How to Create Content That Gets Attention – with Mike Peditto - Workfluencer

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rhona Pierce (00:00):
What happens when a former director of talent

(00:02):
acquisition trades hiring plansfor hot takes and microwaves
foil on LinkedIn?

Mike Peditto (00:08):
I I knew that would be funny. I did not know
on LinkedIn that it was justlike a thing that makes people
lose their minds.

In this episode, I'm joined by the one and only
Mike Padito, a recruitingcontent creator whose mix of
humor, honesty, and wild propshas racked up hundreds of
millions of views. I'm gonnamake

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

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

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

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

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

Plus, I put Mike in the hot seat for a new plead
the fifth segment, where heanswered two spicy questions and
named the creator he thinks isactively harming job seekers
with their advice. You're notgoing to want to miss this one.
Hey, Mike. I am so, so excitedto have you back on the show.

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

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

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

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

Good question. I don't know that you ever know
it's time. I was planning to doit probably next year. Think
that was sort of in a perfectworld. When you think about it
ahead of time, you're like, I'llsave this money and I'll do
these things first, and this ishow I'll do it.
None of that happened. And itjust became the time now.

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

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

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

That's a good question. You know what? The
biggest challenge for me is I'mreally bad at like making my own
sort of pressure and schedules.Perform I'm a procrastinator. I
perform best under this.
My last boss knew as aprocrastinator and I used to
just like irk them to no end,but I would just like have

(03:20):
things ready when they needed tobe ready. Don't talk to me. I'll
show up to the meeting. It'll bedone. And that doesn't work when
you don't have any like realdeadlines now.
So that's been sort of theselike couple of weeks really
trying to adjust to like, youthink you're going to wake up
and build a schedule and you'relike at 08:00 to 09:00, I'm

(03:41):
going to work out and from 09:00to 11:00, going to film this.
Just like what happens is Istare at my phone for just like
six straight hours. I'm like, ohcrap, have go pick up my kids.
So that's that's the hardestpart at the moment. And then
like also when you launch theway I did, right, I have a large
following on social media and Imade this announcement on

(04:03):
LinkedIn and it came with thisbrand new website.
And, you know, it was like acouple hundred thousand
impressions on LinkedIn andpeople so excited and all this
stuff. But then that stops afterlike three days and you're like,
shoot, now I have to figure outhow to make money. And I think
that's that's sort of just likethis, like the dopamine goes
away.

Oh my gosh, I can relate to this so much because
I'm also a procrastinator and I'm not saying that I've solved
the issue but it's definitely somuch harder when it's on your
own. It's like, you know thatthis deadline isn't real. I know
what I've done is I literallyannounced things on LinkedIn.
Like if you see my content rightnow, like I'm changing this

(04:47):
podcast and everything and I saylike coming soon, this is being
announced. You'll see in a fewdays that I'll be like in three
days or something like that.
And that's my way of forcingmyself to do it because
otherwise it will go on forever.

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

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

(05:44):
accomplished zero. Yeah,

I'm researching. I'm researching on my phone for
future content. Yeah, today. Soside note today, was just like,
we have a chandelier in ourhouse that has been burned out
for like three months. And todayfinally, I was like, I'm going
to do that today.
That's it's not my job, but atleast it's a thing that'll
distract me. And I brought inour ladder and I got it up as

(06:07):
high as I could. I got to thetop rung where I had to reach
up. It was my way to reach thechandelier. And now I have a
broken chandelier.
So also it's like a lesson tonot do things, I suppose.

Oh, wow. All right. So your recent video, I
hope we get to see that on on avideo and it'll make sense with
my next question. So your recentvideos with props like
microwaving foil. Oh my gosh.
That got me triggered havegenerated like massive, massive

(06:39):
engagement. Walk me through likeyour thought process when you're
designing content that you knowmight trigger some strong
emotions.

It's so funny. Like, I don't know what is going
to trigger people like that.Like the foil thing. I knew that
would be funny. I did not knowon LinkedIn that it was just
like a thing that makes peoplelose their minds.
It's funny because you makecontent and something we always
talk about. She's like, younever know. You don't know

(07:09):
what's going to be the one thatpops off. You don't know that's
been the one people respond tobecause I try other things. I'm
like, this is so good and nobodycares.
So, you know, it's just sort oflike, what will people notice is
the thing, right? Just like, Ithink the lesson from something
like that is like what thisfeels bad. This is a lesson from

(07:30):
Courtney Johnson, who is amaster going viral. And she gets
me all the time because like shegets me so riled up and angry.
So she does this to me.
But she knows what she's doing.And I think it's just like when
you let people think you'restupid is when they're most
likely to interact with you.That people want to tell you

(07:50):
what you're doing wrong. Theydon't want tell you what you're
is funny or good or anythingelse. Want to tell you you're
wrong.

That is so interesting. And I've had that
experience as well. Obviouslynot on the scale that you have,
but if I ever am like, oh, myengagement is down or something
like that. And I post just themost random question that I a %
know the answer to but you know,like people want to teach you,
oh my gosh, I get everyone inthe comments like, no, this is

(08:18):
how you do it, blah, blah, like,yes. So that is definitely a way
evoke emotions in people.
So like when you create thistype of content, do you, and I
know it's hard to know ifanything's gonna pop off or
anything, but do you plan thefollow-up pieces in advance or

(08:38):
do you like adapt based on thereaction? And I'm asking because
of that genius follow-up videothat you did with like the mean
tweet style response, likereading everyone's mean comments
just because you put foil inyour microwave?

Yeah. No, I don't. Because again, it's it's I'm
only going to do a response likethat if it like calls for it. So
I make it and sometimes I know,right? Sometimes I make a video
that purposely leaves like thisopen ended loop where someone's
gonna go, what am I supposed todo here?
And then I know I'll be able tomake a reply video for it, of
course. But when it comes tolike these emotional reactions,

(09:13):
it's just that's an in themoment thing. And this is the
second time I've had to do that.I I had a video a long time ago.
And, you know, I know this issomething you wanted to kind of
talk about with me, too, waslike the like reactions people
give.
I had a video a long time ago goviral. It was a podcast clip.

(09:35):
And in the clip, I was readingquotes from Fox News hosts to
our guest who was GabrielleJudge, lazy girl jobs. And I was
reading things Fox News had saidabout her to her. But in the
clip, it looks like I am justlike berating her and saying

(09:55):
these things.
And that did like 2,000,000views on TikTok and, like, Gen Z
came for me harder than, like,I've ever been come for on the
Internet. And that was the firsttime I made a video like that
where I was just, like, reading,like, people are just like, oh,
bro's calling work a hassle. Itlooks like going to the gym is a
hassle for him and, like, thingslike that. And I was just like,

(10:16):
okay. We're just gonna lean intothis, I guess, because it
happened.

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

Mhmm.

And obviously, I wasn't coming from like hate or
anything. I was like, greatvideo. The real crime here is
the foil. And like people, I hadto turn off my comments on that,
on my alerts on that the otherday because I now I find myself
defending because people arelike, yeah, this is bad. I'm
like, why do you feel sostrongly about something that's

(10:53):
clear?
Clearly he's not burning hishouse down because there's a
camera inside of the microwaveas well. Like clearly this was
genius way of getting engagementbut it's like people need to
touch grass, really.

It's Yeah. You had the viral comment. There's
always the one comment on avideo like that that just, like,
gets almost pinned to the topfrom likes. And you were the
first one. You had a comment,and now everyone's responding to
it.
But that's the funniest thing tome. I was just like, you realize
this is being filmed from insidethe microwave, right? Like, do
you think I also microwaved myphone? Or do you think maybe I
just opened up the door anddidn't turn it on? But again,
people want to assume thateveryone's dumb and talk to them

(11:30):
like they're dumb.

I think people don't under like, if you're not
creating content, you probablydon't understand that to get
that view that you got fromlooking at you from inside of
the microwave, your camera hasto be in there. There's
literally no other way of doingit. I think people aren't
thinking about that because theydon't create videos. Right? So
they don't know.
So what have you learned likeabout the the balance between

(11:55):
grabbing attention and actuallydelivering something useful in
your videos?

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

(12:22):
maintain.
It's just like it feels likemore and more you have to be
figuring out a way. So for me,it always starts with like,
what's the message I want to getacross? Because that message has
to be here. And now what can Ido to make people pay attention,
even if it's unrelated? And Ithink that's the big thing for
me.
I'm never going to try to catchyour attention go viral with

(12:43):
some BS about hiring. I'm nevergoing to claim some false stat
or something that's going to getyou mad. I'm going to get your
attention by doing somethingelse. I just posted on Monday on
TikTok and it's like 1,300,000views now, a video where I was
like on my kid's chalkboard andI was like moving away pieces of
paper that were like had likemessages behind them. And I've

(13:04):
stolen that from other contentcreators.
It's something I've seen donebefore as well. But it made
people stop. They want to seewhat's behind there. And I
didn't have to change themessage. I was just like, I'm
giving resume advice, but I'mdoing it in this way.
So I think that's become the bigthing for me is just
experimenting. Like, what can Ido unrelated to my advice that
would just make people stay?

Such a genius, genius way of doing it. And like
you said, there's a lot ofcontent creators that do it. I
think it started with like thegirls doing their makeup and
stuff like that. But like theway that you do it to me is like
so genius because people still,you can tell from your comments
that people are still listeningto the message that you had

(13:49):
because there's a mix there.Yeah, people are enraged about
the hammer or the foil orwhatever, but there's still
people commenting on this isgreat advice because at the end
of the day, it really is.
So you can totally tell thatyou've like found your way of
striking that balance.

So yeah, yeah, I appreciate it. Yeah, that is the
big goal for me. And, you know,I think back like I think this
has been going on for about ayear, right? So I've been making
content for two years. And Ithink a year ago, because it
just came up my memories, is thefirst time I did a magic trick
on TikTok.
It was just like a real dumbone. And I had like a Beyonce
song in the background. It waslike a joke about managers

(14:30):
disappearing, after aninterview. And it was like, made
a card disappear. But I thinkthat was sort the start.
Like, people really liked it. Isaw you in comments with the guy
to watch the video twice, wantsto see the magic trick and like
wants to listen. I was like,perfect. That's what I want to
happen.

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

That's a good question. And I think I'm trying
to figure that out myself. Itused to be only job seekers.
That was where most of mycontent went. Now that I
branched out on my own and I'mtrying to do more, right?
So we talked about like fulltime on my own. You know, full
time content creation isn'treally the goal. That be amazing
if I can just like make enoughmoney making TikTok videos like

(15:21):
nothing else has to happen. Butthe goal is for them to get me
seen enough to be making moneydoing other things. So, you
know, I've started to try toshift a little bit as well to,
you know, the kind of audiencesthat I want to be doing business
with.
Not that I have anything againstjob seekers, but I'm not a
career coach. I don't want to becharging $10,000 for networking
courses. So for me, is trying tofigure out how do I keep

(15:46):
attracting recruiters and hiringmanagers and people who still
can benefit from what I'mtalking about. So there has been
a bit of a shift in a lot of mytopics, to really focus on like
what we can be doing better,what it's actually like, without
preaching about it. You know, Idon't think if I made a video

(16:07):
that said like, here's how tohire better, anyone would care.
But by poking fun at bad hiringor by poking fun at a lack of
training or something like that,I think that catches the right
attention and still appeals tojob seekers without asking them
to be the ones who have to fixsomething. So that's sort of
like the new goal is trying tofigure out how to do that for
me.

That is so interesting. And I'm glad that
you mentioned that because a lotof people in our space from what
I've seen is when they want togo full time on this, they
immediately think that they haveto be a career coach. And I
mean, I get it, I started thatway, but it's like, I don't want
to do this. I don't want, it'snothing wrong with people who

(16:49):
charge money for these things,it's needed, it's a needed
service. Not talking about thescammers, talking about the
legit people that do it buteveryone that leaves TA or HR
doesn't have to become a careercoach.
There's so many other thingsthat we can do. So I'm excited
to like follow along and see howyou end up monetizing this. But

(17:13):
yeah, you're on the right track.It's like that balance of
attracting both like therecruiters, the hiring managers,
the people that can hire you forthese things and the job seekers
too, because you still justgiving them advice as you were
before.

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

Amazing. That is so interesting. So let's talk a
little about that strategybecause so many people just post
the same thing everywhere. And Ilove your approach like TikTok.
Okay, here are your job seekers.
LinkedIn. Is it more mixed foryou there?

Yeah, I think LinkedIn is the spot, of course,
where I'm trying to appeal tothe most companies. And, you
know, it is a hard mix. I dousually wind up posting stuff
everywhere because, you know,I'll still see what happens.
That foil video I made forLinkedIn specifically because
LinkedIn had this like videotrending going on. There was
some it was like I saw videospopping up on LinkedIn that were

(18:30):
saying, like, why my coworkershate me or my coworkers are
going to roast me for this.
That's what it was. That's why Imade the fish video. And I was
just sort of like jumping intothat. And then I was like, all
yeah, I'll try it on TikTok andInstagram, too. And it didn't do
as well there because I justdon't think that's who the
audience was.
But yeah, so it is sort of someof that aiming. And I think with
LinkedIn, for me, the strugglehas been how do I keep making

(18:53):
content that appeals to peoplewho don't follow me and I want
to get that in and all these jobseekers who do follow knowing it
has to be something different.So I think I am going to start
kind of having like TikTokspecific content and LinkedIn
specific content. And if it doeswell, it can go cross platform.
We can try it all these otherways.

(19:13):
But I do want to talk to thepeople on LinkedIn who can be
doing something without turninginto, like I said, sort of the
like preaching of like, here'show to do better because I don't
need any more of that.

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

I don't understand threads. I like post the threads
like once a week and maybethat's my problem. I like I
can't give any traction there.I'm not fast enough with it.
Maybe I become too used to videoevery time I like post a thread
that I think is like important.
It gets like one like on it. SoI don't know if anyone out there
knows how to do well on threadsbecause I see people making
money on threads, and I love to,but I don't know how.

I don't either. I tried threads because it's like,
okay, this is like Twitter, Iwas doing good on Twitter. So I
literally had my VA take everytweet that ever did good that
was relevant to my new audiencebecause again, I was on Twitter
more when I was talking to jobseekers and we put it on threads

(20:16):
and like multiple times a dayand everything and like some did
well, most didn't. But let mewatch a show, Real Housewives.
I'm watching the reunion rightafter this.
Let me like post something aboutthat. Thousands, thousands, it's
like none of these people. Solike threads, I don't know
what's happening there either. II think it's I'm excited to see

(20:39):
where it goes. But yeah, there'speople there making money and
they're just killing it.
And I love that for them. Ihaven't figured it out yet
either.

And threads feels very overwhelming to me because
like threads, you can't controlwhat's on your feed. So you just
sort of if you post on a topicor an actual topic, you'll see a
million of them. So every time Iopen up threads, I just see
these like resume writers andcareer coaches all posting the
same threads about ATS, AIkeywords, all this stuff. And I

(21:10):
just like hate it. And I justsort of like closed down.
I shut down because I want toargue with them. My instinct is
going to be to argue and that'snot who I want to be anymore. So
I just like, I feel like I justavoid it.

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

The worst piece of hate that generally stung. I get
a lot. It was definitelyprobably goes back to that video
I talked about, right, with withGabrielle, because that was the
first time that, like, I feltgenerally misunderstood. A lot
of hate I get, I bring onmyself, Right. The foil in the

(21:56):
microwave, microwaving fishshowing my bare feet in the
video.
I asked for that. Or even justmaking job search content.
Right. I ask for angry jobseekers to show up. Frustrated.
This video was like, appeared tobe the kind of person I'm not
and that I don't like. Andpeople thought that was me. And

(22:20):
that was really hard because myfirst instinct was to like
defend myself. And I wasreplying to every comment, like,
isn't it obvious? It's a satireor I was reading Fox News quotes
or all these things.
And like that becomes a losingbattle. Like, one cares. Then I
tried making some jokes aboutlike, oh, it's, you know, bad
editing. I did that to myselfbecause it was bad editing. Then

(22:42):
I edited the video and I wasjust like, I'm learning all this
stuff and like nobody cared.
And like people just startedcoming about like how because
the the quotes were so diggingat her. Like the topic of this
was like, you know, if anyonewho doesn't like know her, like,
listen, right? It's like theidea of her like anti work lazy
girl jobs is that you shouldn'thave to be forced to just like

(23:03):
work some corporate job fortyhours a week, and there's other
ways to do it. And so the quotesI was reading were about how
like Gen Z doesn't want to havekids or go to work because it's
too much of a hassle. Why don'tthey want to have these hassles
in their life?
And so people could sort of cameat me just like, Oh, this guy's
poor wife. And like, they knewmy name, right? And they were
like saying my wife's name orlike the fact that I have kids

(23:25):
and like that was hard becauseit was so wrong. You want to
call me an HR bootlicker? Fine.
Whatever. But like that stuffwas just so personal. Yeah. And
like thinking I was just like,you know, they were like, oh,
this old boomer right wing,blah, blah, blah. And like.
So I made the one videoeventually for a while, it shut

(23:49):
me down for a while. I almostlike deleted the tick tock or I
like couldn't even look at itlike it was the it was the only
time in making content that Ijust felt like, I don't know. I
don't know if I want thisanymore. But I knew it would
pass because it always passes.Yeah.
So I sort of I took the ticktock. I took the podcast tick

(24:10):
tock off my page, off my phone.I was just like, I'm not going
to look at this for a while. Andoccasionally people would show
up on my videos because theyjust saw me from that or
whatever. And then I was like,okay, maybe I'll lean into it a
little bit.
I made one of those mean tweetstyle videos where I just took
some of the ones that were trueand made jokes about them where
was just people are like, theone that said, this guy looks

(24:32):
like going to the gym is ahassle. And I was just like,
yeah, it is. That's why I don'tgo. That's why people hate the
gym. You're right.
And like things like that.That's stung for a while. It's
just hard to watch people likepersonally attack you.

Yeah. Yeah, that it is hard. But it's also like,
I kind of understand people andit's good that you were able to
reflect and understand it's likepeople don't understand the
context. And this is what I tellpeople sometimes in your all the
time, like in your video, youhave to be, even in your written

(25:10):
content, you have to understandthat for some people, this is
the first time they've ever seenyou, they've ever interacted
with you. So be sure that whatyou're putting out there is
something that you're okay withthem getting without any context
about you.
Because anyone who's seen any ofyour videos knows that that's

(25:31):
not you, you're not this meanperson, you're not this boomer
sitting there talking aboutlike, no. But if that's the
first time that they see you, Iget it. Now, do I get their hate
and their personal attacks?Absolutely not, that's not, I
don't agree with that ever. Butpeople like it's, I think that's
an important thing for anyonegetting into creating content or

(25:53):
anything to understand is peopledon't always have context.
And even if you give them thecontext, they don't care. Those
few seconds is the idea thatthey made of you for whatever
reason And it's hard for them tochange their mind in some
instances. Some of them don'twant to change their mind.

Oh yeah, I mean, many people you like prove, tell
them, show them exactly whatlike they used to show them
like, I don't care. I know itwas hard and I thought it was
obvious, right? I had a captionon. Like, I assume people read
captions. I assume someattention and they don't.
And that was a lesson for me ingeneral with making content is
like for a long time it took mea while accept that I view and

(26:34):
think of my content like a TVshow, right? Just like you
started episode one, video one,and you've watched it all the
way up. But you're right,especially now with the way
these algorithms are, mostpeople who see my videos have
never seen me before. And I needto kind of keep that in mind in
every video. And that does makeit hard because people will make
a lot of assumptions off the onevideo they see.

(26:54):
Right? I make a video where I'mjust like, hey, you need to
change this about your resume.And people are just like, oh,
you're just another HR blowhardwho doesn't know how it's like
to job search. I'm like, oh, youdon't even know my story. You
don't know that I lost multiplejobs and blew up on TikTok by
publicly job searching and thatlike I'm trying to make the
process better.
You just know this video andlike, that's hard. You wish

(27:16):
people could just like know allthat, but they never will.

They never will. I learned that lesson on TikTok.
2021 TikTok was rough and Idecided to share a video with
salary negotiation advice. Sotalking about money on TikTok
and I used an example of notwanting $90,000 and wanting a

(27:42):
hundred or something or notwanting 85,000 and like trying
to get 90 and then I wore wigsand I, because it was different
characters, right? So one wighad an afro, the other was me
with this hair.
Then the video before, myhusband was on it who's white.
All of a sudden now, I'm aperson who hates black people

(28:03):
and I'm mocking black peoplewith an afro. I'm like, what?
Like, where did it like, it'sjust TikTok is an interesting
place. But again, people don'thave context.
People don't understand. And youget all this, hey, off of the it
was a thirty second video.That's when I I literally
stopped TikTok for probably ayear after that.

Mhmm. It it was lot of away. It's chased so many
people away doing that stuff.And, like, it's yeah. It is wild
to me.
And, like, people are so readyto just like be angry over
things. And if you can lean intothat and have some fun with it,
great. But it's when it getspersonal that it's like really
hard. Right. And that's again,it seems like the fish video.
Like I was I was not ready forhow angry people would be, but

(28:47):
like I knew what I was doing.But like, you know, that's
totally different. But yeah,it's, people will come for you
and they're just ready to bemad. That's what they want to
do. They want their instantreaction to be anger.
And they'll make whateversubmission, they'll say
whatever, and they've sort offelt safe. It is is getting
absurd. I had that we had apodcast episode where like right

(29:09):
after that video happened, Ijust started the show and I just
kept going like, are you allOkay? Like what is going on?
Like are you all Okay?
Why are you like this?

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

There's a lot of people in there mad about the
fish. So just like call me howselfish. That's like a lot. So
there's two types of comments.There's the people just like
calling me dumb because of thefoil and then the people who
hate me because I'm like aselfish, shitty coworker because
of the fish and the feet.
I really thought the bare feetwas going be the thing that got
people rounded up. Like I snuckin one second of my bare feet
and I really thought that's whatwas going to get But yeah, this

(29:56):
morning somebody told me hewrote a comment that said last
time somebody microwaved fish atthe office, they had to an
emergency trip to theproctologist. I, of course,
understood this comment, but Iwanted to see like what I was
just like, what do you mean? Andhe was just like, oh, I think
you can infer, you know, ifyou're if you're clever at all.

(30:19):
Was like, I'm not clever.
What what happened? Tell me.

Say with your chest.

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

Oh, my gosh.

This is LinkedIn. Your name is attached.

I don't even get me started on that. It's like,
seriously? And like, oh my gosh.Because we know as recruiters,
you go to you click on theperson's thing and they don't
create content most of the time.So the first thing that you see
show up there in activity isthis very mean comment that has
no business out there.
Look, at the end of the day, Idon't judge people off of these

(30:54):
things. I judge them off ofskills. But do I really want to
call the person admitting maybeor maybe not to sodomizing
people over fish in themicrowave? Do I want to work
with them? Absolutely not.
I don't.

Yeah. And people see that stuff. Like people get
so worked up about, like, she'lluse the open to work banner,
whatever else is. Like, what'shurting you is the way you act
on LinkedIn. I said that in avideo that it was just like your
rants on LinkedIn are hurtingyour job search more than you
realize.
I should be allowed to. You areallowed to, and they're allowed
to not like them. Yeah.

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

Yeah.

And it like usually stops them. It's like

Yeah. I

I don't think you've really wanted this out
there, but oh, well. So youspent over a decade just like in
TA and leading and yourexpertise, I'm sure really
grounds your content and like onthe day to day things that
happen, how do you plan to staysharp on recruiting trends now

(32:11):
that you're no longer on theinside?

Yeah, no, that's a really good question, and that's
really important to me. And it'sa reason that I'm not like
trying to become like a fulltime career coach and things,
too, because I've talked so muchjunk about the people who like
got out of recruiting ten yearsago and just like still talk
about it. Part of my goal, likewhat I want to be doing is still
working with companies. I amstill planning to take like

(32:36):
advisory positions andconsulting roles and work on one
off roles to help companies andpeople I know fill them. And if
somebody needs a temporaryrecruiter for two months who can
like do it part time, likewhatever, I'll take those roles
as well.
And I still kind of doing thesetrainings and talks with these
companies. So that's the goal. Inever want to get fully out of

(32:57):
it for exactly those reasons,right? I want to help companies
when they're looking to make ATSchanges or whatever else and
kind of work through thosethings. So that's the hope.
Talk to me in five years and seewhere it goes. But that is my
goal because I do think it'simportant to stay as someone
practicing in this world ifyou're going to keep talking

(33:18):
about this world.

And this is for anyone listening that's thinking
about this. This is veryimportant, especially to brands
and to other people. I get it alot like, oh, well, but you're
no longer a practitioner. It'slike, first of all, the last
time I had a full time role was2023, like it's not that long
ago. Second, these are thethings that I do that still have

(33:43):
me be a practitioner, I justdon't do it full time.
But that is very important forbrands and they're seeing it
because your credibility. Again,we've had so many people who've
20 ago recruited and are stillout here giving job seekers
advice. And it's like, you don'teven know how this works
anymore, to be honest.

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

(34:24):
the thing.
And like, I change the advice Igive people every few months
based on like what the marketlooks like. So I need to stay on
top of that stuff. I thinkeveryone does. So I see people
giving resume advice based likethe same advice they gave a
decade ago. I'm like, advicethat came a decade ago like
involved these huge like resumebloat was everything back then.
And now it's all about likeefficiency and quick time to

(34:45):
value. And if you haven'tupdated your advice then you're
not you don't know what you'retalking about anymore.

And I wanna make sure people understand, I'm not
saying and I don't think you'resaying either. It's like, oh,
never like always have to keeprecruiting or things like that.
It's just like, adjacent to theindustry, right? Stay like have
friends that are in theindustry, talk to them, go to

(35:12):
webinars that other people Soyeah, it's easy. It's like,
okay, you're no longer needingto buy software or anything.
So you're not gonna go to thesewebinars that the brands are
doing. I actually go to thembecause I wanna hear what people
are saying, the questions thatthey're asking and just, that's
how you stay current in theindustry. It doesn't mean you

(35:34):
have to recruit and you have towork. I haven't worked direct in
a year or well, since 2023.However, all of my business that
I have, I work with employerbranding teams and with talent
acquisition teams at creatingvideos for talent attraction and
that type of purpose.

(35:54):
So I know the problems thatthey're having and we brainstorm
together on how to solve themthrough content. So stay
adjacent to the industry, neverbe this person that's so far
away in your world that youdon't know what's really
happening because it changesdaily.

Yeah. And yeah, it is exactly that. Yeah. Watch
these demos do this stuff. Yeah,like recruiting is almost the
least important part.
It's understanding the tools,understanding what candidates
are doing. It's understandingwhat recruiters and hiring teams
are going through. And you haveto know that stuff. But yeah, it
is it's tough because you see alot of people just get out it.

(36:31):
And it's like anything else.
I mean, if you wanted to be ifyou if you used to be a
basketball player and you wantto get back into and you want to
become a basketball coach, butyou just like didn't watch or
play any basketball for tenyears, now you want to get back
like the rules change, the gamechange. Yep. You have to be up
to date on those things.

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

I don't know. What should I know? I'm sort of
similar to it. I mean, so Iguess the answer is just like
it's okay to still be figuringit out, I hope, because I don't
know yet. I don't haveeverything figured out for
myself.
And I had a plan and a thought.Within like a few weeks, even
I'm just sort of like, okay,this isn't going how I thought

(37:24):
it was going to go. You know,what do I need to do? So I think
it's just sort of like you needto understand it's going to take
a while that like you get thatinitial dopamine hit we talked
about, but then just kind oflike, I'm making less money now
than I would have been, and I'mprobably going to be for quite a
while. And I was talking aboutthis with like my therapist,

(37:46):
when like before going in, shewas like, oh, you sound excited
about this.
And it's just sort of like, it'slike, well, what are you going
to do if things don't feel likethey're working? And you have to
like be ready for that, right?You have to know, like I've made
this decision for the long term.This isn't a, if it's not
working in a month, give up,which means you also have to be
in the life position to be ableto do that. So I think that's

(38:08):
the big thing to know is justsort of like go in with a long
term plan and be ready to notpanic about it.

Yes, yes. Amazing advice. And as someone who I
think now I'm over that hump oflike, okay, I'm doing this, I'm
making less money. Now when youget to the other side, it's so
rewarding, but it's rough. Sohaving a therapist or having

(38:37):
friends or in a support system,having a plan and just
understanding it is a business.
So like any other business outthere, you have to have a plan,
you have to think about it as abusiness perspective. You can't
be getting caught up in thedopamine of going viral because
that doesn't necessarilytranslate into money. You always

(39:00):
have to be thinking about it'slike, okay, this is my business,
this is how I feed my family orfeed myself. What's the strategy
behind it? And you also have tobe okay with it changing because
it's gonna change.
What I thought I was gonna dowhen I first started versus what
I'm doing now, never in amillion years. But like, if

(39:24):
you're out there, if you're justtesting out things, you'll just
like, it will come to you. Andalso this space, HR and TA
space, other creators, and I'mnot saying it because of me but
we're all very supportive ofeach other. Of course, there's
people out there that you juststay away from and stuff like

(39:45):
that. But don't be afraid to askpeople questions.
It's like, I do it all the time.It's like, hey, I saw you got a
deal with this company. I'mtrying to get a deal with them
or with one of theircompetitors. Can you tell me
how, like, how did you pitchthem or what are they looking
for? Like, that type of thing,and you'll be surprised.

(40:06):
People will answer. They'll belike, oh, let's get on a call
right now. People tell me like,I charge this. I spoke to this
person. This is what I did, blahblah blah blah.
And it's like, wow. That's verydifferent from other creator
spaces because I have friendsthat are creators in other
niches. It's very different. Soin our niche, that's something
to really think about and relyon and just like leverage it. So

(40:30):
for anyone thinking out there.

Yeah. For sure. Yeah. I have people who I text
constantly just sort of like,hey, what do they pay you for
this? Like, who'd you talk to?
Or like, someone told me theywere trying to get with like
this company and I was like, oh,they actually reached out to me
a while back. Like, here's theperson. And like yeah, I think
sharing all this is very helpfulbecause that's not a
competition. These brands aren'tlike, I'm only going to work
with one person, fight it out.And when you're like looking at

(40:57):
business and companies to workwith, you and I might both be
trying to kind of get companiesto pay us to talk about branding
or do this better or whateverelse.
But like they're going to cometo the person they know and have
seen kind of gone through. It'snot like they're putting out
open wrecks and are likeeverybody fighting the comments
for who's going to do it and whyyou're better than the next
person. Right? There's room outthere for everyone. And yeah,

(41:20):
that is me.
I'm in that experimental phasewhere I'm like, oh, maybe I'll
try this or this and make thismoney and do this money. And
that's really hard, especiallywhen you're somebody who's not
super disciplined like I am. SoI think that it's being okay
with all that stuff and thenseeing what works. And I've
booked some business and I'mlike, that's one route that I
have. But I also want to trythis thing and this thing and

(41:42):
this thing.
And, you know, there's somefreedom and fun to that. But
it's not a game. It is stilltrying to make a living.

Exactly. All right. So it's time for
everyone's favorite segment. AndI love how I say everyone being
that I haven't released thisversion of the show yet. It's my
favorite segment.
It's called Plea to the Fifth.And I'm going to ask you three
questions, you can answerhonestly or you can plead to the
Fifth. But here's the thing, youcan only plead to the Fifth

(42:14):
once.

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

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

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

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

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

Are you? So have you ever shared job search
advice that you knew wasn'tuniversally true but would go
viral anyway?

Oh, that's a good question. So yes, but I don't
think in the way that thatquestion is implying because I
don't think there's anyuniversally true job search
advice. I have never sharedadvice that I would just
consider bad advice that Ithought would go viral, but I've
absolutely shared advice knowingit will be controversial and

(43:16):
that tends to go viral. But Ibelieve in the advice still.

Okay. Okay. So last question. Name a popular
LinkedIn content creator in thecareer space whose advice you
think is actively harmful to jobseekers.

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

(43:55):
Okay, I've I've called plenty ofthis out before. I think that.
Think while having gottenbetter, it's more getting better
from one side. And I do thinkthat Jerry Lee of Wansulting
tends to fall into that secondtype of question you asked and

(44:17):
is much more concerned with whatwill go viral and get people to
agree than if it actively helps.Some examples even are, right?
Like, you'll see him pop up andsay, oh, if you see Workday, run
away from the application. Like,yeah, I get it. Workday sucks.
We all hate Workday. But notapplying to a job is a thousand
times worse than applying to thejob.

(44:38):
I think anyone who's out therekind of fanning the flames of
how angry job seekers arealready without really providing
help other than like somethingfor sale beneficial. And that's

(44:58):
always what I've tried to avoidin the content. And I know it
could go viral doing that a lot.It's just sort of like leaning
into what makes people angry.And I do think he tends to do
that.
And and I think I've I've saidthat openly enough times.

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

Yeah. That's good. I wanna see what you do to other
people with that and find outwho's. Yeah, don't tell them
that last question and see ifthey use it first. Yeah, I mean,
I think most people wouldn't dothat.
And I will say, right, evenhaving said that. So Jonathan
from OneSulting, who's the otherI have OneSulting, I consider a
friend. We text when I launchedmy own, he actually texted me

(45:42):
and congratulated me. I waslike, let's catch up. I've
texted him for advice on sort ofmaking content.
Him and I had dinner last yearwhen we were at like the same
event together. And he told me alot about how as a company they
used to try to go viral with badadvice all the time. And like,
doesn't want to do that anymore.He just helps people. So I do

(46:03):
think there has been a shift.
So I do want to kind of likecall that out. But like I said,
that's why it's more about oneof them than the other. But in
general, I used to be thisperson who feuded with any
content creator I disagreedwith, And I don't want to do
that anymore. I don't think youshould be hurting people with
the advice you're giving andshould get called out for that.

(46:25):
Greg Langstaff, who I shouldhave said, but too late.
But I don't know if he's thatactive on LinkedIn. But, yeah,
ultimately, as long as you'renot just like selling some BS at
people, whatever, go do yourthing.

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

You can find me on LinkedIn. It's Mike Padito,
slash mpedido is my LinkedInname. You can find me on TikTok
and Instagram and YouTube atrealistic recruiting. You can
also find me, mikepodido.com isthe new website I mentioned.
It's a very pretty website.
You can sign up there to getinfo about like the book release
when it is coming as well. Don'tfill out the form on the site if

(47:12):
you want job search help, justemail me. There's a form on the
site for companies who wouldlove to work with me or learn
some more. Most of the formfillings out have been people
who are just, like, wanting somefree job search advice. Just
email me.
But those are all the ways tofind me.

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

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

Amazing. Thanks to Mike for being on the show and
for being such a generous guest.If you enjoyed this episode,
make sure to check out hiscontent across LinkedIn, TikTok,
and on his website,MikePadito.com. And if you're
curious about other ways contentcan impact hiring, next week,
I'm talking to a TA leader whostays behind the scenes but gets
her hiring managers on camera.Her strategy has helped her

(47:57):
attract more qualifiedcandidates without being the
face of the brand herself.
It's a different approach, butone that's working. So make sure
you're subscribed, and I'll seeyou in the next episode.
Workfluencer is produced byPerceptible Studios. Learn more
about how we can help you usevideo to attract, engage, and
retain qualified talent atperceptiblestudios.com. If

(48:19):
you're enjoying the Workfluencerpod, share it with someone who's
changing how we talk about workor who should be.
And, hey, if this episode gaveyou ideas or inspiration, leave
us a five star review. Reviewshelp other listeners find us,
and, honestly, it makes my day.Thanks for listening, and I'll
chat with you next week.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}How to Create Content That Gets Attention – with Mike Peditto