Early on in the Top 100 project, Peter Clayton appeared on the list. Here’s the intro
What started as landed.fm became Total Picture Radio. The story, told with some eloquence here, is that Peter Clayton founded landed.fm in 2003 as a way of bringing a full spectrum of media to the career development and management question. Before anyone had ever heard of a “podcast”, Clayton was putting well produced, professional quality audio online for the community of recruiters and careerists.
The seasoned corporate film maker was reading the handwriting on the wall.
After a long career in the development of corporate marketing and sales films, Peter came to understand that the end was at hand. His colleagues in all aspects of the New York Metro journalism, publishing and media scene were starting to lose their jobs. The internet, with all of its transformative power, was a freight train hurdling straight in his direction.
Clayton made motivational movies for Bell Labs, ATT, Deloitte and a fistful of other luminary organizations. They all shared one theme. Their businesses were dependent on the creativity of their employees. Clayton’s existence depended on his knack for communicating the accomplishment of others.
If you’ve ever wondered what the term “silver throat” means, listen to one of Clayton’s podcasts on Total Picture Radio. He has an amazing beautiful voice. When he was getting the company started, he used income from voice overs to help pay the rent. For the past three years, he’s been at the task fully engaged.
Every time I’ve seen Clayton in action, I am amazed by the way he is amazed. His subjects receive his complete attention. You can feel the depths of his curiosity as he navigates his interviews. Clayton is always in the hunt for better questions and better interviewing techniques. He has permanent and powerful curiosity about people and always finds something interesting.
With hundreds of podcast interviews from people all over the Career-HR-Recruiting spectrum, Clayton has assembled a singular resource. With just a little bit of patience, you can stay abreast of the changing face of the industry in your car on the way to work. Clayton calls TPR “Tivo” for radio. He is astonished by the way Radio has migrated out onto the net and into your iPod.
Clayton began to explore the HR-Recruiting-Career marketplace with little more than a hunch. He says that he interviewed his way into understanding. He’s talked to everyone you can think of.
The other day, Peter and I decided to turn the tables again. Since we last spoke, he’s launched “Jobs in Pods” with Chris Russel. The service is “the only audio job board”. Advertisers who use Jobs in Pods get the ability to paint an audio picture of the jobs. The resulting podcasts are like Tivo for Job ads. You can listen to them whenever you want. Since the listener is likely to listen to the entire Podcast, it’s a great platform for Employment Branding. Once the podcast is online, you can use it in a variety of settings.
Clayton has interviewed over 600 leaders in the HR and Recruiting industry. Sorting through the archives at Total Picture Radio will give you a first class education in the industry.
Peter and I spent some time digging into the things he’s learned. Having Peter tell you about the industry is a way of getting rapidly exposed to an enormous number of things in a short time.
Technology
“Everything is going to mobile. iPads and smart phones. Anyone who is in media writing and producing: You have to deliver to every screen. Time shifting is becoming increasingly important. Media has to be in the form and on a device that people are using. Sticking with one format is a kiss of death.”
Staying Fresh
Being on the forefront of technology requires that you devote 10% of your time to the question. Watch how people adapt and see who is getting ahead. These days, really interesting experiments are unfolding in new marketplaces. Pepsico released its new app at SXSW. Apple went from almost out of business to world’s largest company in an incredibly short time. Watching technology is like watching a horse race. Since you are going to change careers 10 times, you have to be adept at renewal.”
Advice to Job Hunters
“Keep your Social Media up to date. Read blogs to find out what’s going on. Search is your biggest asset in the job hunt. Listen to Shally interviews to learn boolean. It’s how recruiters find you. Participate in LinkedIn groups. Find the ones where people speak your language. Recruiters also look into those niche groups. Keep your stuff updated. Good career maintenance means set up agents on the big job sites. Don’t sit on job boards. If you’re in the 100K plus category, job boards don’t really work.”
If you can fit podcasts into your routine, Peter Clayton’s products and services are right in your sweet spot,