Takeover Unfiltered

welcome to Talent takeover unfiltered when it comes to working hard and keeping it real we know our [ __ ] self-care happiness inner peace and time I'm Brianna Rooney and this is Taylor Bradley hey y'all and we have thrived in chaos and turn it into an art form so Taylor what are we doing here today we're here to give you a raw under the hood view of all things recruiting and finally give credit where credit is due to a long underrated industry that's full of quote unquote experts all right well then let's take this show to the road here it comes another amazing episode but before let's talk about our sponsor imagine turning your recruiting skills into a thriving career without the usual hurdles like bis Dev managing clients negotiating fee agreements Reflik is here to make that happen for independent recruiters and agencies alike picture this a platform where hundreds of jobs are waiting right here for you yes you heard that right instant access to roles no delays in Vendor approvals now let's talk numbers Recruiters on ruick aren't just filling positions they're earning an impressive average of $110,000 for every successful placement think about it just one additional placement through Reflik could be the key to significantly boosting your yearly earings cha ching so why let another opportunity slip through those fingers it's time to fund those dream vacations with your recruiting brownness click the link below to jump start your journey with replic the future of freelance recruitment is here and it's calling your name so sign up now to start earning more all right welcome to Talent takeover unfiltered um of course we are always laughing laughing and shimming before our episodes uh Taylor how are you doing good how are you today I am jamming I'm having a really great day had a really good workout so I always I we should always do this on Tuesday Wednesdays those are my morning workouts but um we are talking about something that we're going to try not to tangent but we're going let's be real we're going to tangent because this is about re-energizing your career um how do you reignite the passion that you've had for something that you've done for so long um what's really interesting about this is that Taylor and I have been in the TA space for what same time right 15 years or so 16 at this point um and we're at an interesting cross roads and to be honest I don't know if we're at a crossroad because of the market or if we're at a crossroad because we've done it for so long or if we're at a cross road because we've accomplished so much and we're kind of like like now what so I'm gonna I'm gonna put that to you for a second because we're going to go through this and you know listeners here this is definitely I think um a subject that all of ta is probably talking about but in different ways so I would love like share your journey share your story or even share your tips because that's what I mean this is what this is about right this is like a venting and tip session I think and the therapeutic for all but what are your initial thoughts yeah I mean or would you listed off all those things it was like or all of the above but I think you know to get personal um about my journey I think for me it's definitely definitely driven by the market I can honestly say that I I haven't thought every year every every single one of those 16 years that I've been in ta I haven't thought like okay do I want to do this anymore do I want to do this for like it just it's been very recent and it's been because of the last few years and the way that the market has been and the roller coaster that the TA space has been and you know I'm a person that loves security and you know I like consistency and I like stability and you know these last few years in the TA space it just hasn't been that so I don't know that I would be sitting here you know personally this isn't just an episode topic this is real life something that you know I'm going through you're going through but like how to get re-energized for for our careers how to re get Reen energized just in general whenever you have been really been really been down about the market or about your circumstances or like what am I doing just kind of at this point which is where I feel like I'm really at is just at this point of like what am I doing where's my career going what direction am I going what do I want to be doing and you know I never thought I would be feeling this way at my age and at this point in my career I didn't think this would happen right now I thought this was something that maybe I would if I was going to go through it it would have been much earlier in my life um but I definitely think mine is 100 I could say it's 100% driven by the market and the circumstances because when ta is great we're rocking and rolling and there's tons of jobs to work on and tons of clients everybody's really happy you know like everybody clients are happy we're happy so I definitely think it's it's based on the market and the situation we're in because I know I don't always feel this way or hav it always yeah um I mean we talked about I'm like is this a midlife crisis because I'm turning 40 this year woo uh I I think I I'm am trying to like reflect because first of all I think that that that's one of the tips right you have to reflect you have to reflect you have to journal you have to really know like where feelings are coming from um when I sold techies in oh my God it's like almost three years now um I definitely had that moment where like impostor system came in I did never felt that before um am I am I doing what I'm supposed to be doing was this a fluke um so for me I'm in this weird part where I'm like am I supposed to be coaching or am I supposed to be recruiting or am I supposed to be building um but I'm a builder by Nature so like there there you know you and I had this conversation where I'm like I don't know I think maybe I want to be an employee I'm kind of tired of making the decisions you know because we talk about you know decision fatigue a lot especially as as moms right and badass moms mind you okay uh but uh yeah so I I definitely like yearn sometimes for someone to tell me what to do um so okay I'm going to get even more personal with you Rel relationship wise like do you feel the decision fatigue like are you like you know Aaron you're you're amazing husband are you like just tell me what to do I'm not figuring out dinner are you like because you've been leading for a really long time you've been in charge for a long time do you feel that yeah I mean on every now and then I feel that um but it's more I will say the the main way in which I feel that in my personal life is and I know you'll relate to this is the entertainment of the for the kids and like of the kids on the weekends or thinking you know forward to Summer like I put a lot of pressure and guilt on myself to entertain the kids make sure that you know if it's beautiful outside we're spending time outside it's like what are we gonna do today we're gonna go to this park like I that's where I get decision fatigue is I feel like I figure out I have it so much during the week that when the weekends roll around I I mean I end up doing it anyway but I'm like I don't want to be the one that says we're going here we're doing this making the plans and making sure that everybody's entertained the kids get sunshine you know they're not on technology the whole weekend you know I put that kind of pressure on myself and Aaron doesn't he doesn't put that kind of pressure on himself so um whenever I tell him I'm feeling that way you know he'll definitely speak up and be like okay I'm gonna make I'm gonna make the plans but I have to very much say like because it's it is my nature it is what I do and so I have to get to a point where I'm like I don't want to do this right now this weekend can you just figure it out and then it's done he'll figure it out but yeah I would say it's more about the kids entertainment than like dinner and even some of those those decisions I'm like I just can go go go especially during the week but the weekend rolls around I feel like that's when I really get decision fatigue I'm like okay somebody else just figure it out figure it out I have a I have a strong fear of being lazy yeah which good I was going to say well we weren't allowed to be lazy right like I you can't take naps growing up I couldn't take naps so it's like you're a busy body and you always feel like you have to be doing something and I found that like even when Aaron will come home from work sometimes and I'm just like I just feel like I can't be chilling on the couch or just doing nothing I got to be like there can't be dish is in the sink there can't be laundry that needs to be done and I'm just sitting here you know and I know that's a product of how I grew up and how I was raised like you didn't you didn't get to rest and relax but that's why I'm really big on that for my kids is like I don't want them to feel like they can never sit still and they have to go go go and they're lazy ass if they're taking a minute to just rest you know because that's how I grew up and I want it to be the exact opposite for them I want them to learn how to like decompress and chill I think it'll help with stress for them in the future for sure uh 100% I like you brought up the word chill because I have changed the word lazy to chill because for me again like if that's a word that triggers me it's like I even in U in family I'm like hey no we just chill it has nothing to do with being lazy like no one will accuse anyone in this family of being lazy we are doers but we can chill because we can't run on that high octane all the time which brings me to like the career aspect yeah you know like think about it we have been jamming and jamming and jamming for 16 years and all of a sudden the market goes yeah it's like I don't know about you but if my calendar is not jam-packed I'm like you know like I do not run I I think of it like a restaurant when a restaurant's jamming nothing goes wrong you know but when a restaurant's slow all this [ __ ] goes wrong and it's like well that doesn't make sense but I have to be operating at like that speed and so I think that's also it's like um it's allowed me to have a downtime thought process which I have literally trained so many people concluding myself to not think just do yeah so it's like I don't want to sit here thinking this is a a no zone for me but as we're we're trying to give advice here on how you re-energize your career thinking is very much involved and honestly like it's scares me sometimes yeah well and see I'm a person that likes to think and likes to be alone with my thoughts um so I had a as you know a big pretty big life event for me happened a few weeks ago and um you know I remember telling Aaron I'm remember being like okay it's a great thing that Brianna and her family are going to be here because it's going to allow me to not dwell on and I was just and I'm not going to talk about the life of it yet I will just for all of our listeners I will it's not going to be yet but I will talk about it but I remember being like okay it's a great distraction to have them here because it'll keep me from overthinking and thinking in a way that isn't healthy for me that I know I would be doing because it was just a couple days after the event right and then um you know fast forward to to after you guys left I was like telling Aon I was like I really need a day to just be alone with my thoughts like completely alone and that's how that's how I process things like I need to just really sit and think and process because I hadn't done that yet I was just kind of going going going and um which is what I like to do and is what but then what I I get it's weird it's hard for me to explain but I get all it'll come out in a different way if I internalize how I'm feeling versus I don't necessarily need to talk it out I need to write it out or I need to process it and think it out that's what I it's really weird I know that you're like what I don't like to think through things but you like to journal that's kind of the equivalent sometimes I Journal when I'm thinking through something like I just need to get my thoughts out and that helps me process something to then move forward on get through the other side of it you know but um I like to actually have sit time to sit and think or I go crazy if I don't have like at least like a day a week where I can sit and just think about everything I need to do or journal or what is going on in my life then I end up like internalizing everything and holding it in and it will come out in other ways that are not as healthy so I know that I'm very self-aware to know about myself like what I need to do to process something big that happens to me and if I don't have the time to do that I'm like but yeah no that's good I've actually considered um and I'm gonna do it I just don't know when but you can hold me to this I do want to go away like full-blown because you know I don't have the kids full-time and my ex has them so there's no reason why I can't go somewhere take two days off of work because it's Monday Tuesdays that that I don't have them and just for me not in the office not at my house somewhere totally different maybe just like an Airbnb or something just completely have no responsibilities and really just think because every time I'm like I I'm thinking I'm like I just want to disappear for a second like I'll like turn on the TV or I'll work and then when you work you're not like thinking thinking right you're not really dissecting it um but you know to talk about how you reignite your passion like really one of them one of the top things are is seek a new challenge it's true and that honestly when you say that out loud that feels really heavy cuz like what does that mean what challenge what Challenge and is it in the TA and recruiting space yeah I think that's what I mean this episode I feel like is so relevant to what a lot of people like us are going through of okay what is that new challenge does that mean if your agency you try to go in in-house if that means you're inh house do you try to go agency does that mean you try to Pivot from ta altogether like that can mean different things for different people as far as what they're seeking a new challenge I think when the way the context in which we're speaking about it is different than maybe we would have spoke about it a few years ago where seeking a new challenge might meant you know get some sort of certification re like some sort of furthering education or um further learning you know it would have been something like that seek a new challenge whereas now I think what we're talking about and again I know a lot of this resonates with a lot of our listeners because a lot of them are in the TA space as well is like is that new challenge getting into a completely new industry in space because of what has been happening in the recruiting industry for years now at this point we can say it's years it's been a roller coaster for a few years but that's also easier said than done too you know so I think that's what you and I and and just our listeners know this this this conversation she and I had Brien and I had um like a week or so ago whenever she was in the Dallas area and we were hanging out with our families and we were just kind of both talking about this and I think it's so interesting we started at the same time in ta and um you know we worked together and then we've gotten so close as friends and then we're both just kind of in this space like what now what now and I don't know that I have the answer for myself for what now that's where I'm saying I have to spend a lot of time alone with my thoughts I have to think I have to read I have to research because I am at a point where I'm like I don't I don't know what that new challenge could be do I want a new challenge absolutely am I am I ready to say that I want a new challenge and want to try something outside the TA space absolutely but I have no idea what that could be and again easier said than done you know it's so much easier to just hire somebody that has experience in XYZ versus taking a chance on somebody that's been in the TA space but wants to get into XY marketing or whatever it is you know yeah yeah yeah well I mean I know we have some episodes on this and we we might want to even go further on some of it but obviously like the skills that we have anyone has in the ti space are so transferable like in so many different Industries because we touch so many aspects of things you know and and we're Fighters I think that you can very much say everyone in recruiting ta we fight because we fight for the respect we fight for the seat at the table we fight for our candidates we fight for our hiring managers you know there's so many uh interesting gloves we have to put on um throughout but um I think what so something that's on this list and we'll share this with the listeners because we're not just going to jam through the list this is more conversational today for sure um is talking about the impact yeah so what impact do you have how how can you reenergize yourself through your impact yeah and do you feel how does that sit do you feel like you're still having an impact you know do you feel like the impact that you have in the role that you're in is it one that you actually do have an impact in or is it a job and again I can relate to this so much so I'm knocking I'm not knocking anybody that's in this space or are you in a job that you're like you know I I don't have an impact but I have a job that's and that's what it is it's a job you know and so that's where I think that you know maybe you can lose some of your passion for doing something because if it becomes something that's just too hard and a struggle and you lose your impact and you lose your ability to feel like that job is or this role within an organization is actually an impactful one one that's respected or one that's appreciated or you know one that people don't look at like oh just um you know like you said a monkey can do our jobs you know it's it's really hard because we had that respect for like a year it didn't last long we didn't have it we had it for like a year and uh maybe a little over a year and then it's just been it's been right back to how things were and I I feel like I'm just even seeing job postings and I'm seeing all of these things that I'm like how did we get here because I I'm seeing these very senior level roles all with of course thousands of applicants so when you talked about fighting you're like you know we're fighting for candidates fighting I'm like we're fighting each other for the same jobs on yeah true it's I think I don't know I feel like I'm at this and it's very honest and vulnerable that we're opening up to our listeners about this because this is real stuff for us y'all this isn't just an episode and like a list we're reading off of it's a real life conversation and and you know conflict internal conflict that both kind of struggling with of like what's next and I know we'll both figure it out but having an impact is something that's always been really important to me and I think I've gotten away from that because you just do what you have to do but it's I think it has directly impacted my passion for what I used to do if that makes sense so when you're feeling impactful is it because you are running a team that's operating at like you know a high level or you're you're being a mentor to them like what exactly what impact do you feel you're missing um I mean it's all of the above it's not one thing but it's like managing a great team and having really good I would say one of my favorite things is I've always had really great relationships with the people that were on my team you know so much so they become friends of mine every single place I've ever worked I'm still friends with people that um were on my team and you know having those really great relationships where there is a mentorship slash you know just mutual respect because we're in there getting our hands dirty together you know not going to ask them to do anything I'm not willing to do and so it's really just been centered around the team but that also feeling the wins you have to feel wins whether that's via the team or yourself it just can't be like a super negative situation or negative environment or nothing's ever going right I think that's that's another area in which you can lose your passion and even think about it from a sports perspective you know if you're an athlete and you don't win [ __ ] you're not winning anything you know it can affect your p for the game whatever game that is that you're playing tennis soccer whatever if you're never winning it just it's definitely going to change it's inevitable that it will change and so for me it's a bunch of different things that make me feel like I'm having an impact but I would say the biggest one is a team mentoring a team and then also seeing that team be successful or grow within their roles or grow into different roles I've gotten a lot of fulfillment my entire career out of that and so that's always been something that's really important to me so there's a lot of things that have to be missing for me to not feel like I'm having any kind of impact but those are just a few yeah so you don't you definitely don't think you could just be a just an icy just an individual contributor no team involvement I mean I think I could I I certainly think I could but it would it be something that I've been I'm passionate about would it be how I felt about ta five years ago no I mean I definitely think it's I could do it but I don't think that I would feel as passionate about the TA space in that type of role as I did before yeah so something on this list that really really resonated with me and I'm like even thinking about how I'm going to do this is have a new higher mindset so pretend like you've never done this before pretend that you have something really to prove I think is super interesting so internally if you're struggling like you're bored you're lost your passion you don't want to go to work you know think about like you just started remember like that excitement like anything new is exciting for the most part unless you know it's wrong immediately right um but I think about when I first started recruiting like how jazzed I was like woo money chills I got you know I'm screaming like all day long you know and it's like I haven't done that in a bit um I did actually actually here let me talk about my win I did have a hire my first recruiting hire like that I've done myself from start to finish in probably a couple years because at this point you know it's more of like Hy I'll get the clients and I'll pass them on and stuff like that um so that was super exciting for me and I was like okay yeah I feel that I feel that but it's like you're constantly I don't I don't know about you but like I feel like I'm constantly chasing some kind of high and so it's like what what high do I want and what high do I want to go chase after I guess what that would be so like when I the reason why I was in Dallas if you guys don't know is I um spoke at a conference in front of almost 60 uh top billers in recruiting and so I was like nervous I mean you know me like you saw me right before I dropped off my Dr you watched my kids it was amazing um I dropped the kids and I was like super nerv nervous I was like I don't know and you know so I get up there and I'm up there for like over two and a half hours at that point and I was only supposed to be up there for like an hour and a half and I got out of there and the moment I was done it literally felt like I was going down a roller coaster like that that crazy like stomach full-blown High excitement like you like if I wasn't around someone I probably would have been like like screamed you know yeah um so I was like oh wow that that high is really cool so it's like I get back to work I'm like yep I'm going to go chase these speak engagements like that's cool [ __ ] you know but I will tell you the money motivation in me still seeks out recruiting because that's where I know I can make really good money really quickly and but the and this is where I have to get my new Hing me but the speaking is something I haven't nailed yet that's that seeking seeking that new challenge knowing how I feel about it and it's like you know I'm constantly talking to myself go go get it girl like so what now yeah you got to go reinvent s it's scary right why it like you know and and recruiting is my safety net yeah but I'm not going to get re-energized unless I go after what scares me yeah yeah I mean something to Shake It Up for your for yourself whatever that is that you know you need to do I feel like a lot of people in ta are probably can this resonates with them like should we and I I know I have been actually like when you go back to the original part of our or the beginning of this conversation where you're like decision fatigue and do you just want Aaron to make I go back to like God do someone tell me what to do like do I need to stay in ta do I need to get out of ta like somebody just tell me that's where I think more than I've ever felt in my entire life is in this exact moment where I'm like somebody just tell me what is the right thing that I need to do because this is this is a big deal you know I haven't felt this conflicted about my career since you know I graduated college and was trying to figure out what my career was going to be you know and like most people fell into recruiting and that was the last time I remember really feeling this way really feeling this conflicted with like cons somebody just tell me what I should be doing you know I don't know it's like it's a Bruce Almighty moment I just had the kids watch that yeah no yeah okay we just watched it but it's like God tell me what to do um but I'm going to show you this because I believe in all these like cards so the universe has my back I pulled this a couple weeks ago I I pull a new one ever you know whenever I feel like like I'm needing something um but I look at that all the time and I'm like no got my back whatever I decide like I know I'm going to okay I know it's going to be right you know um but I hear you it's like dude just just tell me what to do I'll be committed um and so for me like I I have my poits here because I did decide that I want to coach and be an instructor and stuff like that you know but you really do I think going to what you do is you have to be all in when you do it or at least for 90 days I think to really feel re-energized really committed really like this is what I'm going to jam on it's got to be 90 days yeah I just don't see it you know like like just being like oh you know what I'm going to do it this for this week it's like I think it's also to feel re-energized you have to have the discipline to allow yourself to be reenergized because that's its own separate thing I mean um any goal you have to have discipline like that's the hard part right that's why people don't don't do their goals but I think that this is probably one of the these moments where you have to really be like nope I'm choosing to be super happy with whatever I choose today and if it turns out in 90 days it wasn't the right decision great I'll have to re-energize myself again because I know I can do that yeah yeah I mean I definitely think for each person it's whatever your process is to get yourself re-energized or just I mean if you're not there yet because I feel like there's steps to this and I don't feel like I'm at the re-energized step yet I feel like I'm still in the be the steps before then I'm trying to figure out what direction I want to go in and then I think even figuring that out that in itself would re-energize me like having a decision having a direction and being like okay [ __ ] yeah this is what I'm going to go do I I actually need as a human being and when I don't have that I I feel like I'm just like just flailing in the wind type person you know and I'm just that's not how I like to be and so for me I need some structure and I need some I need a decision and then from there it's like okay what are my steps to making that happen and then I'll be able to put in the stability and the structure that I need that makes me comfortable that does re-energize me you know so I think it's like for each person whatever it is that re-energizes and it may not be anything on this list it may not be you know reflecting on your role or celebrating other you may be at a point that kind of you know like what we're talking about where you know you're just trying to figure out what's next for me in my life like bigger picture what do I want to do what am I want to be doing in five years do I want to be in ta and and feeling the way I'm feeling right now in five years do I still do I want to just be getting by on the skin of my teeth and ta you know like what is what ultimately what do I want and these are a lot of questions that I'm asking myself and I have to imagine and just based on the conversations I've had with people with friends in ta and that people that reach out to me on LinkedIn and the conversations I'm having with it's everybody's kind of struggling right now and struggling to stay in the game mentally too you know is when the market is like it is right now um but yeah I I'm gonna give them our broke to boss tip but I know you'd love to add an extra so do you want I'm I know I'm just gonna say this is your takeover moment yeah I mean I we're gonna get there I I know myself well enough to know I'm going to get there I just don't know what it is yet and I've made some need jerk decisions recently that I knew in my gut weren't right for me I knew that and um that's what that is out of everything that's one of the things that I'm like okay never [ __ ] again am I going to do that because I know better and I went against what my gut was and I went against you know when the red flags look like Six Flags and it's always wrong every time I do it it's always wrong now did I get you know there's I've actually made a list so there's pros and cons and you know it ended up working out to where there was some pros But ultimately there was more cons whenever I made a decision that was out of desperation out of like oh what am I doing and yeah so just never again why I do that that's one thing I have learned is like if it doesn't feel right for me in my gut I have to stick to that because it's not right it's off for me um if if my gut is off then whatever opportunity or whatever choice or whatever it is is off um but the broke to boss tip that um you know I'm I this resonated with me we talked about it a little bit earlier but I think will resonate with many of our listeners is embrace your C reality or choose real change I think that's a really powerful one embrace your current reality whatever that may look like so like you said maybe adopt if you're in a situation where you're employed but you're kind of in a funk or it's slow or it's just different than what you're used to because of the TA Market or you're just has nothing to do with ta you're just in a fun you know re-energize Yourself by like you said acting like a new hire if it's a really good job and that's another thing that I'll never take for granted again is a really really good job that just I just needed to re-energize myself you know I think people often leave a job whenever they think they need to like Shake It Up and sometimes that's the right thing to do you know I'm not saying that's 100% wrong all the time but I'm saying right now um you know that's one of my takeaways is I will never take for granted a really amazing job and a really amazing employer company boss all of those things but you just feel like something's kind of stale or like you know you're not excited about it anymore and um yeah I'll never take that for granted I don't feel like I've taken it for GR in the past I just have been able to like okay well I did that so I'm going to go move and do this and it was just a lot easier to transition into something else but that's how I coped with it before was like transitioning into something else instead of being like actually this is a really great place to be and I need to do what I need to do to shake up my mentality and make this work for me in in a different way and get myself re-energized so I think that's a great tip that you provided there on on think like a new hire and I think you know you either have to embrace your current reality shake things up and re-energize yourself in your current role or you know choose real change and that could mean switching into a completely different industry whatever works for you but those are kind of that's what I'm conflicted with right now so I feel like that's very that's real you know yeah I love that and actually I'm almost wondering if that's an episode on how um to help retention because like I'm thinking from a company perspective I'm like oh wow like people leave jobs for all sorts of reasons and that having a new challenge is one of them but if you can show them internally that you can give them that and you can help them reenergy and you're cognizant to that that's actually a really interesting retention tool yeah well and that's what's been so great about like if you have just a great relationship with your employees and the people that work on your team they will have those conversations with you when they feel like they can and there's mutual respect and everybody respects each other as a professional and it's like yes you may I may be the person that you report to but you're a human being I still respect you we are still co-workers we work together and if this isn't working for you anymore or you want to take on something new or something different I mean we've had a lot of people like that that you and I are both aware of that we both worked with where it's like you know luckily we were at the time able to offer them a different kind of environment to where it's like if you want to go do something else here or externally but like we had other options and things to offer them so I think as an organization that's a great thing to do but yeah I think it's a whole episode about that of what you could do the signs of it when you feel like somebody's burning out and it burn out doesn't even have to mean the work it doesn't even have to mean like working hours or the work that you're doing burnout can just happen when you're just you're just tired of doing same thing bored bored yeah yeah although I do tell my kids only boring people get bored but this is different well thank God they're not listening

so oh my God I love that okay so listeners I know this is definitely I mean this is we keep it real over here this is why we call it you know don't take over unfiltered right this is super raw a lot of emotions obviously going on a lot of like who the [ __ ] knows right um so hopefully you can get you know re-energized by this we will share the list because we didn't go through it because this is just again this is our journey but hopefully you at least know you're not alone yeah you're for sure not alone we're all here we're all here to be super supportive you know something on the list is get a mentor or coach if you don't have one I mean that's absolutely something that's helped me throughout my career so something I would uh I would check out for sure and we'll see you every Tuesday right yeah thanks y'all bye