709. Getting Uncomfortable Is Where We Need To Be

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47:37

Megan Applegate spent twenty years in hospitality before becoming a recruiter, resume writer, and career coach. In this episode she and Lesley Logan dig into why finding work feels so different right now and what still gives people an edge in their career. Megan shares grounded strategies for standing out, rebuilding confidence after a setback, and getting noticed by the right people. Whether you love your job or are ready for a change, this conversation gives you real steps to feel ready for what is next.

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In this episode you will learn about:

  • Why the old resume playbook may no longer get you hired.
  • Mapping job descriptions to prove you already qualify for the role.
  • The old colleague trick that quietly dissolves imposter syndrome.
  • Optimizing your LinkedIn so recruiters can actually find you.
  • What you should never say when an interview gets uncomfortable.


Episode References/Links:


Guest Bio:

Megan Applegate, Founder of Career Blueprint Solutions. After a powerhouse 20-year career in the hospitality industry, Megan did the unthinkable: she walked away from the familiar to build a recruiting and career development empire, with zero formal training and no financial safety net. Today, as the Founder of Career Blueprint Solutions, she uses that same "all-in" grit to help high-achievers navigate their own pivots. Known as the Recruiter Insider, she deconstructs the hiring process through her proprietary T.A.P. Protocol, moving professionals from "guessing" to "certainty" and helping them architect a legacy career that matches their true market value.

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Episode Transcript:

Megan Applegate 0:00  

I think most people just don't know these days what the strategy is, and to know that there's so much that they do that's probably already at that next level in the first place.


Lesley Logan 0:15  

Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. 


Lesley Logan 0:57  

All right, Be It babe. We're gonna get into it, because this episode is great. This is for those of you who are like, "Oh my god, I don't love my job, but I don't want to work for myself," or, "Shit, I'm out of a job and I need help." We have the resume queen, I literally called her a doula, she is so great. I learned so much. I don't even need a resume right now, or probably hopefully ever, I love what I do, but I know many of you do. No matter what your role is in this world, there are tips for you here. I don't care if you love where you're at, you're going to want to listen to these tips or write them down. They're so, so tangible, tactile, things you can actually do and check off and feel good about yourself. So, here is Megan Applegate.


Lesley Logan 1:41  

All right, Be It, babe. I'm really excited. We haven't had a topic like this in a long time, and it's definitely time to be talking about this topic. And we have the best guest I could even think about, because I was doing a lot of research on this one, and I'm really excited because Megan Applegate is here, and she is... well, I'm gonna let her tell you everything that she does. So, Megan, what do you rock at?


Megan Applegate 2:00  

Yeah, so thank you for having me, Lesley. I'm very excited to be here, and I'm one of those people that was a 20-year veteran in the hospitality industry, and thought I loved what I did for so long until I realized that I didn't. And when that happened, I didn't really know, and next I had something fall in my lap, and now I've turned into a recruiter, a resume writer, a career coach, and entrepreneur in the last seven years. So a huge pivot, huge turn, but I love what I do now. It's completely different. It's a beast in both ways, right? Good and bad, if there is a good or a bad, I don't know that there always is, but I love what I do.


Lesley Logan 2:48  

Oh, Megan, I agree. Nothing's ever as good or as bad as we think it's going to be, but there's always the good and the bad. But hold on, 20 years in hospitality? I mean, I don't even know how one person lasts in hospitality. That's a long time to deal with the people.


Megan Applegate 3:01  

Yeah, yeah, it is.


Lesley Logan 3:04  

Was it like, did you have to deprogram, or did you have to remind yourself you're not in hospitality anymore? How did you, you know what I mean? It's hard to make a big shift to shift careers.


Megan Applegate 3:15  

Yeah, I would say yes and no, only because part of what turned into a different career involves hospitality, so it made it a little bit easier when I was approached with the opportunity to get into the first business that I own and do, and then from there it came into a second one that I own on my own now. So, with that being said, I still actually love hospitality. I still love the people, and I know it so well. But now I get to recruit in it and help people find jobs in it. So it's almost like just taking what I already knew and learning a whole new sector of it, which I think is cool.


Lesley Logan 3:56  

Right, right, like going to a deeper level on that. So, instead of being, I guess, B to C, where you're working with the people in the hospitality, now you're working with the people who are going to work with the people.


Megan Applegate 4:08  

Correct. Yeah, on the recruiting side, it's both. It's finding the clients that need us to help them with the headhunting, finding these top talented professionals, and then also being the advocate and that career agent for the candidates, and understanding both sides of what that looks like. A lot of people only know one side and they don't know both, and so it's almost like an advantage to understand how to help people navigate that knowledge that you otherwise have, right? Because.


Lesley Logan 4:41  

The hirer is like, "We need these people who can do these things."


Megan Applegate 4:44  

Yeah.


Lesley Logan 4:44  

And then the people are like, "How come no one's looking at my resume? How come people don't see the greatness that I have?" And really, you're kind of a mediator slash negotiator slash doula.


Megan Applegate 4:59  

Yeah, it's been an interesting adventure. I'm seven years in deep with this change, and it's proven to move me in all kinds of different directions, which I'm excited to get into.


Lesley Logan 5:13  

Yeah, I would love to get to that. Before we dive into some stuff, I do want to chat about... seven years is a long time to look back at who you were and how that was. When you were leaving hospitality and coming into this, or maybe you fell into it, were there things that you had to work on with yourself to step into this? "I'm now the entrepreneur, now I'm not working for this company, I'm working for myself." How did you help yourself change that mentality?


Megan Applegate 5:42  

Yeah. Well, there's all kinds of emotions. I think there's so many we could talk about, right? It's very sticky. You're excited but scared. At some point I didn't trust myself. So, there was a lot of working on understanding that you just have to keep trying new things to see what will work, and to trust your expertise and what you're learning to do, and I think that was a big lesson for me. I think, as an entrepreneur, I just had this vibe of, like, now I get to be as successful as I want to be, right? I'm going to make so much money and all these things. Because when you're working for somebody, there's a cap on you, and so when you change into that mode of "I'm so passionate about what I do and my expertise," when you don't see that happen overnight, it can be a little daunting, you know, to be like, "Wow, hey, is it me? Am I doing something wrong? Can I not trust myself? Am I not..." I mean, there's so many things, because if you've never owned a business, how do you know, right? So, I think there's a lot of that that went into setting the ground rules of understanding you just have to take every day, every day, every day, and learn and learn and learn, and you will pivot and pivot and pivot, and I still do to this day. I think, "Can I do this differently? Should I do this differently?" I think I'm on my third version of the newest business I have, just because I keep learning.


Lesley Logan 7:18  

Yeah, I understand that a lot. I love that you share that. When you work at a place, you get to leave at the end of the shift or the day with your salary, going, "Okay, I did the things I was supposed to do on this day," or, "I'm behind on two things, okay." But when you are working for yourself, you really have to define what "done" is and what success is, because otherwise it can feel like it's too easy to go with vibes. I've been working for myself for so long, and I still have to remind myself to not go off vibes. My husband's like... I'm like, "Oh my god, things aren't going really well right now." He's like, "Let's look at the data, because vibes... no, we're not doing vibes right now. Data is always better." 


Lesley Logan 8:04  

Okay. So, one of the reasons why I have you on is because I do feel like right now there's a lot of uncertainty when it comes to finding work. If people have a job, they're staying whether they like it or not, which always bothers me, because we shouldn't let employers treat us badly or be in a place that's not right for us. But there's a lot of uncertainty, and then there's people who are wanting to switch careers and look into something else, and this is Be It Till You See It. I wanted to pick your brain and talk a little bit about how can people who are seeking out work highlight themselves, or what should they be thinking about? I don't know, that's 17 questions, Megan. You are the expert here. I haven't had to fill out a resume in so long.


Megan Applegate 8:47  

Yeah, well, neither have a lot of the clients I do work with, truthfully. Things have changed and shifted so much lately in what looking for a new job is and what that strategy is. It used to be like if you had longevity, you had great companies on your resume, and you had a few connections, then it would be super simple. And now people come to me, and they're like, "The game has changed, what do I do?" Because it is, especially with AI and all of the platforms that are involved, and all this weaving in of... you can't just rely on what you've done in the past. Right now we're in a huge employee market where it's very competitive to look for a job. People are being flooded because you make it so easy to apply to jobs these days. You just hit the easy button, right?


Lesley Logan 9:47  

Yeah, I just heard this ad where you can almost pay for this extra thing so you're the first person, you're on the top of the pile. You remember how you used to be able to pay to be "A" on Southwest Airlines? Like, pay to get your resume to be the top of the pile on those online things. I was like, "Oh my god, this is just like... that's only the people who have the extra money can do that."


Megan Applegate 10:09  

Well, honestly, and I don't even know that I believe that, really knowing what I know about how that works. And so it's all about understanding that you have to be a problem solver, and you have to realize that if you can paint the picture... it's like your resume is a sales document. We are so in tune as humans to not understand what we are actually really good at, and no one seems to understand that they need to keep track of all of these wins. You get in a job and you just get so focused on what you're doing in one lane that we're never thinking two more steps or two more years down the road to be like, "Am I documenting? Do I know what I want to do next? Am I continually networking with people? What am I doing right now that is above what every other person is doing?" If you're not constantly thinking about that and understanding that you're creating your own brand, you just get stuck in the hole, and then five years later things have changed, and you're like, "Oh my god, what am I doing?" And it's very scary. You're thinking, "Well, I have all this experience, and I meet this job description that's online, but yet no one's calling me." That's where I have realized, in my experience, there's so many nuances around getting through the ATS system, getting by the recruiter who looks at your resume for 10 seconds, finally getting to the hiring manager, and then trying to convince them in that one-third of your resume of why they should call you. There's so many different things. I wish I had a magic bullet just to say "do this one thing and you'll be fine," but unfortunately it's a strategy. It's truly a game these days.


Lesley Logan 12:04  

And it's so... you're like... so on the podcast every Friday, we celebrate wins. I think they're really important. Most people won't send a win in until they've completed something, and I'm like, "A win is, you know, you got up today." Sometimes that's a win. But I love that you highlight: are you documenting things that you're doing or things that you've learned? Because I have found, since I don't have to build a resume, one of the things I have to do is submit to get CECs for things that I train people on. So I have to show that I've had education from these places, or to teach this workshop, "When did I learn that thing?" And if we're not taking time for just a little document, just some running note like an achievement or a compliment you got at work, I love this, because then, with the help of AI, you can really put your wins together in a nice, concise little paragraph. You could do that, but if you're not documenting, it's really hard to remember what you did two years ago. Especially when you're not happy at your job, you're forgetting that you had a win.


Megan Applegate 12:59  

Yeah, and it's not just always about what you do individually. It's about looking at what you're doing as a team. And people think, "Well, I can't take credit for that," and I'm like, "Why not?" They just get very down in the weeds of what should be on a resume, and it becomes this long laundry list of things that are not relevant, and I think that that is one of the biggest things is before you can build that, you have to know where you're going. I mean, who is your audience? Who are you talking to?


Lesley Logan 13:33  

So then do we have to change our resume for every single application?


Megan Applegate 13:38  

No, no, you don't. No. And honestly, a lot of people have that in their head that they have to. There's definitely things you can tweak within the resume, just keywords in general, if that fits more specifically to one thing versus another in your industry, if it's this job versus this job. But no, you shouldn't have to change it every time. You just need to have a point of view. You need to be somebody that solves problems, and you need to know who your audience is, and you need to know where you're going. If you don't know, then again, how can you put together your narrative of what problems do I even need to set to solve?


Lesley Logan 14:29  

Yeah, I agree. And I love this, because this episode's coming out after my girlfriend and I chatted about exiting a job, either on your terms or not on your terms, right? And so we had a really good chat about that, and this is such an even greater follow-up because ideally you're thinking about this before it's not on your terms, right? Ideally you're doing this while you have something else, because there's a lot more confidence while you're getting paid to go look for something else. I always say it's easier to get another job while you have a job. I guess I worry about some of my people who have that fake imposter syndrome, I call it fake because they are successful, they have done amazing things, and for whatever reason, they either lost the job that they were in, or their life changed and they had to take a pause in work, and now they're coming back into it. As you said, the game has changed. It's like when people realize the dating game has changed; now the resume game has changed. Is there a pep talk to give people? How do they know where they're going? How do we get them off the ground and go, "You are good, let's pull out these wins." Are there things that they can do?


Megan Applegate 15:34  

Yeah, I mean, I think that just understanding... I always tell people when I work with them, I'm like, go out on the internet and find... Well, first of all, before you even do that, what excites you? Let's just dive down a little bit further into, "This is what you do, but do you love every single part of this, or do we want to focus on what you truly let go and then you just succeed with? What motivates you? What are your strengths?" Finding that is number one, especially if you're thinking about pivoting. I think there's nothing wrong, I mean, I did it, and yes, it was from a 20-year career into entrepreneurship, but I work with a lot of people that will pivot into a completely different industry. And when we work on that, we start with that: what makes you tick, what would you love to do every day, and get them excited about that. Then once you kind of understand that, you can actually go out and start to truly find those jobs, find where those jobs are, look at those job descriptions, and map what you are really good at with what it's saying. I think that will a lot of times pull people out to be like, "Oh, okay, so I do have a lot more wins and what it takes to get a job." I also say find a colleague, find an old colleague, somebody that can remind you how great you are, because, like you mentioned, the imposter syndrome, that is a huge wall that people bump into all the time. I get comments about a resume that I redo for someone, and they're like, "Megan, are you sure this is even me? I feel like an imposter here," and I'm like, "Yeah, it is you. You just don't understand that it's okay." This is the one time that it's okay to vibe on yourself. Sometimes we don't see it because we're in it all the time, we're in the weeds of our own everyday life, and therefore because we live that, we don't see ourselves as an expert because we just assume everyone has the same kind of knowledge that we do. So I always tell people, find what's important, what you love, find somebody... most people have a BFF at work of some kind, right? Even if it was a couple jobs ago, ask them for coffee, ask them just to be like, "Hey, can you help me kind of energize and re-remember all that I did that was amazing," especially if you haven't written it down.


Lesley Logan 18:27  

I love this, because one, everybody wants to be helpful. People just want to be helpful, right? And you're not asking them for a job, you're actually asking them, like, "Hey, can we just go over that time we did some things? I'm struggling here." People want to be your cheerleader, and you're gonna give them this opportunity. I think this is a brilliant... I remember years ago, my husband and I were trying to apply for a Global Entry card, and they wanted your last 10 years of addresses. Of course, when you're apartment living, that could be 10 addresses. I remember Brad asking one of his roommates, "Hey, do you remember our address here?" And the guy's like, "I don't know, check eBay." And it was like, oh, hold on, there's this place that's holding all these addresses that I had things shipped to. But sometimes we just have to ask someone. The thing is, they're not in it.


Megan Applegate 19:10  

They're not stuck in your everyday life that you just live in and assume that everyone else knows what that looks like.


Lesley Logan 19:20  

Yeah, yeah. Do you think the internal barrier that people get stuck on is the imposter syndrome? Is it not believing in themselves? What is on the inside of people that makes them realize or think that they're not able to do this, to put themselves out there and get a job that they deserve?


Megan Applegate 19:40  

I think it's partly that, but I don't think it's fully that. I think most people just don't know these days what the strategy is, and to know that there's so much that they do that's probably already at that next level in the first place. So that's why I'm always saying go find some job descriptions. If you're a senior whatever, and you want to be a director, go find what that looks like, and then find where you have correlations to it. Because I think that once you can do that, it helps kind of boost that confidence to be like, "Oh yeah, you know, I can do that," or you kind of understand where your shortcomings are and you can work on, "Okay, so I need more leadership experience," or what have you, if I want to get to where you're going. But if we just kind of stay where we're comfortable... we always talk about we're comfortable, but what does that equal?


Lesley Logan 20:44  

Yeah.


Megan Applegate 20:45  

Right? It equals stagnant in the same.


Lesley Logan 20:48  

Yeah, yeah.


Megan Applegate 20:49  

So getting uncomfortable is where we need to be..


Lesley Logan 20:51  

Well, also, that's so funny that you said that. I would never have thought... that's like a total 'be it till you see it.' Look at the job that you'd want to have. What are they asking that that person has, and then you can recognize where you have it and where you don't. But also, there's that statistic that women won't apply unless they're 10 out of 10, and men will apply at a 4 out of 10, or whatever it is. But I love that, because you can really see, and that will help you highlight, "Oh, hold on," it might even jog your memory of the things that you've done and really pull it up there. I think that's a brilliant strategy that I would never have thought about, because it's like, "Oh, this is a job that I've done, so this is a job that I'm ready for." But a lot of people are thinking they have to get promoted before they can go somewhere else to get the job that they want, but you might be able to step into a role at a level that you want to be at because they actually need what you've already been doing.


Megan Applegate 21:46  

Yeah, and that's a huge part of the recruiting side that I've learned, too. If you want to be recruited for a promotion, and not only what you're doing taking you from one job to another that's the same, you have to have the right signal, if you kind of think about it that way. From a recruiting perspective, not necessarily just a resume where you're actually sending resumes out and that kind of thing, there's so many things that we can do from promoting your own brand, and part of that, especially with LinkedIn, is who... again, we go back to that audience. Who are you trying to signal? Are you signaling to anybody? Are you even visible? Can you get recruited, and if you can, does it point to where you want to go next, or are you stuck in just the laundry list of what you've done? Is it forward-thinking to that next role, or are you just in the past?


Lesley Logan 22:49  

Can we go this route? Because, first of all, LinkedIn is like a thing. I work for myself.


Megan Applegate 22:56  

You're like, I'm not on LinkedIn, I don't know. 


Lesley Logan 22:58  

And everyone's like, "Lesley, you've got to be on LinkedIn, because all those women there would do your Pilates classes online because they're busy and amazing." And I'm like, I don't even know how to break through on LinkedIn. But one of my girlfriends, the job that she has now, which is like a dream role, which I can't say what it is, but if I did, everyone would be like, "How did she get that job?" It's because she turned her light on on her LinkedIn. She had it pointing towards what she wanted, not what she was at, and she got it. Someone was like, "Hey, you should apply for this," and then she fucking got it. I was like, "That's how it works?" I had no idea. I would have thought a thousand people were applying for that job, you know? And they might have been.


Megan Applegate 23:46  

Yeah. Well, but it's true. I mean, honestly, there's so many people that have a profile on LinkedIn, and they might have a picture, and they might have the basics, and that is it. And I'm like, "Why even bother, truthfully?" It's funny that you say that, because I'm the opposite. I am very, very strong on LinkedIn because of what I do, but yet, Instagram, I'm like, "Oh my god, what am I doing?"


Lesley Logan 24:15  

Honestly, Megan, I really should just learn how to be on LinkedIn, because that might be the safest, quietest, non-stressful place to be.


Megan Applegate 24:24  

It is. I will agree with that. I do see that sometimes people, if you're a little bit controversial in what you say in advice, some people will get on there. But honestly, those are the times where it just goes, "Oh my god, all of a sudden 15,000 people just saw this because of this one jerk."


Lesley Logan 24:46  

That's great.


Megan Applegate 24:46  

I'm pretty sure Instagram could do the same thing, but yeah, LinkedIn is huge, and people don't always see that. I know it's social media, not everyone loves it, especially the older generation, which a lot of times are the people that I work with that get to the point of, "I've been in my job for so long, and I'm just struggling to even get an interview, and what's going on?" So I work a lot with that age group, and they're like, "But I don't know how to be on LinkedIn, I don't know how to be online." I'm like, honestly, you don't have to be active all the time. You just have to have a profile that signals the right thing, that's completely optimized. It uses the right keywords for that job that you want. Have a background image that says your name and your contact information, have a headline that says what you want. Just teaching people how to understand what, as a recruiter, I'm looking for, and what pops up when I'm looking. So you can just do that. You don't have to 


Lesley Logan 25:53  

be active that much because the optimization will do the work for you, because recruiters will find you. And as long as it doesn't look like you've been distant for seven years, it's been updated, it's not as much as like, "I have to post on Instagram almost daily if I want to stay relevant." I don't think you have to do that on LinkedIn to get a good job.


Megan Applegate 26:13  

No, you don't, because again, there's one side that's the recruiter piece of it that just tells us who you are. Maybe even just sharing things once in a while. You don't even have to have your own feed that says a lot. If you want to become a little bit more of an executive level, I would say posting some, just so that you could be a thought leader. Specifically, your expertise will help you even more, because it just shows you have a voice, a perspective, and you're active. A lot of times when I find somebody, they might look good, but then I realize after talking to them that it's from four or five years ago, and they haven't touched it since, and it's not even updated, right? I'm just like.


Lesley Logan 27:03  

Yeah, because you don't want to waste your time either. Okay, so you know people are... there's a lot of worry that AI is going to take all of our jobs, and I'm sure at some point it probably will. But is that something that people have to be worried about, or is it again just figuring out what they want to be doing, and then selling themselves above, or do they have to understand how to use it? What is the working job-seeking market right now? What's the misunderstanding about that, that if they just kind of understood it better, they would be able to be hireable or have the dream job that they're still looking for? Because I do think people might be worried that their dream job is gone.


Megan Applegate 27:41  

Right. Yeah, I mean, that's totally valid, and I agree with you. I can't say that won't happen in some cases. I don't see that happening to an extreme where we're all gonna all of a sudden be unemployed. I think for me, and what I try and help my clients with, is understanding AI, you have to treat it as your friend. You cannot think about it as a negative, because it just is what it is, right? It's here to stay, and if we just push against it, we are just pushing ourselves further down the line of, "I can't, I won't, it's terrible." We have to look at it like, what do you need to do to maybe upskill, so that you give yourself more variety of what you can do in your lane, right? And really, you might have to think about what does that look like. I'm not a prepper personally, that's a lot for me even to think about. But in this realm, in job searching, and in the strategy, and just not even just when you're out of a job, but in general, if we look at the whole of what should we be doing in our world of career advancement, even if we have a job, we have to always be thinking about where does my path lead next. Who can I connect with? Where can I build my brand? Where can I be an expert? Where can I upskill the skills or something I want to do, so that you're always putting yourself to have an option, right? The option, or multiple options, ultimately is the goal. Because when we don't, and all of a sudden shit happens and you get laid off, and you're just like, "Oh, hell, what am I doing?" If you would have put yourself in a position to be ready for that, even if it was a year from now, for people to find you, to have your resume updated, to be present on LinkedIn, to be networking, to have an idea of where you want to go, get in front of having some of those skills, then your life will be so much easier.


Megan Applegate 30:00  

I love, I agree. I mean, like, it's not, you don't have to be like the prep, or like, the world is gonna fall down, but also, like, having, having, I mean, that's what I mean, just like, have an idea of where you want to go, where you want to grow, and keeping that in your mind's eye, because also you don't want to be at a job that you don't like either, like, that's just gonna suck, and suck you dry. We've been talking a lot, like, to help, like, the employee out. I do want to, like, we do have people who, like, are employers, and I will say, like, recently we had a hire for a role, and we've had the same person for so long, and they went, they're like, "I'm going on maternity leave forever," and I'm like, "That's so nice for you. Okay, great, thanks for letting me know now." But it took, I will say, it took us so long to hire someone because everyone was using AI to answer everything. We love that you can use it, but we actually would like to know what your personality is like. We hire on personality around here, because sometimes you have to do different roles, like sometimes you have to step in and fill for someone. So great, but who are you? Do you fit with the family? What are some things that employers should be doing to have their light on correctly so that they're really attracting? Because that's hard. It was frustrating how many people... Are you using AI on the call right now with me? Are you literally? You're not even answering the question, you're reading the answer.


Megan Applegate 31:30  

Oh my gosh, yeah, that's hard. I have a lot of clients that started utilizing video more than anything else. And again, I know I could still be reading AI somewhere in this office, right? But we are making people do a lot more video interviews so that you cannot hide behind the phone and things like that. People can see you. We've had clients that are insisting that the candidate basically record themselves for 30 seconds to a minute so that they can send in a video that is not necessarily anything to do with the job, but like, "Who are you? Do you have a personality? Would you fit in? And why would you potentially want to work for us?" And I'll be honest, the candidates are pushing back. They're like, "Wait a second." And I get it a little bit, because we don't want anyone to think that someone's hiring on appearance, right? Because that's the danger zone.


Lesley Logan 32:49  

Yes, correct.


Megan Applegate 32:50  

But at the same time, you will eventually be in person with somebody if you're good at interviewing, and you shouldn't just hire somebody over the phone like that. I do see that's where things are going, where they're almost not giving a chance, they have to be in person, they have to show their personalities in order to be vetted, to even be accepted. And getting away... it's one thing to have the technical piece of it, you got to have these platforms, you got to know this, you got to know this. But I think gone are a lot of the predictive index personality tests that you take, and it just says whether you're a great score or not, which I'm just like, man, those suck, right? Why? But anyways, I think that people are going away from that and just trying to get a little bit more personal.


Lesley Logan 33:55  

Yeah. I love that. For a lot of the work that we've had to hire, sometimes it's just a project-based thing, if people won't get on a camera with us, it's like, "Well, I can't hire you, because how do I know you're the one doing it? How do I know you're not outsourcing it to something else?" I don't want just random people working with me; I want to be working with the person I'm working with. And so that has been an interesting thing, how many people are like, "Oh yeah..." and it's like, "Okay, then no." So, on the job descriptions, we'll do an interview, you have to answer me on camera these things, because we don't want to waste anyone's time. I don't want to waste time with, "Oh, fill this out." And then I will say, for us, we still do a StrengthsFinder test, but after we are pretty sure we're gonna hire them. Because we actually just want to know what are your top five strengths, just so we can fit. Especially if you're my assistant, you cannot have the same strengths as me, because it's not gonna work out.


Megan Applegate 34:53  

Yeah, no, and I think that's a great approach. One of the companies I work with actually utilizes that when we're looking for recruiters. They're like, make us do something similar, but it's based on the recruiter approach of what makes a good recruiter, right?


Lesley Logan 35:15  

Yeah.


Megan Applegate 35:15  

So it's not a break or make; it's like, "Here's how to manage this person.


Lesley Logan 35:20  

Yes.


Megan Applegate 35:21  

Based on their personalities.


Lesley Logan 35:22  

Yes.


Megan Applegate 35:23  

Based on whether they're more extrovert, or they're more systems-driven compliance, or are they just gonna do whatever they want." So I think that there's definitely value in that, as long as it's truly not a make or break. I have a client we're working with right now where they have to take the assessment first, and that will determine whether they even get their first interview.


Lesley Logan 35:47  

I think that's terrible, because I'm a terrible test taker, so that would make me very nervous to get past that to get to the interview. I think I would be better after I did the interview, once I knew you don't want to know the person, anyways. 


Megan Applegate 36:01  

Hopefully there was so much to be said, you know. We go in a million different directions, but real quick, when you get to the actual interview side of this whole strategy here, I mean, there's so much to be said about personality, how you can connect with people, how you can make yourself memorable, how you can leave impressions, and people will make decisions on that over anything else.


Lesley Logan 36:27  

You are 100% correct. 


Lesley Logan 36:28  

I'm definitely someone, I had to give myself a rule of 24 hours. I have to wait 24 hours because I would just get wooed by people. I need 24 hours because the thing that bothered me about them will come to me in 24 hours. But can we real quick, for people who are interviewing, who get nervous, who have sweaty palms... we already know that if you have a confident stance you're more likely to get the job, but also, are there things people should not say in an interview?


Megan Applegate 37:01  

The only thing I tell people not to say is just don't bad mouth the last employer. Don't place blame, don't say, "We didn't make this because of this person." Nobody wants to hear that, even if you have horror stories and you really want somebody to truly understand and feel for you about what you've been through with your last job. It's kind of a gimme, but you can't do anything like that. Everything has to be positive. And I think sometimes, especially if it's a bad situation, the less you say the better. People are so scared to go in and be like, "But I was fired," or, "Something happened," and I'm like, let them ask you about it, don't bring it up. And then when they do, you state a fact, and then hopefully you point the direction and you move past it. You don't state the fact and then give the laundry list of why. If they want to know, they'll keep asking, and you just have to keep being truthful, honest, transparent, and not placing blame. If you did something wrong, say it, but you are the only one that's seeing that fear there. If you can just be like, "I am gonna say what it is, and then we're just gonna move on," I think that helps a little bit.


Lesley Logan 38:33  

Yeah, because also it's not like the people who hire you haven't experienced either losing a job or exiting a job. They're human beings too, you know what I mean? They've had people that they love that they hired that got fired, these things happen. So I think that's about not letting it be, "Oh, let me over-explain this thing."


Megan Applegate 38:55  

It goes back to their resume too. People get really specific about numbers and details, and I'm like, "I need metric-driven information to make it seem like you've got solutions and you're solving problems and all this stuff," which is proven to help people with resumes. But they'll be like, "I don't know about 15% or was it 30%?" and I'm like, nobody will fact-check you, I promise. Don't overthink it. No one is going to be like, "I'm going to call and I'm going to find out if this is true or not." Don't lie—I don't mean that. Don't inflate where it's like, "Really? I question that." But it's more of a psychological impression. You just have to get out of your own way sometimes around that and meet me in the middle, is all I'm saying. Don't be too much this way, and don't be too much this way. You have to be in the middle.


Lesley Logan 39:58  

Megan, what are you most excited about right now?


Megan Applegate 40:02  

I am most excited about starting to potentially think about building my own team with the career coach side. I don't think I fully mentioned this before, but the first piece of what I do with recruiting is with Gecko Hospitality. It's a national, recruiting, hospitality-specific firm, and it's a franchise model, which is how I got into it. It was a little bit easier when I first started the business for North Carolina and Missouri. And then from that, four years in, came the baby of this second business, coming into the resume writing and the career coaching and that side of, "Oh my gosh, there's so much that people don't know, I need to help them." So that piece of it, I'm starting to get to the point where I'm ready to build a little bit of a team there. So that's exciting.


Lesley Logan 41:01  

That's so cool. I'm like, "Oh my god, I'm not even looking for a job, and I want help with my resume from you."


Megan Applegate 41:10  

I'm sure you went through this too years ago, of just like, "Okay, I can't handle this anymore," and recognizing that starting a business from the ground up, there's so many things to do. You have to know what you're good at and what you're not good at, and figure how to hire people, or at least get help with those things. It took me a long time to realize that; I was just like, "I can do it all." No, you can't.


Lesley Logan 41:33  

And also, you have to do it all sometimes so that you can hire the right people for it. But also, in order to grow, you've got to, unless you just like it where it's at. But if you want it to be more, you want to help more people, and I actually feel like we're at a place where you're going to have more people who are going to need help with their resumes of standing out. Because with the changes and the companies that are adopting AI, people are going to need to really be thinking about what other things they can highlight that they've done, because there's a ton of stuff that AI cannot do well, you know.


Megan Applegate 42:09  

Absolutely. They can put a well-structured sentence together, but what information do they have to be able to do that? And then you don't sound real, and that's a problem, like you said.


Lesley Logan 42:25  

I was watching some ads, and I was like, "AI wrote that," because no one talks like that. No one actually goes "however," and no one says "quippy" in everything that they say. This one girl on Instagram was like, "Oh, I love what you're saying," but you are reading a script that you ran through AI with your idea, and I think I would have just liked your raw idea, because I would have been able... you know what I mean? I would feel like I was talking to a girlfriend; I feel like I'm talking to a bot. Anyways, oh my gosh, well, I'm so excited for you. We're gonna take a brief break and find out how people can work with you and get their resume helped, and their career coaching and all that stuff, and then your Be It Action Items.


Megan Applegate 42:56  

Awesome.


Lesley Logan 42:57  

Okay, Megan, where do you hang out? If we've got people who are like, "I should start talking to her now, because I don't know where things are gonna be next year," where can they work with you?


Megan Applegate 43:05  

LinkedIn, as we talked about, is probably the best place to find me. I've got a couple different businesses, but just find me, Megan Applegate, on LinkedIn. My Instagram handle is @dreamjobahead, and my website is careerblueprintsolutions.com so, those are the three areas.


Lesley Logan 43:22  

I love it. I love it. We'll link everything below, you guys. This is definitely an episode I know people are going to send to friends, because everyone has a friend who is needing this help right now. You've given some really great strategies, actually. But we love to end with a bold, executable, intrinsic, or targeted step people can take to be it till they see it. What do you have for us?


Megan Applegate 43:40  

I think we kind of talked about some of it, but if you want my four tips in terms of actually being ready for a job, I would say understand where you want to go, that is number one. Actually go out and figure out, "Okay, I've been in this industry, do I want to stay, and if I do, where do I want to go?" Always understand where that next promotion is. Once you figure that out, go out onto the internet, find those job descriptions, save them, find the key language, the KPIs, the keywords, whatever you want to call it, figure out what they're saying they need and the problems that they solved. Then go to LinkedIn and find two to three people on LinkedIn that have that job, look through their profile, and hopefully it's pretty complete, and figure out what they're doing. Then you have to go and update your resume and your LinkedIn profile to signal where people can find you so they'll call you for that next role.


Lesley Logan 44:47  

So doable. Like, actually doable, one step at a time. One step leads to the next step, you can't skip ahead, and then you're gonna turn your light on. 


Megan Applegate 44:56  

Turn your light on, be visible. Absolutely, love that term. I'm gonna start utilizing that now.


Lesley Logan 45:05  

Is it Roxanne? "You don't have to turn your light on," that's the wrong song. There's another song. Brad will tell us what it is on the recap. Megan, you are a gem. I really do appreciate this, because I've had so many people come on and tell people, "Go and follow your dreams, follow your bliss," but some people, their bliss is working for companies and being in a role and doing the good work. This is the first time I've been able to really support them in actionable strategy, so I just want to say thank you for being you and being the blueprint career coach that you are. I feel so grateful. My loves, we already said it, but I'm gonna say it again: send this to a friend who needs to hear it. Leave a review for this podcast. Go check out Megan Applegate's website and her on LinkedIn, that's a great way to start your LinkedIn journey. 


Megan Applegate 45:54  

Go find me and then copy what I did.


Lesley Logan 45:56  

Yeah, there you go. Sometimes that's the way to do it, right? It's already done, you can just follow along. If you have questions about this, feel free to let us know; I'll happily send them off to Megan. We'll connect you, but you guys, you don't have to sit there and wait for something to happen. You can actually start making changes before you're ready, and that is exactly what Being It Till You See It is. So, thank you so much, Megan. And until next time, everyone, Be It Till You See It.


Lesley Logan 46:22  

That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.


Brad Crowell 47:05  

It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.


Lesley Logan 47:10  

It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co. 


Brad Crowell 47:14  

Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.


Lesley Logan 47:21  

Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.


Brad Crowell 47:24  

Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time. 



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