22):
Amazing. And TikTok is hard. I mean, I I did
TikTok for a while, and it wentgreat. And now that I haven't
done it, I see, like, myfollowers going down every
month. I'm like, oh, peopleactually remove you when you
don't post.
So
Mike Peditto (03:36):
Yeah. It's also TikTok has a ton of people who
kind of lose their accounts orbot followers like any other
social media. So if you're notactive on it, what happens is
those it's I I don't thinkpeople are even unfollowing you
as much as just, like, dormantaccounts getting cleansed and
you're not getting new accountsbecause you're not posting.
Rhona Pierce (03:55):
Yeah. Could be that too. So the reason why I
wanted to talk to you todayreally is because we were both
recently at a conference calledbreakfast, and I saw you there
creating content. And that's oneof the things that I always
wanted to talk to someone abouton the podcast about creating
content at in person events. Sotake us back to Wreckfest.
(04:19):
What was your initial goal withcreating content there?
Mike Peditto (04:23):
Yeah. I'd never done something like that. I
don't go to a lot of events.It's something I wanna start
doing more of. But, you know, mygoal ultimately was to come back
with several videos worth ofideas, both for myself and for
my full time job.
I had ideas in my head of likewhat could work for both
accounts. And I ultimatelywanted to take advantage of the
(04:46):
fact that I was going to bearound thousands of recruiters,
as well as a ton of vendors inthe space, right? I wanted to
talk to people who make allthese tools that job seekers
don't really understand and getwords straight from their mouth
about them.
Rhona Pierce (05:02):
Amazing. Yeah. I I saw that ATS video. It's like,
what a great idea. I thoughtit's like you're there with all
the ATS people's lights, getthem to talk exactly about what
their scary ATS does.
What does your planning processlook like for that event? Like,
was it different than your usualplanning process for your
(05:24):
content?
Mike Peditto (05:25):
Considering I have zero planning process,
typically, yes. More planningwhen it is still not enough. But
what I actually did and whatsort of inspired a lot of this
was I went to another event backin June. I was invited to the US
State Department for thiscreator event on jobs with the
federal government. And thereare some people at this event
(05:47):
who were, like, really good atthis.
That's just what they do. Andfor me, I still consider myself
an amateur. I still considerthis like a part time side thing
that I do for fun. And I watchedhow good they were, how prepared
they were, the equipment theybrought. And then I saw when
they went home, they postedthese videos that they clearly
had planned out in advance.
(06:07):
And I was just like, that'sthat's what pros do. So I I
decided I was gonna do that, andI bought some equipment. I
actually reached out to the oneperson who was sort of most
impressed by it. I was like,what do you travel with? And I
asked him, and I bought some ofthe, like, traveling tripods and
and things like that and batterypacks and things on that way.
And I had an idea. Right? I knewI wanted to make a video talking
(06:29):
to ATS companies. I knew Iwanted to make a video asking,
do recruiters read resumes, ordoes AI do it? I knew I wanted
to make a video with commonquestions just being answered by
recruiters.
But beyond that, I didn't havemuch of a plan. I'm awkward. I
don't like asking people to dothis stuff. I filmed all of this
b roll because I was like,that's what people do, and I
(06:49):
have not used any of it. And nowit's just like all sitting on my
phone that I'm like, I don'tknow what I'm supposed to do
with this stuff.
So I tried to put a plantogether. I tried to have a
couple videos in mind. I wish Ihad more of a plan. But yeah, I
think you have to for some ofthat. You have to know a couple
videos you want to try to getmade or you're not going to get
them made.
Rhona Pierce (07:07):
Yeah, For sure. Did things evolve as you were
there and talking to people? Didyou get more ideas like, oh, let
me do this or let me do this?
Mike Peditto (07:16):
Yes. It should have. I waited a little too long
to start making content. Thefirst day there, I was speaking,
and I was sort of wrapped up inspeaking the 1st day and just
kind of being ready for that,and I wasn't making as much of
the content as I wanted. Andthen it rained the whole, like,
rest of the first day.
So it was limited to one day,And that was sort of the regret
(07:37):
I had because I waited till day2 is I didn't have a lot of time
to review footage and figure outwhat do I need to reshoot? What
could I do differently? Whatwould I change? I just had to
keep going with what I wasdoing. I ad libbed a lot, and I
recorded a ton of just stuff tosee what would happen with it.
But ultimately, the only contentI really have that I wound up
using was the stuff I had a planfor. All of the other stuff as I
(07:59):
go through it, it was just veryclear that I was just, like,
winging it and recording dumbthings that, like, I didn't want
to post.
Rhona Pierce (08:06):
Fair enough. Yeah. I mean, I it's interesting. I
had a plan to do content on the1st day because I had never been
to Wreckfest, and everyone toldme you the first day is the best
day to get everything becauseeveryone's there. Lots of people
aren't there the second day.
And I it's funny when you saidbattery packs because I traveled
with my battery packs. I hadeverything planned, and I forgot
(08:30):
to charge the most importantthing. Well, the second most
important thing, which was myhandheld, like, tripod thing.
Mike Peditto (08:38):
Yeah.
Rhona Pierce (08:39):
So and everything I had planned was like moving
content. And that was in charge.
Mike Peditto (08:45):
Sure.
Rhona Pierce (08:45):
So my first day was shot. I was like, oh, no.
This is but, yeah, having a planis so important and, like, just
having the equipment ready andall of that is so so important
for in person events.
Mike Peditto (09:00):
Yeah. And and I found myself with it just kind
of meandering, trying to figureout a lot to do. And I think it
took me some time to getcomfortable with the idea. And
and and another time it wouldbe, you know, I think I could
dive in even quicker. But Ithink it goes like making
content in general, which islike, stop thinking about it so
much and just start doing it.
I was overthinking way too muchwhile I was there and too much
(09:21):
in my head. So I definitely wishthat hadn't been the case.
Rhona Pierce (09:25):
Yeah. So let's talk a little about about your
gear and your, like, setup. Iwas actually impressed with your
setup. What did you use? Like,what tools did you use for your
setup there, and was it easy tocarry around?
Mike Peditto (09:41):
Yeah. So I had a, I'm like looking around and see
if I can grab it. I had a tripodthat was recommended to me. I'm
looking around as I'm movingaway from my microphone. I had a
tripod that was recommended tome that basically can get up to
like 4 feet high and get down toa size I would fit in the
backpack.
So that was a good huge benefit.I also brought this kind of very
(10:01):
small traveling tripod that'smagnetic and can stick to things
very easily. And that wassomething else recommended. So
that's when I that's really allI brought. I bought some
microphones.
Tip for anyone out there, investin good microphones. I bought
these microphones and this I'mgonna blast them on air right
now if you don't mind. TheAlboxcon wireless microphones
(10:23):
UM420 were trash. You can cutthat out if you want, but if you
want people to know, I boughtthese little microphones, and so
much of my footage is ruined.And if you even look at the
footage I put out there, it'schoppy.
You can't hear a ton. And thatwas one of the downfalls of only
doing it on day 2 is I didn'thave time to hear any of that
wasn't going right. I have somany interviews that just aren't
(10:44):
usable because it was justcutting in and out. So invest in
good microphones, that is step1. It was too windy, it was too
loud to not use microphoneswhile doing it, And mine did not
hold up.
And that was pretty much all Ihad though. It was the the
microphones, the handheld tripodand the big tripod. So easy to
fit in a backpack. I had a propI used at one point. It was like
(11:07):
this thumbs up, thumb down Ibought that I just saw the idea
like some other, like, man onthe street type interviews I had
seen before.
I lost it, like, 10 minutes intousing it. I left it somewhere.
So it's in, like, 2 videos.
Rhona Pierce (11:19):
That's cool. And I really liked, like, the ease of
your setup because your tripod,I could tell was, like, not
super heavy. You were justmoving it around as you went.
And the microphones, I actuallyhave ones that I love. I the
RODE 1.
Mike Peditto (11:35):
Mhmm. Those are much nicer looking.
Rhona Pierce (11:38):
And, really, it's it's really not a microphone.
You put the wire I have the RODEwireless Oh. Mics, and you put
them here. But the real reasonwhy I bought this is because I
was able to find a pink popfilter for it. That's the most
important part.
But, no, really, the sound isamazing because it's the same
(11:59):
wireless mic that I use for myregular content, and you just,
like, put it there and then movearound with that. And that
additional mic was, like, 30something dollars. And then the
the wireless go, I don'tremember how much it is, but I
think it's it's, like, $200 forthe entire thing. Yes, they are
(12:21):
cheaper options. And I will linkto them in the show notes.
But sound, especially at a liveevent, and we had rain and wind
and stuff like that. It's super,super important because it's
like it can destroy yourfootage.
Mike Peditto (12:35):
Yep. I have tons of great video footage and just
very little that I can actuallyuse the sound for. Even the
videos I posted, a lot of it Idid voice over for myself over
just, like, me rerecording myquestions in my room and just
dealt with the fact that, like,their answers weren't very easy
to hear.
Rhona Pierce (12:53):
Well, there's always next year and other
conferences. How do you balancebeing present at the event with
capturing content?
Mike Peditto (13:04):
Yeah. It's a good question. I didn't do a great
job of it. So I don't know. Imean, I guess my balance was I
spent day 1 sort of being at theevent and day 2 doing content,
but I don't think that's theright way to balance.
You know, what I tried to do,what my plan was, and so I stick
with it, was I went through theschedule and I figured out what
do I want to see? What's gonnago on my schedule? What talks do
(13:26):
I wanna go see? Who do I wannameet? Whatever else.
And then when I'm not doingthose things, I'll go do this
other content, I'll figure itout. And that's essentially what
I wound up doing. I sort of hadblocks where I'd record for 20,
30 minutes in a row talking topeople, and then I would go
watch a talk or go have lunch orwhatever else and hang out with
some people. The thing I wantedto make sure I balanced, and
(13:46):
luckily making content the way Idid was easy, is I wanted to
meet a lot of people because Idon't usually do that type of
stuff. So luckily, that washappening while I was making the
content.
So I do think there was somebalance to that. It would have
been very different if I wasjust recording solo content the
whole time or something likethat. So I think I purposely
(14:08):
made myself have to talk tovendors and other recruiters and
people who were there just toget this content to begin with,
and then just made sure to seethe talks that I knew I needed
to see.
Rhona Pierce (14:17):
I like that strategy. And, yeah, while
you're creating the content,you're getting to network and
meet people. Did you find thatit was easy to get people to be
on camera with you?
Mike Peditto (14:29):
For the most part, I had some people who didn't
want to, but I don't know.Recruiters are recruiters. I
like, recruiters are some of thelast people who are gonna shy
away from a camera, I think.But, yeah, there's definitely in
one of the videos I even have,there was this huge group who
was there from I think it wasSchneider Electric. And they had
probably 20, 30 representativesthere because it was like a
(14:49):
local company.
And I went up to the whole groupand like asked and they were all
just like passing off to thenext person. And there was 2
people who were like, Yeah, wedefinitely will. And then
everyone else sort of stood inthe background and they realized
they were even on camera andthey just like shifted out in
the middle of video. So somepeople didn't want to.
Typically, if I had approached agroup, they would say yes.
When I would go up to, like,vendors and try and interview
(15:11):
them, they'd usually havesomeone I'd get passed around
to. So there's definitely wedon't wanna be on camera, but
you could always find the oneswho did. The only people I was
not able to get on camera at allwas Indeed, who was the main
sponsors of the event, whowanted nothing to do with
talking about the Indeed jobsearch platform on camera. And I
(15:31):
sort of get it. They probablyhave a lot of rules with, like,
a being on camera and in themedia there, Indeed.
I think I approached them alittle bit rough when I was just
sort of like a lot of peoplecomplain about the scams and the
jobs on Indeed aren't real, andI'd love to talk to someone. And
that was probably my approachwas the problem, but that was
the only thing I couldn't getrecorded. I really wanted to
talk to them.
Rhona Pierce (15:49):
Interesting. Because I would think being so
big and being the the mainsponsor, they would have
someone, like some PR type
Mike Peditto (15:58):
Mhmm.
Rhona Pierce (15:59):
Person that could answer that type of question,
but maybe you just didn'tapproach that person.
Mike Peditto (16:04):
Yeah. They passed me around based over the booth.
Maybe they were there on day 1,but it was funny. So I just have
a good video of myself standingby their booth talking about how
they didn't wanna talk to me,but I haven't posted that
because I don't I don't need tostart a fight with them.
Rhona Pierce (16:17):
Yeah. That's interesting, though. Did you
have a process? And I know youonly filmed on day 2, but, like,
for editing and reviewing thecontent that you captured?
Mike Peditto (16:29):
Yeah. I mean, because I had ideas of the
videos I wanted to make, I firstthing I do is I just went back
and checked what videos weresort of good or useless. Sorry.
What ones did I accidentally hitrecord on and just delete all
those quick three second clipsor whatever. And then I started
just taking each video andfinding the area I wanted.
Right? I found the part where Italked to people about resume
(16:51):
length, where I talked about theATS is where and I would load
that video into CapCut, cuteverything except for that part,
and then load the next video inand cut everything except for
that part. And then I'd start togo through and see, especially
with my audio issues I had,which time that I asked the
question came through the best,and we'll do that. And that's
(17:11):
when all that b roll I filmedwas really helpful too, because
I was able to just sort of feelmyself walk in front of the rec
fest sign or whatever and recordwhatever I needed over that. So
some of the b roll footage didcome in there.
But, yeah, it started with justknowing the 3 or 4 videos I
wanted to make and finding thefootage for that, and then just
(17:32):
sort of going through the rest.Right? I mean, the video I
recorded with you is a perfectexample. I recorded with you and
2 other recruiters, and thataudio is almost just, like,
entirely useless. In case you'rewondering, I would know the
stuff we film has popped up inany of my videos.
It's just like the microphoneswere not helping that in that
moment. So that was a realdisappointment. So it just
became going through and findinglike, what's the best usable
(17:54):
content and now what can I dowith it? I'm still doing it. I'm
still going through it, tryingto find new ideas, trying to
find, like, new videos.
I'm struggling because of thelack of audio and a lot of it.
But I don't think I'm doneputting stuff out from
Wreckfest.
Rhona Pierce (18:08):
That's cool. And and I think that's that's really
the gold in it for anyone that'sgoing to a conference. You get
so much footage that you can usein different ways. You don't
necessarily have to post exactlythe interview that you asked,
but you can it's just I I knowyou'll have, like, endless ideas
(18:28):
of it's like, oh, wait. Let medo this.
Let me do this type of thing.And you have the footage even if
the audio isn't there. It couldbe some sort of b roll at some
point or something.
Mike Peditto (18:39):
Yeah. I mean, I just have footage of me making a
lot of people laugh whentalking. Right? Or I have
footage of I did a time lapsevideo. They had a character
artist there, and I did a timelapse video of them drawing a
character of me or me playingsome of the video games that
were there.
And and that all works tocontinue to make content over
and over again on.
Rhona Pierce (18:58):
So it's fair to say that your target audience
are job seekers, right?
Mike Peditto (19:02):
I think so. For the majority, yes. I think I
have a larger audience than Irealized of people in the hiring
space who also like to hear whatI say. But most content I make
is aimed at people trying tofind a job.
Rhona Pierce (19:15):
And this is gold. Right? You were at a conference
full of recruiters, so you couldget a lot of content for that.
If you were to go to aconference, let's say a tech
conference that isn't for thatisn't full of recruiters, how
would you go about creatingcontent there?
Mike Peditto (19:30):
I think it would be based on the it'll be a lot
more vendor specific things. SoI think of something like HR
tech that was last week, and Ididn't go to it. But they had
tons of tools and softwares. Andthat was really the idea behind
the ATS one I did, but I didn'tget to talk to as many vendors
as I wanted. Because some ofthese vendors were aimed at they
(19:51):
were looking for like recruitersto buy things from them more
than anything else.
But if I could go where peoplereally were like digging into
the software and the tech, thatwould be my strategy, right?
It's just sort of like, what doyou do? How is it gonna change
hiring? What do job seekers needto know about it? I think that's
sort of my biggest miss.
And that I didn't ask all thesevendors is what should job
seekers know about companiesusing your software and how it's
(20:15):
gonna affect their hiring? Thatwould be my approach for
something like that.
Rhona Pierce (20:18):
Yeah. That's a great approach. And it's true.
It's like, I don't think I'veseen much or any content from
that perspective because it'slike, what do the vendors want
job seekers to know? Because I Ithink I mean, that's gold.
I think that would be greatperspective to hear what they
have to say.
Mike Peditto (20:39):
Yeah. And that was what the 2 ATS interviews I did
at RecFest were. Right? I likeGreenhouse sort of talk about I
asked them, do you have robots?Do you have scoring?
Do you have all these things?How many resumes do you get? How
many companies work with you?And I think that job seekers
wanna know that stuff. Now,unfortunately, as I saw in most
of these videos I put out, jobseekers don't always necessarily
(21:01):
wanna hear or believe thingsthat isn't what they want to be
true.
So I think those videos suffereda little bit from just people
saying, I don't believe them. Idon't care. I don't believe
them. So that's the next hurdlefor me to figure out is how to
get people like, trust metalking to 10 experts, not the
anonymous Reddit comment that'sgoing viral everywhere all over
the Internet now that peoplehave turned into news stories,
(21:23):
like trust sources. I don't knowhow to ever squash that problem,
though.
Rhona Pierce (21:28):
I think it's it's the most fascinating thing for
me that you can get recruiters.You can get the people building
the ATS. You can get developerswho build these tools to say
things, and people still won'tbelieve it because it's a lot
easier to believe I'm notgetting traction in my job
(21:48):
search because of this thingthat has nothing to do with me
is preventing me than justlooking and saying, maybe it's
something I'm doing or maybe,you know what? The job market
sucks right now, and it's justhard. So
Mike Peditto (22:05):
Yeah. It's and it's funny because the story I
even referenced, and I don'tknow if you've seen it right,
there's a story going aroundright now about a hiring manager
who thought that his HR teamwasn't getting him any resumes.
So he applied to the job, gotrejected, right away, and, like,
got the HR team fired. And themedia is all over. It's all
over.
MSNBC is talking about all thesecompanies, and no one has
(22:26):
managed to, like, verify athing. This all traced back to
one anonymous Reddit commentwhere someone just wrote it, and
it's being put everywhere, andand people would just, like, be
so quick to not ask for proof ofthat. But when I have 15
recruiters saying something,like, no one will believe it
because it's not the the rightthing, I went undercover a
little bit on Reddit and triedto, like, blow that story up and
(22:48):
create some chaos over it. Thathasn't gone exactly how I
wanted, but I am trying to provethat it's fake or at least prove
that nobody cares that it'sfake. I'm still working on that
TBD.
Rhona Pierce (22:57):
I think my idea and, anyone who wants to I don't
create content for job seekersanymore, but anyone who wants to
do this can steal the idea. Iwanna get just common people off
the street. No. Nothing to dowith hiring to use ATS. Like,
here's ATS.
Here's one of my roles. Here'severything coming in. Go ahead.
(23:19):
Do it. Mhmm.
I think that would be somethingthat people would believe more,
But it's just, you know, there'slaws and stuff and privacy, and
you can't share people's stuff.But that's my dream content that
I've always it's like, if therewas one company who would let me
do that, I would create thatcontent for free Just because go
(23:40):
ahead.
Mike Peditto (23:41):
I have a plan soon for a LinkedIn livestream where
I'm going to because you'reright. You can't do this with a
real company's ATS and realpeople's resumes. And the work
that goes into, like, creatingenough fake stuff to make this
work is just not worth it. I'mplanning on doing, like, a live
stream, I think, sometime soon,where I'm gonna create, like,
(24:02):
just a a dummy job. Not not postit.
I don't want it to be a realghost job, but a job that I that
is just gonna be posted in myATS. Put it out to everybody. Go
apply to this. Try every trickyou want. Do whatever you want
to your resumes.
Make your resumes format themhowever you want, white font, do
all the stuff you wanna do. Andthen I'm gonna go through all
these on a live stream. Andyou're gonna see what I see,
(24:25):
you're gonna see if rankingdecisions, you're gonna see how
these show up in my system. And,you know, then it will not be
kind of exposing one's privateinfo, but still using, like, a
real ATS. So I do have thatplanned, but I just feel like
there's a lot of, like, things Ihave to figure out first.
Rhona Pierce (24:37):
That's a cool idea. I might talk to you a
little offline about ideas Ihave with that, but that's a
that's a great idea, and I thinkit would help, like, really show
things. So going back to our ourtopic about the conference,
other than what you'vementioned, any other regrets or
things that you would dodifferently in hindsight?
Mike Peditto (25:00):
So, you know, I think it comes down to those
couple of things. Right? It's Iwould spend more time. Not just
doing it all at once. Right.
I would have spent more time onday 1 as well. When more people
were there, I would have, Iwould have diversified and
talked to more people. I think Ireally targeted, especially with
limited amount of time on mostlypeople I knew in advance
(25:20):
already, and that was sort oflimited there. I would have come
with more ideas, like, I sort ofhad those 3 good ideas, and it
was just like, I'll figure outthe rest, and I didn't. I would
have absolutely bought betterrecording equipment.
And then beyond that, you know,I think I would have taken more
time to make sure what I wasdoing was working right. Right?
If I would have been pausingthroughout the day and sort of
(25:41):
like checking this audio orlistening, got some headphones
and done these things, like, Imight have been able to catch it
and rerecord some stuff. Theother thing that was on my mind,
and this maybe something peoplecan help with, maybe they can't,
is I thought about right beforethe conference how nice it would
have been to bring someone tohelp me. I realized, you know,
we got as a speaker, I had anextra free ticket.
(26:03):
And I could have used that tosort of bring someone, even find
someone local, who's just likean audio person, right, who
could have come around andmanage the equipment and been
checking audio and making sureit was all working. I probably
could have done that for arelatively inexpensive amount
for a day. And I think itprobably would have been worth
the investment if I wanted tomake, like, real professional
quality stuff.
Rhona Pierce (26:22):
Yeah. That's my one takeaway as well. Next year,
I said, I'm definitely findingsomeone local that can go and
actually shoot the content anddo all of that. I don't mind the
editing and all of that later,but, like, that way I could be
present at the conference. Icould be, like, getting the
(26:43):
content.
I I think, really, if you havethe means to do that, that's the
best way. And for a lot ofpeople go to these conferences
paid for by their company, ifthere's if you can get a little
more in the budget to do that, Ithink that would really change
and, like, elevate the qualityof the content that you get.
Mike Peditto (27:05):
Yeah. And my other thing, this is like a personal
regret. If you have thisopportunity, you're going to
speak. I did not record my talk.And both for my own, like,
personal one in the recording ofthe talk, but also, like, that
would have been really goodcontent, like, these straight up
shots of me on the stage with amicrophone talking.
I didn't do it. I thought itwould be somewhere, like, I
(27:27):
thought it'd sort of beaccessible. One person I spoke
with did record, but it's sortof a side angle. And I wish I
had, like, a really good shot ofthat and just a video of that.
And I just didn't because I feltlike I didn't wanna set it up in
the middle of the aisle as I waslike giving a talk.
So that's my other big regret. Ithink it comes down to a lot of
content creating regrets is sortof like, sometimes it still
feels a little bit embarrassing.Like you don't wanna be that
(27:49):
influencer in the wild. And Istill sort of struggle with that
a bit for myself.
Rhona Pierce (27:53):
Yeah. I do too. I think everyone does, and I've
spoken to a lot of people who dothis, even people who do this
full time. It's still kind oflike it's still you still get
that kind of, like, side eyefrom some people Mhmm. When
you're, like, in the middle of,I don't know, Target or
whatever, a conference, justsetting up your camera to shoot.
(28:13):
But I think it's just gonnabecome more and more accepted
and, like, common to see thesethings. And I always go back to
thinking on the end product andwho I'm helping with the
content. But, of course, you'rehuman, so you're still it's
there's always that balance.It's like, I don't wanna be on
(28:35):
influencers in the wild.
Mike Peditto (28:37):
Yeah. It's hard. An event like that I knew I was
a little bit more comfortablebecause it sort of knew it'd be
okay. And anyone who knew meknew who I was already doing
this there. But, yeah, I stillstruggle with that.
I still go places with the ideaof, like, oh, I could get some
good content here, some good broll here or whatever. And I
just, like, pull out my phoneand get, like, petrified and,
like, put it back in my pocket.
Rhona Pierce (28:55):
Thank you for sharing that. And I love sharing
that because a lot of people,they see that we create content
and they think it's like, oh,we've got this all together and
there's never second guessing oranything. And I think there's a
lot of it. I know for me becauseI do a lot of video content just
like you. There's a lot ofsecond guessing.
There's a lot of looking at thefootage and being like, oh my
(29:18):
gosh. But you just have to pushforward.
Mike Peditto (29:21):
Yeah. Anyone who knows anything about me knows I
do not have it all together, andI manage to keep going just
fine.
Rhona Pierce (29:26):
Exactly. So looking back at your journey,
like in TA and content creation,what's the one piece of advice
you would give to someone who'swanting to start?
Mike Peditto (29:37):
It's a good question. You know, the piece of
advice in general for anyone whostarted is like to just do it,
to get over your own personal.Like cringe feeling or whatever
it is that's holding you backbecause the only reason you're
not doing it right now is youaren't doing it. And that sounds
like stupid to say, but that'sthe reason nobody's actually
(29:58):
stopping you. If you have a bosswho's stopping you, I guess it's
different, but in general,nobody's stopping you.
Right? You're just kind ofsecond guessing yourself. It's
gonna suck. I look back at myinitial stuff, and and it sucks.
And it's just sort of, like,dull and dry.
And I don't really know what I'mdoing. And it's not edited well.
And I got better at it. But,like, you have to do those
(30:21):
things. In terms of combiningthe 2, you know, I wish more
people who are actively workingin TA would.
There's not many who do. There'snot many doing what I do, just
working full time as a directorof TA and also creating all this
content. And it's timeconsuming, so I know everybody
can't do that necessarily. Butthere are a whole lot of ex
(30:43):
recruiters telling you how it isand not enough actual ones. So,
you know, if you are out thereand you're actually in this
space and you're thinking aboutsort of making more of this
content, remember how manypeople could benefit from
hearing from you.
Every time I post a video thatsort of flops, and by my
standards, like, flopping mightbe different than somebody
(31:03):
else's. But every time I post avideo and let's say it only
gets, you know, 3,000 views, andI should be getting way more
because I'm in the high tripledigits followers, and it gets
3,000 views. Out of those 3,000views, there could be 200 people
who saw it and absolutely got apiece of advice that helps them
on their next interview or jobsearch. So if you're creating
the content to actually helppeople, just start doing it. If
(31:27):
your only reason for creating isbecause you, like, wanna get
famous and make a lot of money,then, like, yeah, you're
probably gonna struggle to getover that hump.
Rhona Pierce (31:33):
Great advice. And, yeah, I always tell any client
that I work with, your firstvideo is going to suck. Like,
get over it. It's going to suck.My first video, oh my gosh.
And my first video, even thoughI had my husband directing, he's
really good at video, has donethis for a lot of times. I just
(31:56):
wanted to do it my way. So wehad a huge fight, and the video
sucks. And, I mean, I I can'tbelieve I'm gonna say this. If I
would have listened and doneeverything he said, it wouldn't
have sucked that much, but yourfirst video is going to suck.
You get better. Just get overit. Like, no one's no even
(32:16):
though my video sucked, I had somany people say, oh my gosh.
That it's amazing. I love this.
That's really the point of it.
Mike Peditto (32:23):
Yeah. And and that really is it. So if if you're
doing it to help people, then doit. And another pushback I get
from people a lot, because Ihave the same kind of
conversation a lot. I have thisconversation with a ton of
people at rec fest, who wouldjust go, I wish I could.
I wish I could. You can't. Thething I tell them is, yeah,
there are going to be shittypeople. Like, there's going to
be people who say things to youthat hurt your feelings. If you
(32:46):
can't handle it, like, if youcan't take that, then, like,
don't get into this space.
Like, it's going to happen. Youknow? And and I understand that
for some people, like, just,like, they don't have the thick
skin needed for it. There is alevel of thick skin you have to
have. But for every terriblething somebody says to me, there
are plenty more people who saygreat things.
And I favorite every one ofthem. I have a huge folder at
(33:08):
this point of every good commentthat's, like, ever been left in
my videos about finding jobs orwhatever else. And that way
outweighs the people who tell methe things that they tell me. So
again, that's a small portion,but it is going to happen. So So
you also have to know, like, ifyou're okay with that happening.
Rhona Pierce (33:26):
That's a great call out because, yeah, it does
happen. I think we anyone whoputs themselves out there has
had it happen. But what I liketo tell people, it's like we're
recruiters. It's not likeeveryone's loving us anyway.
Mike Peditto (33:40):
Yeah. I always make the joke, like, I like take
like a Venn diagram. And I justsay like recruiter and like
Internet influencer, and I layright here in the middle of just
like the least likable personpossible. So just, like, it's
fine. Just come live in thatspace with me.
Rhona Pierce (33:54):
Exactly. Perfect. How can listeners connect with
you?
Mike Peditto (33:58):
They can find me on TikTok or Instagram at
Realistic Recruiting, and theycan connect me on LinkedIn as
well. They can follow me there.I've been posting on more video
to LinkedIn recently becauseit's getting more popular there.
But, you know, LinkedIn tends tobe a little bit more my real
job. And then TikTok andInstagram tend to be a little
bit more me combining the 2, butthey can follow me in any of
(34:19):
those spots.
Rhona Pierce (34:20):
Perfect. Thank you so much for being on the show
today.
Mike Peditto (34:23):
Yeah. Thanks for having me.
Rhona Pierce (34:25):
If you wanna learn even more about attracting
candidates with your content,make sure to check out episode
14, where I chat with TaylorDessen about building online
talent communities. Trust me.It's the perfect companion to
today's episode. Thanks forlistening, and I'll chat with
you next week.
I started creating content after I went through a
layoff and started a new job andwas sort of bored in the new
job.
Rhona Pierce (00:09):
Mike Pedito is a content creator and talent
acquisition leader who startedbuilding his personal out of
boredom and never looked back.He's now helping job seekers
navigate the world of workthrough relatable and impactful
content.
Mike Peditto (00:24):
Now I do because I get all this attention and love
it and don't want to stop.
Rhona Pierce (00:29):
At a recent event, Mike discovered the power of
creating content at conferences,but not without some struggles.
Take us back to Wreckfest. Whatwas your initial goal with
creating content there?
Mike Peditto (00:42):
I knew I wanted to make a video talking to ATS
companies. I knew I wanted tomake a video asking, do
recruiters read resumes, or doesAI do that? I knew I wanted to
make a video with commonquestions just being answered by
recruiters, and then it rainedthe whole, like, rest the first
day.
Rhona Pierce (00:58):
Despite setbacks, including faulty equipment, Mike
shares valuable lessons onbalancing being present and
capturing great content.
Mike Peditto (01:07):
Tip for anyone out there, invest in good
microphones.
Rhona Pierce (01:10):
Learn from Mike's experience on how to turn those
struggles into great content.
Mike Peditto (01:15):
I mean, I just have footage of me making a lot
of people laugh when talking.Right? Or I have footage of I
did a time lapse video. They hada character artist there, and I
did a time lapse video of themdrawing a character of me or me
playing some of the video gamesthat were there.
Rhona Pierce (01:29):
So looking back at your journey, like, in TA and
content creation, what's the onepiece of advice you would give
to someone who's wanting tostart?
Mike Peditto (01:39):
I wish more people who are actively working in TA
would.
Rhona Pierce (01:44):
Tune in to hear more about Mike's journey,
including his plans for levelingup his conference content and
why he's not done with breakfastjust yet.
Mike Peditto (01:52):
I thought about right before the conference, how
nice it would have been to be.
Rhona Pierce (01:57):
Thank you so much for being on the show today,
Mike. I'm so excited for thistopic.
Mike Peditto (02:02):
Yeah. I'm excited to be here.
Rhona Pierce (02:04):
Amazing. So I guess I wanted to start. Why do
you create content?
Mike Peditto (02:09):
It's kind of funny. I don't know. I know
that's, like, not supposed to bethe answer. So I started
creating content after I wentthrough a layoff and started a
new job, and was sort of boredin the new job, and felt like I
wasn't getting to do a lot ofwhat I wanted to do in it. So I
started making content just likeI went through this job search.
(02:30):
Let me help some people do it.And it took off and it worked
for me. And then I just keptdoing it. And now I do because I
get all this attention and loveit and don't want to stop.
Rhona Pierce (02:43):
Fair enough. That's it. Yeah. I think a lot
of us that create content,because I I have a lot of people
who create content on thepodcast. When you look back,
it's really something thatstarted like, oh, well, let me
do it.
There was no, like, masterstrategy behind it. And then
it's like, well, it works. Letme keep doing it type of thing.
Mike Peditto (03:02):
Yeah. I mean, I have text to my friend who I was
just like, oh, I'm gonna get onTikTok. I'm gonna make a video.
Right? And then, like, she waslike, oh, you got a 100 views on
that video.
And I was just like, I was like,yeah, this is dumb. I was like,
you have a 100 followers? Shewas like, yeah. No. But I'm
never gonna hit, like, the 1,000to be able to go live.
I'm never gonna hit the 10,000to be able to monetize it, and
then it just kept going andgoing.
Rhona Pierce (03:22):
Amazing. And TikTok is hard. I mean, I I did
TikTok for a while, and it wentgreat. And now that I haven't
done it, I see, like, myfollowers going down every
month. I'm like, oh, peopleactually remove you when you
don't post.
So
Mike Peditto (03:36):
Yeah. It's also TikTok has a ton of people who
kind of lose their accounts orbot followers like any other
social media. So if you're notactive on it, what happens is
those it's I I don't thinkpeople are even unfollowing you
as much as just, like, dormantaccounts getting cleansed and
you're not getting new accountsbecause you're not posting.
Rhona Pierce (03:55):
Yeah. Could be that too. So the reason why I
wanted to talk to you todayreally is because we were both
recently at a conference calledbreakfast, and I saw you there
creating content. And that's oneof the things that I always
wanted to talk to someone abouton the podcast about creating
content at in person events. Sotake us back to Wreckfest.
(04:19):
What was your initial goal withcreating content there?
Mike Peditto (04:23):
Yeah. I'd never done something like that. I
don't go to a lot of events.It's something I wanna start
doing more of. But, you know, mygoal ultimately was to come back
with several videos worth ofideas, both for myself and for
my full time job.
I had ideas in my head of likewhat could work for both
accounts. And I ultimatelywanted to take advantage of the
(04:46):
fact that I was going to bearound thousands of recruiters,
as well as a ton of vendors inthe space, right? I wanted to
talk to people who make allthese tools that job seekers
don't really understand and getwords straight from their mouth
about them.
Rhona Pierce (05:02):
Amazing. Yeah. I I saw that ATS video. It's like,
what a great idea. I thoughtit's like you're there with all
the ATS people's lights, getthem to talk exactly about what
their scary ATS does.
What does your planning processlook like for that event? Like,
was it different than your usualplanning process for your
(05:24):
content?
Mike Peditto (05:25):
Considering I have zero planning process,
typically, yes. More planningwhen it is still not enough. But
what I actually did and whatsort of inspired a lot of this
was I went to another event backin June. I was invited to the US
State Department for thiscreator event on jobs with the
federal government. And thereare some people at this event
(05:47):
who were, like, really good atthis.
That's just what they do. Andfor me, I still consider myself
an amateur. I still considerthis like a part time side thing
that I do for fun. And I watchedhow good they were, how prepared
they were, the equipment theybrought. And then I saw when
they went home, they postedthese videos that they clearly
had planned out in advance.
(06:07):
And I was just like, that'sthat's what pros do. So I I
decided I was gonna do that, andI bought some equipment. I
actually reached out to the oneperson who was sort of most
impressed by it. I was like,what do you travel with? And I
asked him, and I bought some ofthe, like, traveling tripods and
and things like that and batterypacks and things on that way.
And I had an idea. Right? I knewI wanted to make a video talking
(06:29):
to ATS companies. I knew Iwanted to make a video asking,
do recruiters read resumes, ordoes AI do it? I knew I wanted
to make a video with commonquestions just being answered by
recruiters.
But beyond that, I didn't havemuch of a plan. I'm awkward. I
don't like asking people to dothis stuff. I filmed all of this
b roll because I was like,that's what people do, and I
(06:49):
have not used any of it. And nowit's just like all sitting on my
phone that I'm like, I don'tknow what I'm supposed to do
with this stuff.
So I tried to put a plantogether. I tried to have a
couple videos in mind. I wish Ihad more of a plan. But yeah, I
think you have to for some ofthat. You have to know a couple
videos you want to try to getmade or you're not going to get
them made.
Rhona Pierce (07:07):
Yeah, For sure. Did things evolve as you were
there and talking to people? Didyou get more ideas like, oh, let
me do this or let me do this?
Mike Peditto (07:16):
Yes. It should have. I waited a little too long
to start making content. Thefirst day there, I was speaking,
and I was sort of wrapped up inspeaking the 1st day and just
kind of being ready for that,and I wasn't making as much of
the content as I wanted. Andthen it rained the whole, like,
rest of the first day.
So it was limited to one day,And that was sort of the regret
(07:37):
I had because I waited till day2 is I didn't have a lot of time
to review footage and figure outwhat do I need to reshoot? What
could I do differently? Whatwould I change? I just had to
keep going with what I wasdoing. I ad libbed a lot, and I
recorded a ton of just stuff tosee what would happen with it.
But ultimately, the only contentI really have that I wound up
using was the stuff I had a planfor. All of the other stuff as I
(07:59):
go through it, it was just veryclear that I was just, like,
winging it and recording dumbthings that, like, I didn't want
to post.
Rhona Pierce (08:06):
Fair enough. Yeah. I mean, I it's interesting. I
had a plan to do content on the1st day because I had never been
to Wreckfest, and everyone toldme you the first day is the best
day to get everything becauseeveryone's there. Lots of people
aren't there the second day.
And I it's funny when you saidbattery packs because I traveled
with my battery packs. I hadeverything planned, and I forgot
(08:30):
to charge the most importantthing. Well, the second most
important thing, which was myhandheld, like, tripod thing.
Mike Peditto (08:38):
Yeah.
Rhona Pierce (08:39):
So and everything I had planned was like moving
content. And that was in charge.
Mike Peditto (08:45):
Sure.
Rhona Pierce (08:45):
So my first day was shot. I was like, oh, no.
This is but, yeah, having a planis so important and, like, just
having the equipment ready andall of that is so so important
for in person events.
Mike Peditto (09:00):
Yeah. And and I found myself with it just kind
of meandering, trying to figureout a lot to do. And I think it
took me some time to getcomfortable with the idea. And
and and another time it wouldbe, you know, I think I could
dive in even quicker. But Ithink it goes like making
content in general, which islike, stop thinking about it so
much and just start doing it.
I was overthinking way too muchwhile I was there and too much
(09:21):
in my head. So I definitely wishthat hadn't been the case.
Rhona Pierce (09:25):
Yeah. So let's talk a little about about your
gear and your, like, setup. Iwas actually impressed with your
setup. What did you use? Like,what tools did you use for your
setup there, and was it easy tocarry around?
Mike Peditto (09:41):
Yeah. So I had a, I'm like looking around and see
if I can grab it. I had a tripodthat was recommended to me. I'm
looking around as I'm movingaway from my microphone. I had a
tripod that was recommended tome that basically can get up to
like 4 feet high and get down toa size I would fit in the
backpack.
So that was a good huge benefit.I also brought this kind of very
(10:01):
small traveling tripod that'smagnetic and can stick to things
very easily. And that wassomething else recommended. So
that's when I that's really allI brought. I bought some
microphones.
Tip for anyone out there, investin good microphones. I bought
these microphones and this I'mgonna blast them on air right
now if you don't mind. TheAlboxcon wireless microphones
(10:23):
UM420 were trash. You can cutthat out if you want, but if you
want people to know, I boughtthese little microphones, and so
much of my footage is ruined.And if you even look at the
footage I put out there, it'schoppy.
You can't hear a ton. And thatwas one of the downfalls of only
doing it on day 2 is I didn'thave time to hear any of that
wasn't going right. I have somany interviews that just aren't
(10:44):
usable because it was justcutting in and out. So invest in
good microphones, that is step1. It was too windy, it was too
loud to not use microphoneswhile doing it, And mine did not
hold up.
And that was pretty much all Ihad though. It was the the
microphones, the handheld tripodand the big tripod. So easy to
fit in a backpack. I had a propI used at one point. It was like
(11:07):
this thumbs up, thumb down Ibought that I just saw the idea
like some other, like, man onthe street type interviews I had
seen before.
I lost it, like, 10 minutes intousing it. I left it somewhere.
So it's in, like, 2 videos.
Rhona Pierce (11:19):
That's cool. And I really liked, like, the ease of
your setup because your tripod,I could tell was, like, not
super heavy. You were justmoving it around as you went.
And the microphones, I actuallyhave ones that I love. I the
RODE 1.
Mike Peditto (11:35):
Mhmm. Those are much nicer looking.
Rhona Pierce (11:38):
And, really, it's it's really not a microphone.
You put the wire I have the RODEwireless Oh. Mics, and you put
them here. But the real reasonwhy I bought this is because I
was able to find a pink popfilter for it. That's the most
important part.
But, no, really, the sound isamazing because it's the same
(11:59):
wireless mic that I use for myregular content, and you just,
like, put it there and then movearound with that. And that
additional mic was, like, 30something dollars. And then the
the wireless go, I don'tremember how much it is, but I
think it's it's, like, $200 forthe entire thing. Yes, they are
(12:21):
cheaper options. And I will linkto them in the show notes.
But sound, especially at a liveevent, and we had rain and wind
and stuff like that. It's super,super important because it's
like it can destroy yourfootage.
Mike Peditto (12:35):
Yep. I have tons of great video footage and just
very little that I can actuallyuse the sound for. Even the
videos I posted, a lot of it Idid voice over for myself over
just, like, me rerecording myquestions in my room and just
dealt with the fact that, like,their answers weren't very easy
to hear.
Rhona Pierce (12:53):
Well, there's always next year and other
conferences. How do you balancebeing present at the event with
capturing content?
Mike Peditto (13:04):
Yeah. It's a good question. I didn't do a great
job of it. So I don't know. Imean, I guess my balance was I
spent day 1 sort of being at theevent and day 2 doing content,
but I don't think that's theright way to balance.
You know, what I tried to do,what my plan was, and so I stick
with it, was I went through theschedule and I figured out what
do I want to see? What's gonnago on my schedule? What talks do
(13:26):
I wanna go see? Who do I wannameet? Whatever else.
And then when I'm not doingthose things, I'll go do this
other content, I'll figure itout. And that's essentially what
I wound up doing. I sort of hadblocks where I'd record for 20,
30 minutes in a row talking topeople, and then I would go
watch a talk or go have lunch orwhatever else and hang out with
some people. The thing I wantedto make sure I balanced, and
(13:46):
luckily making content the way Idid was easy, is I wanted to
meet a lot of people because Idon't usually do that type of
stuff. So luckily, that washappening while I was making the
content.
So I do think there was somebalance to that. It would have
been very different if I wasjust recording solo content the
whole time or something likethat. So I think I purposely
(14:08):
made myself have to talk tovendors and other recruiters and
people who were there just toget this content to begin with,
and then just made sure to seethe talks that I knew I needed
to see.
Rhona Pierce (14:17):
I like that strategy. And, yeah, while
you're creating the content,you're getting to network and
meet people. Did you find thatit was easy to get people to be
on camera with you?
Mike Peditto (14:29):
For the most part, I had some people who didn't
want to, but I don't know.Recruiters are recruiters. I
like, recruiters are some of thelast people who are gonna shy
away from a camera, I think.But, yeah, there's definitely in
one of the videos I even have,there was this huge group who
was there from I think it wasSchneider Electric. And they had
probably 20, 30 representativesthere because it was like a
(14:49):
local company.
And I went up to the whole groupand like asked and they were all
just like passing off to thenext person. And there was 2
people who were like, Yeah, wedefinitely will. And then
everyone else sort of stood inthe background and they realized
they were even on camera andthey just like shifted out in
the middle of video. So somepeople didn't want to.
Typically, if I had approached agroup, they would say yes.
When I would go up to, like,vendors and try and interview
(15:11):
them, they'd usually havesomeone I'd get passed around
to. So there's definitely wedon't wanna be on camera, but
you could always find the oneswho did. The only people I was
not able to get on camera at allwas Indeed, who was the main
sponsors of the event, whowanted nothing to do with
talking about the Indeed jobsearch platform on camera. And I
(15:31):
sort of get it. They probablyhave a lot of rules with, like,
a being on camera and in themedia there, Indeed.
I think I approached them alittle bit rough when I was just
sort of like a lot of peoplecomplain about the scams and the
jobs on Indeed aren't real, andI'd love to talk to someone. And
that was probably my approachwas the problem, but that was
the only thing I couldn't getrecorded. I really wanted to
talk to them.
Rhona Pierce (15:49):
Interesting. Because I would think being so
big and being the the mainsponsor, they would have
someone, like some PR type
Mike Peditto (15:58):
Mhmm.
Rhona Pierce (15:59):
Person that could answer that type of question,
but maybe you just didn'tapproach that person.
Mike Peditto (16:04):
Yeah. They passed me around based over the booth.
Maybe they were there on day 1,but it was funny. So I just have
a good video of myself standingby their booth talking about how
they didn't wanna talk to me,but I haven't posted that
because I don't I don't need tostart a fight with them.
Rhona Pierce (16:17):
Yeah. That's interesting, though. Did you
have a process? And I know youonly filmed on day 2, but, like,
for editing and reviewing thecontent that you captured?
Mike Peditto (16:29):
Yeah. I mean, because I had ideas of the
videos I wanted to make, I firstthing I do is I just went back
and checked what videos weresort of good or useless. Sorry.
What ones did I accidentally hitrecord on and just delete all
those quick three second clipsor whatever. And then I started
just taking each video andfinding the area I wanted.
Right? I found the part where Italked to people about resume
(16:51):
length, where I talked about theATS is where and I would load
that video into CapCut, cuteverything except for that part,
and then load the next video inand cut everything except for
that part. And then I'd start togo through and see, especially
with my audio issues I had,which time that I asked the
question came through the best,and we'll do that. And that's
(17:11):
when all that b roll I filmedwas really helpful too, because
I was able to just sort of feelmyself walk in front of the rec
fest sign or whatever and recordwhatever I needed over that. So
some of the b roll footage didcome in there.
But, yeah, it started with justknowing the 3 or 4 videos I
wanted to make and finding thefootage for that, and then just
(17:32):
sort of going through the rest.Right? I mean, the video I
recorded with you is a perfectexample. I recorded with you and
2 other recruiters, and thataudio is almost just, like,
entirely useless. In case you'rewondering, I would know the
stuff we film has popped up inany of my videos.
It's just like the microphoneswere not helping that in that
moment. So that was a realdisappointment. So it just
became going through and findinglike, what's the best usable
(17:54):
content and now what can I dowith it? I'm still doing it. I'm
still going through it, tryingto find new ideas, trying to
find, like, new videos.
I'm struggling because of thelack of audio and a lot of it.
But I don't think I'm doneputting stuff out from
Wreckfest.
Rhona Pierce (18:08):
That's cool. And and I think that's that's really
the gold in it for anyone that'sgoing to a conference. You get
so much footage that you can usein different ways. You don't
necessarily have to post exactlythe interview that you asked,
but you can it's just I I knowyou'll have, like, endless ideas
(18:28):
of it's like, oh, wait. Let medo this.
Let me do this type of thing.And you have the footage even if
the audio isn't there. It couldbe some sort of b roll at some
point or something.
Mike Peditto (18:39):
Yeah. I mean, I just have footage of me making a
lot of people laugh whentalking. Right? Or I have
footage of I did a time lapsevideo. They had a character
artist there, and I did a timelapse video of them drawing a
character of me or me playingsome of the video games that
were there.
And and that all works tocontinue to make content over
and over again on.
Rhona Pierce (18:58):
So it's fair to say that your target audience
are job seekers, right?
Mike Peditto (19:02):
I think so. For the majority, yes. I think I
have a larger audience than Irealized of people in the hiring
space who also like to hear whatI say. But most content I make
is aimed at people trying tofind a job.
Rhona Pierce (19:15):
And this is gold. Right? You were at a conference
full of recruiters, so you couldget a lot of content for that.
If you were to go to aconference, let's say a tech
conference that isn't for thatisn't full of recruiters, how
would you go about creatingcontent there?
Mike Peditto (19:30):
I think it would be based on the it'll be a lot
more vendor specific things. SoI think of something like HR
tech that was last week, and Ididn't go to it. But they had
tons of tools and softwares. Andthat was really the idea behind
the ATS one I did, but I didn'tget to talk to as many vendors
as I wanted. Because some ofthese vendors were aimed at they
(19:51):
were looking for like recruitersto buy things from them more
than anything else.
But if I could go where peoplereally were like digging into
the software and the tech, thatwould be my strategy, right?
It's just sort of like, what doyou do? How is it gonna change
hiring? What do job seekers needto know about it? I think that's
sort of my biggest miss.
And that I didn't ask all thesevendors is what should job
seekers know about companiesusing your software and how it's
(20:15):
gonna affect their hiring? Thatwould be my approach for
something like that.
Rhona Pierce (20:18):
Yeah. That's a great approach. And it's true.
It's like, I don't think I'veseen much or any content from
that perspective because it'slike, what do the vendors want
job seekers to know? Because I Ithink I mean, that's gold.
I think that would be greatperspective to hear what they
have to say.
Mike Peditto (20:39):
Yeah. And that was what the 2 ATS interviews I did
at RecFest were. Right? I likeGreenhouse sort of talk about I
asked them, do you have robots?Do you have scoring?
Do you have all these things?How many resumes do you get? How
many companies work with you?And I think that job seekers
wanna know that stuff. Now,unfortunately, as I saw in most
of these videos I put out, jobseekers don't always necessarily
(21:01):
wanna hear or believe thingsthat isn't what they want to be
true.
So I think those videos suffereda little bit from just people
saying, I don't believe them. Idon't care. I don't believe
them. So that's the next hurdlefor me to figure out is how to
get people like, trust metalking to 10 experts, not the
anonymous Reddit comment that'sgoing viral everywhere all over
the Internet now that peoplehave turned into news stories,
(21:23):
like trust sources. I don't knowhow to ever squash that problem,
though.
Rhona Pierce (21:28):
I think it's it's the most fascinating thing for
me that you can get recruiters.You can get the people building
the ATS. You can get developerswho build these tools to say
things, and people still won'tbelieve it because it's a lot
easier to believe I'm notgetting traction in my job
(21:48):
search because of this thingthat has nothing to do with me
is preventing me than justlooking and saying, maybe it's
something I'm doing or maybe,you know what? The job market
sucks right now, and it's justhard. So
Mike Peditto (22:05):
Yeah. It's and it's funny because the story I
even referenced, and I don'tknow if you've seen it right,
there's a story going aroundright now about a hiring manager
who thought that his HR teamwasn't getting him any resumes.
So he applied to the job, gotrejected, right away, and, like,
got the HR team fired. And themedia is all over. It's all
over.
MSNBC is talking about all thesecompanies, and no one has
(22:26):
managed to, like, verify athing. This all traced back to
one anonymous Reddit commentwhere someone just wrote it, and
it's being put everywhere, andand people would just, like, be
so quick to not ask for proof ofthat. But when I have 15
recruiters saying something,like, no one will believe it
because it's not the the rightthing, I went undercover a
little bit on Reddit and triedto, like, blow that story up and
(22:48):
create some chaos over it. Thathasn't gone exactly how I
wanted, but I am trying to provethat it's fake or at least prove
that nobody cares that it'sfake. I'm still working on that
TBD.
Rhona Pierce (22:57):
I think my idea and, anyone who wants to I don't
create content for job seekersanymore, but anyone who wants to
do this can steal the idea. Iwanna get just common people off
the street. No. Nothing to dowith hiring to use ATS. Like,
here's ATS.
Here's one of my roles. Here'severything coming in. Go ahead.
(23:19):
Do it. Mhmm.
I think that would be somethingthat people would believe more,
But it's just, you know, there'slaws and stuff and privacy, and
you can't share people's stuff.But that's my dream content that
I've always it's like, if therewas one company who would let me
do that, I would create thatcontent for free Just because go
(23:40):
ahead.
Mike Peditto (23:41):
I have a plan soon for a LinkedIn livestream where
I'm going to because you'reright. You can't do this with a
real company's ATS and realpeople's resumes. And the work
that goes into, like, creatingenough fake stuff to make this
work is just not worth it. I'mplanning on doing, like, a live
stream, I think, sometime soon,where I'm gonna create, like,
(24:02):
just a a dummy job. Not not postit.
I don't want it to be a realghost job, but a job that I that
is just gonna be posted in myATS. Put it out to everybody. Go
apply to this. Try every trickyou want. Do whatever you want
to your resumes.
Make your resumes format themhowever you want, white font, do
all the stuff you wanna do. Andthen I'm gonna go through all
these on a live stream. Andyou're gonna see what I see,
(24:25):
you're gonna see if rankingdecisions, you're gonna see how
these show up in my system. And,you know, then it will not be
kind of exposing one's privateinfo, but still using, like, a
real ATS. So I do have thatplanned, but I just feel like
there's a lot of, like, things Ihave to figure out first.
Rhona Pierce (24:37):
That's a cool idea. I might talk to you a
little offline about ideas Ihave with that, but that's a
that's a great idea, and I thinkit would help, like, really show
things. So going back to our ourtopic about the conference,
other than what you'vementioned, any other regrets or
things that you would dodifferently in hindsight?
Mike Peditto (25:00):
So, you know, I think it comes down to those
couple of things. Right? It's Iwould spend more time. Not just
doing it all at once. Right.
I would have spent more time onday 1 as well. When more people
were there, I would have, Iwould have diversified and
talked to more people. I think Ireally targeted, especially with
limited amount of time on mostlypeople I knew in advance
(25:20):
already, and that was sort oflimited there. I would have come
with more ideas, like, I sort ofhad those 3 good ideas, and it
was just like, I'll figure outthe rest, and I didn't. I would
have absolutely bought betterrecording equipment.
And then beyond that, you know,I think I would have taken more
time to make sure what I wasdoing was working right. Right?
If I would have been pausingthroughout the day and sort of
(25:41):
like checking this audio orlistening, got some headphones
and done these things, like, Imight have been able to catch it
and rerecord some stuff. Theother thing that was on my mind,
and this maybe something peoplecan help with, maybe they can't,
is I thought about right beforethe conference how nice it would
have been to bring someone tohelp me. I realized, you know,
we got as a speaker, I had anextra free ticket.
(26:03):
And I could have used that tosort of bring someone, even find
someone local, who's just likean audio person, right, who
could have come around andmanage the equipment and been
checking audio and making sureit was all working. I probably
could have done that for arelatively inexpensive amount
for a day. And I think itprobably would have been worth
the investment if I wanted tomake, like, real professional
quality stuff.
Rhona Pierce (26:22):
Yeah. That's my one takeaway as well. Next year,
I said, I'm definitely findingsomeone local that can go and
actually shoot the content anddo all of that. I don't mind the
editing and all of that later,but, like, that way I could be
present at the conference. Icould be, like, getting the
(26:43):
content.
I I think, really, if you havethe means to do that, that's the
best way. And for a lot ofpeople go to these conferences
paid for by their company, ifthere's if you can get a little
more in the budget to do that, Ithink that would really change
and, like, elevate the qualityof the content that you get.
Mike Peditto (27:05):
Yeah. And my other thing, this is like a personal
regret. If you have thisopportunity, you're going to
speak. I did not record my talk.And both for my own, like,
personal one in the recording ofthe talk, but also, like, that
would have been really goodcontent, like, these straight up
shots of me on the stage with amicrophone talking.
I didn't do it. I thought itwould be somewhere, like, I
(27:27):
thought it'd sort of beaccessible. One person I spoke
with did record, but it's sortof a side angle. And I wish I
had, like, a really good shot ofthat and just a video of that.
And I just didn't because I feltlike I didn't wanna set it up in
the middle of the aisle as I waslike giving a talk.
So that's my other big regret. Ithink it comes down to a lot of
content creating regrets is sortof like, sometimes it still
feels a little bit embarrassing.Like you don't wanna be that
(27:49):
influencer in the wild. And Istill sort of struggle with that
a bit for myself.
Rhona Pierce (27:53):
Yeah. I do too. I think everyone does, and I've
spoken to a lot of people who dothis, even people who do this
full time. It's still kind oflike it's still you still get
that kind of, like, side eyefrom some people Mhmm. When
you're, like, in the middle of,I don't know, Target or
whatever, a conference, justsetting up your camera to shoot.
(28:13):
But I think it's just gonnabecome more and more accepted
and, like, common to see thesethings. And I always go back to
thinking on the end product andwho I'm helping with the
content. But, of course, you'rehuman, so you're still it's
there's always that balance.It's like, I don't wanna be on
(28:35):
influencers in the wild.
Mike Peditto (28:37):
Yeah. It's hard. An event like that I knew I was
a little bit more comfortablebecause it sort of knew it'd be
okay. And anyone who knew meknew who I was already doing
this there. But, yeah, I stillstruggle with that.
I still go places with the ideaof, like, oh, I could get some
good content here, some good broll here or whatever. And I
just, like, pull out my phoneand get, like, petrified and,
like, put it back in my pocket.
Rhona Pierce (28:55):
Thank you for sharing that. And I love sharing
that because a lot of people,they see that we create content
and they think it's like, oh,we've got this all together and
there's never second guessing oranything. And I think there's a
lot of it. I know for me becauseI do a lot of video content just
like you. There's a lot ofsecond guessing.
There's a lot of looking at thefootage and being like, oh my
(29:18):
gosh. But you just have to pushforward.
Mike Peditto (29:21):
Yeah. Anyone who knows anything about me knows I
do not have it all together, andI manage to keep going just
fine.
Rhona Pierce (29:26):
Exactly. So looking back at your journey,
like in TA and content creation,what's the one piece of advice
you would give to someone who'swanting to start?
Mike Peditto (29:37):
It's a good question. You know, the piece of
advice in general for anyone whostarted is like to just do it,
to get over your own personal.Like cringe feeling or whatever
it is that's holding you backbecause the only reason you're
not doing it right now is youaren't doing it. And that sounds
like stupid to say, but that'sthe reason nobody's actually
(29:58):
stopping you. If you have a bosswho's stopping you, I guess it's
different, but in general,nobody's stopping you.
Right? You're just kind ofsecond guessing yourself. It's
gonna suck. I look back at myinitial stuff, and and it sucks.
And it's just sort of, like,dull and dry.
And I don't really know what I'mdoing. And it's not edited well.
And I got better at it. But,like, you have to do those
(30:21):
things. In terms of combiningthe 2, you know, I wish more
people who are actively workingin TA would.
There's not many who do. There'snot many doing what I do, just
working full time as a directorof TA and also creating all this
content. And it's timeconsuming, so I know everybody
can't do that necessarily. Butthere are a whole lot of ex
(30:43):
recruiters telling you how it isand not enough actual ones. So,
you know, if you are out thereand you're actually in this
space and you're thinking aboutsort of making more of this
content, remember how manypeople could benefit from
hearing from you.
Every time I post a video thatsort of flops, and by my
standards, like, flopping mightbe different than somebody
(31:03):
else's. But every time I post avideo and let's say it only
gets, you know, 3,000 views, andI should be getting way more
because I'm in the high tripledigits followers, and it gets
3,000 views. Out of those 3,000views, there could be 200 people
who saw it and absolutely got apiece of advice that helps them
on their next interview or jobsearch. So if you're creating
the content to actually helppeople, just start doing it. If
(31:27):
your only reason for creating isbecause you, like, wanna get
famous and make a lot of money,then, like, yeah, you're
probably gonna struggle to getover that hump.
Rhona Pierce (31:33):
Great advice. And, yeah, I always tell any client
that I work with, your firstvideo is going to suck. Like,
get over it. It's going to suck.My first video, oh my gosh.
And my first video, even thoughI had my husband directing, he's
really good at video, has donethis for a lot of times. I just
(31:56):
wanted to do it my way. So wehad a huge fight, and the video
sucks. And, I mean, I I can'tbelieve I'm gonna say this. If I
would have listened and doneeverything he said, it wouldn't
have sucked that much, but yourfirst video is going to suck.
You get better. Just get overit. Like, no one's no even
(32:16):
though my video sucked, I had somany people say, oh my gosh.
That it's amazing. I love this.
That's really the point of it.
Mike Peditto (32:23):
Yeah. And and that really is it. So if if you're
doing it to help people, then doit. And another pushback I get
from people a lot, because Ihave the same kind of
conversation a lot. I have thisconversation with a ton of
people at rec fest, who wouldjust go, I wish I could.
I wish I could. You can't. Thething I tell them is, yeah,
there are going to be shittypeople. Like, there's going to
be people who say things to youthat hurt your feelings. If you
(32:46):
can't handle it, like, if youcan't take that, then, like,
don't get into this space.
Like, it's going to happen. Youknow? And and I understand that
for some people, like, just,like, they don't have the thick
skin needed for it. There is alevel of thick skin you have to
have. But for every terriblething somebody says to me, there
are plenty more people who saygreat things.
And I favorite every one ofthem. I have a huge folder at
(33:08):
this point of every good commentthat's, like, ever been left in
my videos about finding jobs orwhatever else. And that way
outweighs the people who tell methe things that they tell me. So
again, that's a small portion,but it is going to happen. So So
you also have to know, like, ifyou're okay with that happening.
Rhona Pierce (33:26):
That's a great call out because, yeah, it does
happen. I think we anyone whoputs themselves out there has
had it happen. But what I liketo tell people, it's like we're
recruiters. It's not likeeveryone's loving us anyway.
Mike Peditto (33:40):
Yeah. I always make the joke, like, I like take
like a Venn diagram. And I justsay like recruiter and like
Internet influencer, and I layright here in the middle of just
like the least likable personpossible. So just, like, it's
fine. Just come live in thatspace with me.
Rhona Pierce (33:54):
Exactly. Perfect. How can listeners connect with
you?
Mike Peditto (33:58):
They can find me on TikTok or Instagram at
Realistic Recruiting, and theycan connect me on LinkedIn as
well. They can follow me there.I've been posting on more video
to LinkedIn recently becauseit's getting more popular there.
But, you know, LinkedIn tends tobe a little bit more my real
job. And then TikTok andInstagram tend to be a little
bit more me combining the 2, butthey can follow me in any of
(34:19):
those spots.
Rhona Pierce (34:20):
Perfect. Thank you so much for being on the show
today.
Mike Peditto (34:23):
Yeah. Thanks for having me.
Rhona Pierce (34:25):
If you wanna learn even more about attracting
candidates with your content,make sure to check out episode
14, where I chat with TaylorDessen about building online
talent communities. Trust me.It's the perfect companion to
today's episode. Thanks forlistening, and I'll chat with
you next week.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.