Squiggly Careers

This is the fifth and final episode of the Squiggly Career Stage Series – 5 days of podcast episodes and practical tools to help you succeed in your career.

We’ve focused on 5 stages where we know people need some extra squiggly support and in today’s episode we’re looking at Squiggly Career Continuers, to help people relook at retirement and develop career longevity.

Sarah and Helen share their insights on continuing your career into later life and talk to two people to learn from their expertise; Avivah Wittenberg-Cox a thought leader specialising in gender and generational balance and Andrew Aitken, Economist at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

You can download the free Career Stage Guide to support this episode here https://www.amazingif.com/listen/career-continuers

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email [email protected]

More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers:

1. Download our free careers tools https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

2. Sign-up for our Squiggly Careers Skills Sprint https://bit.ly/skillssprint2024

3. Sign up for PodMail, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/sc-podmail

4. Read our books ‘The Squiggly Career’ and ‘You Coach You’ www.amazingif.com/books/

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This is the fourth episode of the Squiggly Career Stage Series – 5 days of podcast episodes and practical tools to help you succeed in your career.

We’ve focused on 5 stages where we know people need some extra squiggly support and in today’s episode we’re looking at Squiggly Career Changers, to help people pivot and create new possibilities.

Sarah and Helen share their insights on career change and interview three people to learn from their experience; Jenny Blake, author of Pivot and Oli Kelly and John Rothera who share their story of career change.

You can download the free Career Stage Guide to support this episode at https://www.amazingif.com/listen/career-changers

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email [email protected]

More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers:

1. Download our free careers tools https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

2. Sign-up for our Squiggly Careers Skills Sprint https://bit.ly/skillssprint2024

3. Sign up for PodMail, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/sc-podmail

4. Read our books ‘The Squiggly Career’ and ‘You Coach You’ www.amazingif.com/books/More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers:

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This is the third episode of the Squiggly Career Stage Series – 5 days of podcast episodes and practical tools to help you succeed in your career.

We’ve focused on 5 stages where we know people need some extra squiggly support and in today’s episode we’re looking at Squiggly Career Setbacks, to help people stay resilient when things go wrong.

Sarah and Helen share their insights on career setbacks and interview three people to learn from their experience; Amy Schoenthal, author of The Setback Cycle and Mary & Ken Okoroafor who share their personal setback story.

You can download the free Career Stage Guide to support this episode at https://www.amazingif.com/listen/career-setbacks

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email [email protected]

More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers:

1. Download our free careers tools https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

2. Sign-up for our Squiggly Careers Skills Sprint https://bit.ly/skillssprint2024

3. Sign up for PodMail, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/sc-podmail

4. Read our books ‘The Squiggly Career’ and ‘You Coach You’ www.amazingif.com/books/

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This is the second episode of the Squiggly Career Stage Series – 5 podcast episodes and practical tools to help you succeed in your career.

We’ve focused on 5 stages where we know people need some extra squiggly support and in today’s episode Helen and Sarah are looking at Squiggly Career Returners, to help people build career confidence after a break.

Sarah and Helen share their insights on returning and interview two people to learn from their experience; Julianne Miles MBE, Co-Founder and CEO of Career Returners and Mila Fadeeva, who returned to her career in Strategy & Operational Excellence after a 10 year career break.

You can download the free Career Stage Guide to support this episode at https://www.amazingif.com/listen/career-returners

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email [email protected]

More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers:

1. Download our free careers tools https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

2. Sign-up for our Squiggly Careers Skills Sprint https://bit.ly/skillssprint2024

3. Sign up for PodMail, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/sc-podmail

4. Read our books ‘The Squiggly Career’ and ‘You Coach You’ www.amazingif.com/books/

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This is the first episode of the Squiggly Career Stage Series – 5 podcast episodes and practical tools to help you succeed in your career.

We’ve focused on 5 stages where we know people need some extra squiggly support and in this episode Helen and Sarah are looking at Squiggly Career Starters, people who are looking to learn and grow in their first job.

Sarah and Helen share their insights on this stage and interview two people to learn from their perspective; Yemurai Rabvukwa and Sarah Gregory from social mobility charity, Upreach.

You can download the free Career Stage Guide to support this episode at https://www.amazingif.com/listen/career-starters

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email [email protected]

More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers:

1. Download our free careers tools https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

2. Sign-up for our Squiggly Careers Skills Sprint https://bit.ly/skillssprint2024

3. Sign up for PodMail, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/sc-podmail

4. Read our books ‘The Squiggly Career’ and ‘You Coach You’ www.amazingif.com/books/

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Small talk is part of lots of the meetings and moments that we experience at work and most of us don't enjoy it! This week, Sarah and Helen discuss why small talk matters for connection and how to approach it. They share 'small talk starters', the importance of listening to what is said (instead of being distracted by what you want to say) and how to transition from small talk into what needs to come next.

To use the PodSheet that supports the episode, head to amazingif.com/listen

(00:00) Introduction

(00:54) The hatred of small talk

(07:10) The quick connection approach

(09:24) Different small talk practices

(10:26) Small-talk starters

(20:55) Half listening vs whole listening

(27:12) When to stop the small talk

(35:15) Final thoughts

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email [email protected]

Need some more squiggly career support?

1. Download our free careers tools https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

2. Sign-up for our Squiggly Careers Skills Sprint https://bit.ly/skillssprint2024

3. Read our books ‘The Squiggly Career’ and ‘You Coach You’ www.amazingif.com/books/

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Awareness is a key skill to support your squiggly career but one that can feel hard to improve. This week, Helen and Sarah talk through 3 different types of awareness; self-awareness, situational awareness and relational awareness. They share ideas to assess your awareness and special actions you can take to improve in any area where you might have a gap.

(00:00) Introduction

(01:07) The different types of awareness

(02:27) Self-awareness

(09:53) Situational awareness

(18:43) Relational awareness

(28:45) Final thoughts

To use the PodSheet that supports the episode, head to amazingif.com/listen

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email [email protected]

Need some more squiggly career support?

1. Download our free careers tools https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

2. Sign-up for our Squiggly Careers Skills Sprint https://bit.ly/skillssprint2024

3. Read our books ‘The Squiggly Career’ and ‘You Coach You’ www.amazingif.com/books/

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This week, Helen and Sarah are talking about how to use scenario planning as a tool to increase your career resilience. They work through a matrix that you can apply to your career to spot different situations and take proactive action to mitigate risk and maximise opportunity.

(00:00) Introduction

(01:25) Benefits of scenario planning

(04:57) Part 1: a sample matrix

(07:07) a) best case - promotion

(08:54) b) worst case - redundancy

(10:33) c) unwanted - changing role

(13:15) d) hopeful - job-crafting

(16:22) Part 2: why wait?...

(17:17) a) best case - sponsorship and skills

(18:46) b) worst case - create connections

(20:09) c) unwanted - look sideways

(21:44) d) hopeful - shadowing

(25:02) Part 3: AI add-on

(30:09) Final thoughts

To use the PodSheet that supports the episode, head to amazingif.com/listen

For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email [email protected]

Need some more squiggly career support?

1. Download our free careers tools https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/

2. Sign-up for our Squiggly Careers Skills Sprint https://bit.ly/skillssprint2024

3. Read our books ‘The Squiggly Career’ and ‘You Coach You’ www.amazingif.com/books/

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Feedback is a powerful tool for career growth, but it can be hard to give and to get. When learning becomes the priority, feedback becomes much easier and more effective.

This week, Helen and Sarah explore three ‘stop and start’ practices to make feedback more impactful. Whether you’re giving or receiving feedback, these actions can help you to reset your approach and focus on growth.

(00:00) Introduction

(00:53) Feedback and learning

(03:41) Three stops and starts…

(06:38) ad hoc vs always on

(12:18) strengths vs weaknesses

(21:28) outsourcing vs owning

(27:48) Final thoughts

More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers:

1. Read our latest Harvard Business Review article

2. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Skills Sprint

3. Sign up for PodMail, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools

4. Read our books ‘The Squiggly Career’ and ‘You Coach You’

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This is the final episode of our Videobook Club series where Helen and Sarah review and reflect on 4 different Videobooks to identify ideas everyone can put into action to support their development.

In this episode, Helen talks to Dan Ariely about how his work on decision making can inform our career thinking and help us to make better choices. The Squiggly Careers Videobook Club is brought to you in partnership with LIT Videobooks, who have given the Squiggly Careers Community access to their library of videobooks for free in January and February 2025. Use this link (before the end of Jan 2025) to sign-up and get free access: https://amazingif.typeform.com/videobookclub

(00:00) Introduction

(01:23) Irrational decisions

(04:13) Decision to leave work

(07:42) "Try before you apply"

(10:00) Lack of investment in self-development

(13:18) Dan's career advice

(17:07) Final thoughts

For more information on Squiggly Careers, email [email protected]

1. Join our free Videobook Club: https://amazingif.typeform.com/videobookclub

2. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Skills Sprint: https://bit.ly/skillssprint2024

3. Sign up for PodMail, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/sc-podmail

4. Read our books ‘The Squiggly Career’ and ‘You Coach You’: https://www.amazingif.com/books/

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