Inside Scoop: Creating Content to Impress Potential Employers

Hey there, welcome to Inside Scoop. I'm Paula Rizzo. So are you one of those people who quit your job already? Did you do that this year? Was that on your to-do list and now it's done? Or maybe you're thinking about doing it. Well, I have, uh, an interesting guest for you today to talk all about content that you could be creating that will lure potential employers your way. Okay, so I talk a lot about creating great content and video and making sure that you put yourself out there and, and all that. This is a little different, a little bit of a different animal, and it's because, you know, it's the new year and people are looking to change what they do professionally. The content you put out into the world will help you do that. So I'm going to bring on a great guest in just a moment, but before I do that, I have another resource for you that I think you will enjoy, uh, to create your own videos. If you go to Check out my checklist at paularizzo.com/checklist. It's my checklist for becoming a go-to media expert and media these times. It's not just, you know, traditional media like TV and radio. This is creating all of your own content as well. Any videos that you want to do. So you can go ahead and check that out. I'm also a LinkedIn Learning instructor and I have a whole bunch of courses about productivity, using lists, how to set brand boundaries. And also, if you're doing a hybrid work environment, there's a couple in there for you too. Whether you're working remotely or you're working in the office, you should be productive. And so I have, uh, some courses there for you to check out. You can check that out on LinkedIn Learning, or if you go to paularizzo.com/linkedin, I have everything there for you. Throughout this, uh, video, I want you to share this with whoever you think might be interested in sharing some content to maybe get a brand new job, maybe to impress their bosses at their job, whatever it may be. Uh, so just use the share button below, or maybe Tag a friend, tag somebody who you think might benefit from this conversation. We would love to hear from them. And leave your questions throughout. We'll get to your questions at the end. Uh, without further ado, I would love to bring on my guest, executive coach and career strategist Susan Peppercorn. Susan, thank you for being here.

Oh, it's great to be here. Thank you for having me, Paula Rizzo.

Of course. So Susan and I have known each other quite a while. She's one of my long-term media training clients and friends. And, uh, she has so much to tell us about content. We talk about content, you know, all the time. In my mind, content is creating videos to put yourself out there, but you think about it in a way that can actually get you a new job. So how, how is that valuable for people?

So I think when people think about getting a new job, they think about a resume and submitting a resume and a cover letter, but But the thing about creating content, and when I think about creating content, what comes to my mind first is writing. But that's because I'm a writer. But it can be whatever speaks to you. What it, what differentiates a job seeker when it comes to content is it enables you to share your knowledge with a potential employer in a way that your resume and cover letter don't do. And so if you're knowledgeable about a particular subject, whatever that might be, project management or finance, if you share it in a blog or in a video or, you know, being on a podcast, that's a way of differentiating yourself that can really make you stand out as a potential employee.

For sure. And, you know, a lot of times when I work with media training clients, you know, they want to put themselves out into the world and they want to be seen as an expert in their field. But a lot of them work in corporate America too. And they're not just entrepreneurs like us, and they want to put their thought leadership out into the world, but they have never done it before. And there's always a little bit of angst about putting your words out there and having your employer maybe see what you're doing or ideas that you have. I mean, I know that happened to me when I was working in television. I started writing about productivity and list-making, and I almost felt like, "Oh, Should I be hiding this? Should I show them that I have other interests outside of producing television? What do you say to people who are a little bit anxious about getting started?

Well, it's a really good question, but I think that, um, anyone who's an employee of an organization should think about the fact that it enhances the brand of the organization if you put yourself out there. Um, I was in that situation too when I was working for an organization and I started to write for Harvard Business Review and Fast Company, and I I thought, what is my employer going to think about this? Are they going to think that I'm kind of moonlighting and, you know, taking my time away from them if I'm doing this? But it was really enhancing their brand by sharing my thought leadership. And, you know, they came to see it that way too.

That's great. That's a good flip of the, of the mindset, you know, uh, much better perspective than, you know, it's more of an abundance mindset versus scarcity. Uh, so I really love that. Now let's talk about the actual doing of the content creation. How did, how do you come up with topics? What, what should people write about?

So people should write about what they know, and that's the first most important thing. And you can start small. So I think what scares off a lot of people is, first of all, they may see it as self-promoting, but it really isn't about self-promotion at all. It's really about sharing your knowledge in a way that other people can benefit. So So if you're not used to writing, for example, long-form articles, start by commenting on what thought leaders have written about. So if there are people that you admire in your field, find, you know, find them on LinkedIn, see what they're writing about, and then write comments back to them about what they've written about. That's a way to start. Or find an article that you found interesting, repost that article with your own comments about what you think is interesting or innovative about this article and share it with your network. That's a way to get started. So you can start small and then grow from there.

Yeah. And get into the mode, right? Get into commenting, seeing what people are writing, just really seeing the different perspectives that are out there. And then that jogs your own mind to be like, well, what do I actually think about this? You know, this person put their comments out there, but they put their opinions out there. What do I think about this subject? So I like that because it really, you know, gets you— gets your brain working. In a way that maybe you haven't used it in the past. Um, what about if you're looking for a job, right? So we talked about people who are, who are currently working in a, in, you know, corporate America or wherever and writing content. What if you are now looking for a job, which many people are, and you are hoping that what you write will get the attention of an employer? What's a strategy for this?

So I am a big believer in targeting, um, employers. So you should have a list of target employers that you're interested in. And what you can do is you should— in within that target list, I'm assuming that you have an industry that you're interested in, a certain role that you're interested in. Find groups on LinkedIn, for example, that focus in those areas and start discussions in those groups. That's one way of doing this. And whatever area is of interest to you, you can find a group on LinkedIn that meets that interest. And that, you know, again, post an article, share it, you know, start a discussion, or find those target employers and start commenting on their posts. That's a way to actually target the employer and share your knowledge at the same time.

Yeah, and it does work. I mean, I, I've had clients who, uh, I had a wonderful client who was a fashion designer for many, many years, uh, and then she was making a pivot to trend forecaster. And so she wanted to be seen as an expert in that area. So we started working together, and she would create content around some of her trends and her ideas. And she really did get a lot of interest from industry, you know, experts. And, and that's how ended up getting a full-time job that she wanted with the company was she was putting herself out there and they saw, hey, this person has some really great ideas. She's really thinking in ways that, you know, we need inside this organization. So it worked out for her. It started first as freelance projects, and then, you know, eventually she was, uh, now in-house full-time somewhere. But, um, it can work, you know. This, this can happen. I've seen people make— do this strategy too with conferences, to be invited as speakers to create content around whatever's happening. Have you seen this too?

Absolutely. Targeting conferences is a great way to do this because every industry has conferences. So, you know, you can offer to speak on a panel or, you know, submit to, you know, to, to host a speaking engagement at a conference on a topic that you're knowledgeable about. That's a fantastic way of gaining visibility. That's just a wonderful way other than some of the other ways that we've talked about.

For sure.

Without a doubt.

Yeah, for sure. I see Amy says hello from California. Hello, Amy from California. Thank you for watching. Those of you who are watching either on the replay or here with us live, feel free to leave your questions and comments below and we will get to those at the end. Any career question you want. If it's not about content and it's about how do I leave my job or whatever, Susan's got the answer. So anything that is career related, feel free to ask, and I'll make sure that we get that answered for you. Susan, I want to ask a little more about timing of this. Like, how long do you have to do this? How often should you be posting? Is there a better time to start? What does that look like?

What's most important, Paula Rizzo, is that you do it regularly. So if you just do it once or once a month, it's not enough. People have to get to hear your voice in whatever form that is. So if you like video, you can do it on YouTube. You know, if you like writing, you can post on, you know, LinkedIn, but you have to consistently create that content and do it at least 3 times a week. That's, that's the bare minimum. And so what you can do, and I know you love lists, Paula Rizzo, is create a list of, of content for yourself. What are the topics that you're knowledgeable about? And, you know, for the next 3 months, What are the topics that you're going to write about? Find those articles that you're going to comment on. Seek out the thought leaders. Look at the conferences that you can speak at and put together a plan so that you're going to be out there for at least 3 times a week so that people get to see you and hear your voice.

And the 3 times doesn't have to be a big long blog post every single time, right? I mean, we can, we can have different kinds of content over, over the, the week.

Absolutely.

Yeah. It's interesting, the idea of the editorial calendar. I love it because that's how I live my life. I always have as a producer. There's always a plan of what's happening and what stories we're doing and all of that. But I will say, oh my gosh, now 10 years ago or whenever it was that I started my blog on list-making at listproducer.com, I didn't want to do it. I was like, that's something I do at work. It feels like work. It's not fun. This is supposed to be a fun project. But then I wasn't doing it. So without that accountability, without the editorial calendar to say, hey, this is what's going up this day and this is what's going up that day, you won't do it. So make sure that you do embrace a little bit of structure. Otherwise you might not do it. And the other thing that you said that sparked something for me was about, you know, seeking out thought leaders. Seeking out people who you could possibly even interview. And I love this because if you have a podcast, if you have a livestream show like this, if you have, you know, a Q&A series on your blog or something like that, you can then ask people who you respect and look up to and who you want to network with if they would like to be featured. What do you think of this?

Well, you know, it's interesting that you say that because One of the things that I was going to say is that people are hesitant about networking. And in the work that I do with clients, I hear constantly about their hesitancy to network. But what you just said about interviewing thought leaders is a fantastic way to build your network without seeming like you're asking for something. You're giving. Yeah, it's giving. If you're asking someone to interview— if you're requesting that you interview someone, You're enabling them to get their thoughts into the world, but you're getting to know them and building a relationship with them at the same time. So it's mutually beneficial. And that's one of the wonderful things about networking in the way that it's done correctly.

Mm-hmm.

So you're right, if you have a podcast, but even if you don't, if you just want to interview someone for an article, That's a fantastic way to invite someone into your world that you don't know and say, I'm writing this article on X subject, you're an expert in the field, you know, could I interview you for 15 or 20 minutes to get your thoughts on this topic? And people love to share their expertise.

They do.

And then then you're building a relationship.

Yeah, for sure. And those relationships last a long time. I have to say, you know, as a long-term journalist, you know, I still talk to, connect with, network with, uh, people who I interviewed 10, 12, 15 years ago, you know, in television. Still to this day, I'm still friends with some of those people, and I've gotten opportunities because we still know each other, we follow each other, all of that. So you never do know what, what will come of it. Uh, so I'm a big fan of putting content out there and coming from a giving-first perspective, right? This isn't something that you're saying, "Hey, I want to pick your brain about my career." It's like, "No, no, no. I want to know about you as a thought leader and what you think," and put their ideas out there. And that's a really nice way to kind of switch it up from what they're used to hearing too. You know, people who are used to people wanting their time, you know, for themselves. We have a question from a LinkedIn person about some some career stuff. What is your advice on corporate career reentry after a 20-year absence?

My first piece of advice is to make sure that your skills, whatever they may be, are up to date, because a 20-year absence is a long time, but it needn't be a— it needn't be a barrier. If you have invested in yourself to keep your skills relevant, what people say to me very often is, oh, there's ageism. You know, I'm not getting hired because of ageism. But what I've seen very honestly is that it's usually not ageism. It's usually that people don't have the relevant skills that employers are looking for. So that's a piece of advice number 1. Advice number 2 is don't just apply online. You're never going to get there. Use your network to figure out how to best position yourself and use your network to help get some introductions into employers where your skills are a good fit. Because you want to avoid online applications as much as possible. So those are my two pieces of advice.

Great. Well, good luck with your job search, LinkedIn user. Hope it, hope it works out for you.

Um, definitely.

I had a thought as you were giving your advice about, you know, uh, obviously everything is online now, so you have to apply online, apply online, apply online. It's what everyone wants. But you're right, you need a real person there to be your advocate to get you through the door. What about sharing content as a way to apply for a job, as a way to do a follow-up? Is there any strategy there? Because I'm wondering, you know, if people have created all this great content, they should be using it in as many places as possible.

Well, it's interesting that you say that because I remember a client I had a number of years ago who was in a competitive job search and she wasn't hearing back. And, you know, a question that I often get is, well, you know, how do I follow up and how often do I follow up? And there's only so many times you can go back to the employer and say, you know, what's my status and so on.

Yeah.

So I suggested to her that she come up with a mini proposal for what she would do the first 90 days on the job, which is content creation.

Yeah.

You know, it's looking at the business or the organization and what you think they need and putting it out there. And so she did that. And the— in this case, it was a not-for-profit, and the executive director was so impressed that she did wind up getting this job.

Amazing.

Wow.

See, so that is— it is a little bit of, you know, that extra work. But at the same time, if you're already creating this content, if you're already thinking in this way, it makes it a lot easier. It's not like, oh gosh, now I have this homework to do. It, it can really get you to the, to the top of the line. So I love that, front of the line. Uh, Susan, this has been fabulous. Thank you so much. Those of you who are watching the replay, if you have questions, leave them in the comments below. We're going to continue to check those out and make sure that those get answered. Uh, and Susan, you have a freebie for everybody if they go to susanpeppercorn.com/resources. Can you tell us what they will find there?

Yeah, so if you go to my website, there are actually 4 resources, um, that you can download, and you'll see them here. There's Interview Survival Guide, which gives you the top questions that are asked on an interview and how to answer them. There's a Career Fit Index that gives you an explanation of how to think about the job, your job fit, and whether you're in the right career. There are 25 tips for making a successful career transition, and 6 Steps to Creating a Personal Brand. So you are welcome to sign up and download, uh, one or more of these.

Fantastic. Well, that's so helpful, and I highly encourage you, everyone listening, watching, to download those, get on Susan's email list, because she does all kinds of cool stuff, a lot of webinars and workshops and things throughout the year. So you definitely want to be a part of that. Whether you're looking for a job or not, these are skills that you're going to, to need, uh, to up your game. So Susan Thank you so much for being here.

Oh, you are welcome.

And I've got a freebie for you too. You can check out my checklist for becoming a go-to media expert. If you go to paularizzo.com/checklist, I talk all about content, how to create it, and how to be seen as an expert out in the world. And keep those questions coming. If you've got them, put them in the chat boxes below and I'll see you all next time. Thanks for being here.