The Career Catalyst: 3 podcasts to make you ponder

Often one to follow trends rather than setting them, I've only recently discovered podcasts.

Tuning into audio alone focuses your attention. It's less draining than screen time. And it feels more intimate than watching TV. The insights and learning you gain create feel-good chemicals in the brain. So, as well as being educational, podcasts are good for you.

3 great careers podcasts

1. Influence and Impact for Female Leaders by Carla Miller.

Carla Miller is a coach, women's leadership trainer and author of Amazon #1 Best seller Closing the Influence Gap . Her weekly podcast frequently features interviews with women who are experts in their field.

I listened to episode 99, The Authority Gap featuring Mary Ann Sieghart, author of the book of the same name (I am a big fan). Their conversation covers the many frustrations women experience in the workplace and the reasons why. Their eye-opening discussion is sobering but also highly entertaining.

2. Eat, Sleep, Work, Repeat by Bruce Daisley.

Bruce Daisley is author of Times Best Seller, Fortitude: Unlocking the Secrets of Inner Strength. His podcast focuses on happiness and work culture.

I selected Understanding the Status Game of Work, featuring author Will Storr.

Their conversation explores the pivotal importance of status. The higher your status the greater the impact on your health and wellbeing. Our social lives at work have been impacted by virtual working. This has led to an increase in anxiety. Tribal by nature, we need to feel a sense of belonging and to be valued by our employer and our colleagues. Storr discusses what happens when employees are not well-treated at work. The impact on individuals who experience exclusion, and by default, loss of social status, is extremely damaging.

3. The Squiggly Careers Podcast by Sarah Ellis and Helen Tupper.

This podcast features a series of conversations between friends. Each has a background in Marketing. They have also co-authored The Squiggly Career and You Coach You both of which are Times best sellers.

Episodes are packed with helpful, friendly careers advice and supported with online, practical tools.
I listened to episode 296, How to take control of your career . Approaches used include visualising your future career and what you want, exploring how to fill any gaps in your missing skills, experience and connections. The questions they pose ensure useful reflection and deep personal engagement in the process.

Podcasts are personal

I trawled through a fair few before selecting the three above. Some just didn't do it for me. I fell asleep to one and became very irritated with another. Experiment until you settle on those that resonate.

About the author: 

Anne Wilson (SFHEA), is Head of Careers at the University of Warwick and part of WHEN’s Career Accelerator programme delivery team. Her blog, www.thecareercatalyst.co.uk is aimed at women working in Higher Education. Anne is actively involved in the development of female staff and students at Warwick.