Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Opinions expressed in this episode are personal. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this streaming platform.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Good day, wonderful people, and welcome to another edition of let's Be Diverse. I am your host, Andrew Stout. This episode is dedicated to all my loved ones who supported me through this journey. Those who have left us will always be in our hearts and will never be forgotten. In today's episode, we'll be talking about selling yourself authentically. And I'm so excited to welcome as our guest today, Orlando Haynes. Orlando, welcome to the show. I am so honored for you to be on with us today.
[00:00:36] Speaker C: Hey, Andrew, appreciate the opportunity to share your platform, buddy. Excited for the conversation myself as well.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: How are things with you, Laura? Orlando, what's going on? Give me the. The tea, the deets, give me it all. What's going on?
[00:00:47] Speaker C: Staying busy, Staying busy in the corporate world. You know, the side hustle, the podcast, the speaking. Just trying to, you know, make everything work so I can live the dream.
Trying to live that dream. You know, little, little note, side note, maybe an exclusive here on let's Be Diverse that this is the ultimate exit strategy from corporate. So the goal is to go ahead and launch on my own and be, you know, and be that speaker, podcaster, coach for the job seekers out there in the world.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Wonderful. Well, I definitely have listened to a lot of your podcast episodes and I've heard you speak and you definitely have some sound advice for, for all the listeners. So I'm super excited for, for you to be here today and I'm super excited for, for our discussion.
[00:01:29] Speaker C: Let's go. I'm ready, sir, whenever you are.
[00:01:31] Speaker B: So. So before we begin, I always have a fun, thought provoking question. I ask my guests to get things going. Are you ready for yours today, Orlando? So your question is, do you believe in destiny or do you think life is in our control?
[00:01:45] Speaker C: Great question, great question. So I would say I believe in purpose, a godly purpose. And so some people may call it destiny. I think you can control some of the actions, but to say you can control your life. For me, specifically, in my belief, no, I think God has that plan laid out. It's just a matter of us figuring out or me figuring out what that plan is to make sure I'm aligned. So definitely believe in the godly purpose. Again, some people may call it destiny.
[00:02:15] Speaker B: What a beautiful answer. Not the answer that I was expecting, but man, you brought it there. So I really appreciate that. That was really good. And for not knowing what the question was ahead of time, you really went over and above So I really apprec. Appreciate that. Why don't we start off with you telling us a little about yourself, Orlando, and I want to hear a little bit about your why as well.
[00:02:34] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. So. So I've been in talent acquisition for about 20 years. Originally from New York, family man, married, six daughters. I know people's eyebrows are probably going to raise when they hear this broadcast. Like what? So six daughters. But I've been in TA again for about 20 years and throughout that time it's been coaching. Just started. The podcast, I say just started, but it's been about five years, the Career Talks podcast. And so really my mission and why has always been servanthood. And throughout my career I've learned a lot being in different roles and leadership roles. For 15 years, worked with global companies and so how do I pour back into the community? How do I pull back the veil and help those folks that are not really getting the sound advice? There are a lot of career coaches out there that are giving great advice, but I think we all have a different perspective. And so I think my perspective is a bit unique too. And so my goal is how do I bring real authentic information to people that's happening right now. I still have a corporate gig and so at the same time I'm bringing you relevant experience and actionable advice that people can implement now. So that's my goal. And so as I continue that mission, that's really again my vision, my goal, my destiny, my God given purpose.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: I love everything that you said, Darren. I think when you said your purpose and action and I know you want to, want to build on what you're doing and I love the fact that you were seeing the corporate side, but you're also hearing what's going on as far as from the outside world as well. So it sounds like you're combining the two and making it real because there's, there's different ways of looking at things. Like you mentioned, there's a corporate side of looking at things and then there's the people on the outside that are looking in that have their ideas and their own beliefs as far as talent acquisition goes. So I just love that you have that aspect of, in your career and, and that you're able to build on that and help others as well.
[00:04:24] Speaker C: Yeah, my, my, you know, part of that is, is closing that gap. You see a lot of us coaches and people of, I gu. You say thought leader or influence or whatever, especially in the career space, we're educating the job seeker. It's always the job seeker. The job seeker. The job seeker. But who's educating the employer? And so there's always an onus. Throughout my episodes I put on, I'll ask a guest a question. If you had a room of employers, what would you say? What would you say to them so they can close the gap? And so for that I want to make sure that the employer side is also getting educated just as much as the job seekers. And so how can we close that gap sooner to get people to work and the right positions, the right career and really, you know, expand their goals and what they have for their life?
[00:05:08] Speaker B: So it's a great segue to what you just said. So what I want to know from you is what's behind the fear of self promotion?
[00:05:14] Speaker C: What's behind the fear? I think for most folks, well, I'll tell you personal story. Right before I launched myself out there and building the personal brand, it was just at some point you kind of wondered you had the imposter syndrome before that became, you know, a trending word. You know, am I enough? Do I know enough? Will I be challenged? Will people call me out and think I'm a phony? And so I think for the most part a lot of people who are willing to self promote for whatever reason it is, whether it be a service, a widget or it's personal coaching, whatever the product or service may be, is wondering what people will say. And so I think the quicker you can get over that and trust in your skills and that you're always learning because if you, at some point, if you stop learning, then yeah, I can see where it's going to catch up to you. They'll be like, well, you're sharing stuff that's three, five years old. No one wants to hear antiquated, you know, information to help them move forward. It always has to be what's next. But at the same time, I think of it as this and I'll share a quick story or kind of scenario for you, Andrew, is that if you think about comedians that go on stage and they go on tour, maybe it's a three month tour, five months or a six month tour, they're telling the same jokes over and over and over but the slight variations to make it better. So as they travel from city to city and so as a career coach or personal coach or life coach, whatever you're doing, you're saying the same information over and over and over. But as you go, you have to tweak it to make sure it's relevant for today's we'll stick in the career space for today's, what I like to call career economy. And so the same information you may hear from 10 other people. But what's your twist? To give them the aha moment. And I'm all about taking immediate massive action. So whatever advice I'm going to give, it should be that you're able to take it that day or that next day implementation and start working towards it and start seeing results.
[00:07:08] Speaker B: And there's so many new philosophies, like you just mentioned before, that you, you said that you were in the corporate world and then you're, then you are talking to people on the outside of your corporate world and there's so many new philosophies. And you are absolutely right. Things are ever changing and if you are not willing to go with the change or learn the changes or I like to use the word adapt to the changes, then you're gonna fall behind. So I definitely love everything that you just mentioned there and I love your story about the comedians and, or your take on comedians. It totally makes sense what you're saying there for sure.
[00:07:43] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, it's in the fear car, right? We all heard the acronym, you know, false evidence appearing real. But I think it's just you have to push past those challenges. We're all going to have challenges in life, right? It's life. And so no one's going to have a perfect, perfect life. Regardless of your social, economic standard, pedigree, etc. Educational background, we're all going to go through. And so the moment you can push through that and really share your story, I think everyone has a story to tell. It's just who can teach it, right? Who can teach it, who can give great advice that takes, that takes experience. So for people who are just jumping out there, I would caution yourself because again, you don't want to come up across an audience who has more knowledge than you and then you don't seem authentic or relevant or credible at that point. So making sure you've built the muscle, you built the experience up and then go package it to go sell it and promote yourself because no one's going to promote you. No one else is going to do it. You have to do it yourself.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: So now that we know what's behind the fear or how can job seekers confidently communicate their value?
[00:08:45] Speaker C: Yeah. So they have to have confidence in themselves. And this is a great question. So it absolutely starts with the word confident because all they're doing is communicating about themselves and not talking about quantum theories, pets Animal, you know, all these other things that it's not relevant. They're only talking about themselves. Andrew, when you go interview, you only talking about. About Andrew Stout. When I interview, I only talk about Orlando Haynes. And no one knows me better than me. And so now the tweaks and all these things that you. You can learn through coaching is great because I teach on interview mastery. But the one thing each person has to have is absolute confidence in their skill and knowing how to close the gap. And so if you don't have the confidence, I think you have to circle back and really understand what your value is and go through the. Go through the steps, whether it's an assessment, talk to peers, talk to family, and see what they can see you as. One thing I always say is if. If you were to just ask friends and family and they never knew what you did from a profession, ask them, what do you see me doing? What, from what you know of me, how I show up, what my quote unquote personal brand is around you, what do you see me doing as a career? And you never know. That may land for you. It may be completely opposite of what you're doing in corporate. And so that may be a trigger, too, that whatever you're doing in the corporate space may not be your passion, may not be the route you need to continue to go. You may have success in it, but there may be a pivot to where you're like, oh, wow, yeah, I can see myself being a life coach because I'm always giving great advice. Everyone comes to me for life advice. They're not coming to me to find out what the latest, you know, tax rates are because of my accountant. They're figuring out, oh, wow, I can go to Andrew because he knows how to handle marriage. He's been married for this amount of years. He knows how to help raise kids because he teaches youth in the church. Church, or he has kids. And so I'm getting a different vibe from this person. So knowing what that is, then you can start building your confidence around knowing what your core skill sets are to then go out in the world.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: And you talk about interview mastery and having confidence in ourselves. I think when you're talking about confidence, I think that allows us to talk about how we can solve the problems that they're having. So our skills, our knowledge, our soft skills, our abilities, our knack for building rapport with team members and, and getting the job done and having time management, this is what they want to hear as well. And I think with the combination of confidence if you don't have confidence, then you, you have trouble talking about that stuff. So you want to show, hey, this is what, this is my abilities, this is your problem. Here's what I can do for you and here's how I can fix it.
[00:11:26] Speaker C: Yep. It's funny you say that because I made a post today and this week I just been putting out posts every morning around interview. So it's kind of a series of, you know, quick tips and information around interview techniques. And so one of the one I made today was really about, well, that was about, I think the body language. But what I made earlier was you're, it's, it's up to you to really, like I mentioned earlier, close that gap in the conversation. But you have to be able to take ownership of that interview process and turn it from an interrogation into a conversation. But you can only do that through the confidence. Right. Knowing that you feel comfortable talking to any level because it can, you can be a seasoned professional talking to a two year recruiter and you know, you're able to communicate in such a way where it doesn't seem like you're speaking over their head. And at the same time you can be speaking to a peer or someone more senior to you, but you're still on that level because there's a comfortness that you, you brought to the room. Right. Hey, they have much of the same power as you. This is not a lopsided conversation that you're having with the employer where they hold all the, you know, the power in their hand. That's not the case. You can say no, they can say no, they can say yes, you can say no. Right. So it's not just a one sided thing. And I think once job seekers, professionals understand it's a mutual thing, it's a relationship you're going into. And this is the dance of interviewing to see if it's a good fit. You could, you can ask just as many questions as they ask. And so making sure, because you're about to be married to this job for who knows how many years, you want to make sure it's a good fit.
[00:13:02] Speaker B: Yeah, you just mentioned married. You're trying to find out if you want to, if you want to date each other. Right. So you're kind of marketing each other, they're marketing their, their company and you're marketing yourselves to, to see if you are a fit in the company. So yes, absolutely. I think lots of people think that it's a one sided thing, but you are absolutely right. It's a Two sided affair. And it's gotta be, it's gotta be a good mix. And that mix you just gotta fit together. It's like baking a cake, right? You gotta have your ingredients and they, all these ingredients fit into that, that bowl to put into your pan to make that cake. So that interview process is, they're just doing that process. And we're doing it, you're doing it. So it's, it's a combination of everything for sure.
[00:13:46] Speaker C: And to your analogy is the last thing I'll say on that is the goal is to rise together, right? So as the cake rises, the yeast rise, the goal is to rise together.
And the icing and the cake, everything that you put on it to make it pretty is you, you executing as a team. And so that's a great analogy. I love that.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: So is self promotion the key to being seen and heard?
[00:14:07] Speaker C: Short answer, yes. And here's where I get it from. So I'm, I'm somewhat of an extrovert. I can go in any room, any environment, spark up a conversation and be comfortable. I don't care if they're the Fortune, you know, Fortune 5000 CEOs of the world, the global leaders, it doesn't matter to me. You're human, right? You, you'll, you'll know your expertise is in one spot, mine's is another spot. But we'll still break bread and have a normal conversation. Doesn't matter. But I'm also of the mindset of Gary V. For folks who don't know who he is, just look him up.
He's all about day trading attention. He has a book called Day Trading Attention which is if you're looking to do something great, right, you have to get the attention. Whether you're building your personal brand, you're a speaker, you're a coach, you're building a company, brick and mortar company, E Commerc Company doesn't matter. The one thing you need to build and grow in this current economy is attention. I don't care what it is. Even in the job market. In your search, how are you going to draw attention to yourself? You have to do it because the vast sea of people that are out there, you all look the same until that red, you know, that red dot or light pops up and shows the separated candidate from the group. But how do you do that? Is what people need to learn.
[00:15:23] Speaker B: And I am like you, Orlando. I'm very much similar to yourself as far as personality wise. I can go anywhere, any situation and I can talk with people. So go to like a barbecue and you just, and there's nobody that you know. You just have one person that you're, you're going with, but you don't know anybody else. I can walk in and I can introduce myself. Hi, I'm Andrew. Nice to meet you. Same thing in, at a conference or at a summit or at a board meeting. That's just who I am.
[00:15:50] Speaker C: Grocery store, right?
[00:15:52] Speaker B: Grocery store. I will talk to the, to the checkout lady at the grocery store. I will chat with the, the waitress or waiter at the restaurant. I will converse with them. That's just how I am. And I think that is, comes from that rapport building part of me. And I just feel that that's so important in order to draw attention to yourself. And people remember that when you have, when you're talking about attention, you want to be in a situation where there's two people talking. Orlando. When you and I are not in a room or either one of us are in a room, but those two people are talking and our names come up in that conversation, but we're not there. And they'd say, hey, oh, I met Orlando, I met Andrew. Oh, man, those two guys are really great. They're, they're authentic, they're pleasant, they're so comfortable. They, they build rapport with you. That's the type of things you want to hear. And you're right by drawing attention to yourself, that's what does it for sure.
[00:16:48] Speaker C: Yep, absolutely.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: So how does selling ourselves authentically contribute to building inclusive environments?
[00:16:54] Speaker C: Oh, great question. And so it's really. So that's considered, you know, building your personal brand. That's both inside of the workplace and, you know, outside the workplace. So. But the thing is, you can't be two different people. You should be the same in both locations, every location. Like we said, the grocery store, conference, wherever. You should be the same. Andrew Stout. I should be the same. Orlando hangs no matter what, from internally, it's going to be the first thing people are going to look at is performance. Right. But at the same time, are you someone who adds value? You can be someone who's just doing the work to do the work, but there's no innovation. There's no, you're not coming up with ideas to move the needle forward. And so some people think that the loudest person in the room is the person that's going to get the most attention. In some cases they will. Doesn't mean they're going to go the furthest, though. And so knowing how to navigate the waters, understanding corporate Culture, the inclusiveness, that's the piece where that's not just on one person. At least this is how I view it. Inclusiveness takes a minimum of two people. Right. You're inclusive by yourself to who else, though? And so you need some. You need other people who think the same way, in essence and saying, hey, we need to come together as an organization. So we need to make sure everyone gets heard, because everyone's not introvert, everyone's not extrovert. There's some people that are in between. But how do we make sure authentically, across the board, we allow every person to get heard. And so that comes from the top down. Right. I think that comes from the C suite down and making sure you do that. But there's strategic ways that you can separate yourself both in the office and outside the office, and that's through network networking. Connect with different department heads, members, middle management, and just have conversations. And you're not having to go out there and saying, hey, this is the project I just did. No, hey, what do you guys do? Let me learn a little bit more about you. Can I have 30 minutes on the, you know, can I throw 30 minutes on your calendar? Just a little. Learn a little deeper about this side of the organization from a finance or commercial or accounting or marketing. What do you guys do? And so your name starts to get out there. Be like, Andrew's super interesting. Yeah. I didn't know he had this going on. He has a podcast. Did you guys know that? Yeah. That's pretty cool. Yeah, he just sat down and wanted to learn more about what we did. So just to give him more understanding of the business, that's where you see that there was a genuine entrance and interest and that comes across more authentically. And then your brand becomes greater in the organization.
[00:19:19] Speaker B: I have one of my connections. She, when she started her job, in the first three months of her job, she decided that she was going to connect with as many people as she could within the company and have meet and greets or coffee chats with them. So she had eight in first three months, she had 80 interactions with. With people within the company. And she said she was something that she was determined to do. And now she speaks about it. And she said it was one of the greatest things that I've done because when I had to go through certain departments or if I had to speak to somebody in a certain department or if I needed anything or if they needed anything from me, there was already that rapport that was built because they, like, you're having A problem with this all contact, contact. So, and so they, they're gonna be able to help you with that. Or, or I know I just spoke with somebody I just spoke with, so and so the other day and, you know, I had a coffee chat with them. I think that they could help you out with that. So why don't you want to connect with them? So it just, it just brought out so much more of a vibe for her and it just made it so more comfortable for her and she was able to adapt into the company and more comfortably, for sure.
[00:20:28] Speaker C: Yeah. So here's another story I'll share with my current company. So my role is the north acquisition, lead and program manager, long title. What that means is I oversee our co op program, but I'm out there at all career fairs, right. And so I take pictures with the students and a bunch of stuff showing that we're out there in the field at these different universities across North America. And I'm constantly posting that on LinkedIn. Then I'm tagging the company I work for in that. So I've been doing this for two and a half years and just, I would say about a month ago, the CEO and then this is a Fortune 500 company, 19/billion in revenue over, you know, 30,000 employees.
And so, excuse me, 15. 15,000 employees. And so with that, it got me consistently doing this. It's building brand awareness, but it's also saying, who's this guy that's always dropping, you know, posts about career here, career here, but tagging the company. And so a slew of employees are now seeing what I'm doing in the market to help drive talent. And so that's one of the ways I've been able to gain more visibility in the organization with people who I didn't even know. And then, just like you, I have a podcast, they're coming up to me and saying, oh, yeah, I see you all on LinkedIn because you're sharing content, you're sharing advice. Now they see you in a different light, like, oh, you're the career advice guy. Hey, that helps.
[00:21:50] Speaker B: It sure does. And you could just tell that you were passionate about that story, Orlando, which is super important. And people hear that as well in your voice. So I don't know how, how many people you've told that story to, but I'm sure every person that you tell, they're probably going to tell that story to others because they're going to say, wow, that Orlando is such a good guy. And man, he just told me this story. About the stuff that he does and, and I just see him all over the place and I could see why he's all over the place. So it just, it just resonates with everything that you do just by, by doing something like. Yes, sir, it certainly does. So in closing, Orlando, what would you say is your number one takeaway for this topic?
[00:22:28] Speaker C: Yeah, so I would tell everyone to self promote if that' in your nature. Right. It all depends on what you want to do. Earlier I said if you want to do something great. So if you want to do something great, it's a saying that some people know, some people don't. If you want to do something great, you have to get started. Right? And so in the reverse is you don't have to be great to get started, you just need to get started to be great. And so if you're looking to do more with your personal life, your career, whatever it is, attention, you still need attention. You can have the best idea in the world, the best widget, the best service. But if no one knows you, no one can flow you, meaning it doesn't matter if you have the next trillion dollar idea. If no one knows what you do, who you are, what you stand for, it's just a dream, it's just a thought, it's just an idea. And so if you have that in you, if you're someone who's looking to go to the next level, create attention is what you need to do. Now, there's tons of strategic ways to do it. If you're in the career space in terms of job, and since we're, you know, we're on let's Be Diverse podcast, it's about leveraging the LinkedIn platform. That's one way I would tell you. And there's multiple ways that you can do that to draw attention to yourself. That's what you need to do. Get started. Just get started.
[00:23:43] Speaker B: Yeah, and some people are scared of it, but I mean, it's something that you definitely need to do. When I do give advice to people, if you were to just say, okay, this week I'm going to reach out to five people, I'm going to connect to five people that I don't know that are not in my network, just five, that is something that I think is very, anybody is capable of doing that and then you can kind of extend to that and you can extend it, extend and extend it. And I promise you the words that Orlando is saying as I'm seeing it as well, I promise you that when you continue to network like that. You're going to meet amazing people, you're just going to continue to grow and great opportunities are going to come from that if you continue to do that. So I love your advice and I love that for sure. And I also wanted to take the time, Orlando, to thank you for coming on today. I admire your ability to make people shine. I admire your ability to resonate with your audience and your energy and grit. So I want to thank you, take the time to thank you for being a champion of humility. And I I appreciate you coming on for to chat with us today, Andrew.
[00:24:43] Speaker C: I appreciate the time, sir. Again the invite now the new friendship. And so anything you need from me, sir, I'm here to support you.
[00:24:50] Speaker B: I appreciate you and I appreciate your time today. On behalf of myself and my guest today, Orlando, I'd like to take the time to time for you to like to take the time to thank you all for listening today. And until then, be safe. And remember everyone, that if we all work together, we can accomplish anything.
[00:25:07] Speaker A: Opinions expressed in this episode are personal. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this streaming platform.
