The Career Confidence Podcast

In today's episode of The Career Confidence Podcast, we discuss overthinking and how to stop overthinking from eroding your self-belief. I share specific tools and techniques that you can use to take control of overthinking.  About Nicola Semple I help people to build their career confidence and achieve their career goals. You can book a free no-obligation chat about how I can support yo...

In this episode of The Career Confidence Podcast I share how you can make the most of the first few months in your new role so that you can: Get up to speed as quickly as possible Make a positive impression on your colleagues and stakeholders Avoid feeling overwhelmed  About Nicola Semple I help people to build their career confidence and achieve their career goals. You can book a free no-obl...

Do you want to be taken more seriously at work? Do you want to exude trust and professionalism and garner the respect of your colleagues? In this episode of The Career Confidence Podcast, I share practical steps that you can take to build your gravitas in the workplace. Links to Episodes Mentioned: “How to stop seeking external validation and trust yourself” “How a lack of self confidence impacts...

The Career Confidence Podcast is designed to help you gain confidence in your career. I know that sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start. In this episode, I share 5 things that you can do today to build your career confidence. You might choose to do all five or you might choose just one. Start small if you have to. The important thing is that you start and let the momentum gather.&nb...

Love them or hate them.... there's no avoiding your performance review. In this episode, I share my top tips to help you use your performance review as a powerful tool to enable others to recognise your achievements. I also share advice on how to set goals for the coming year that are meaningful for not just your organisation but for you as well.  About Nicola Semple I help people to build th...

The return to work after the Christmas break can be tricky. It's cold, it's dark and it's bleak. But how do you know when you have a case of the back to work blues or whether it's time for you to make some big decisions and start looking for a new job? In this episode, I share the steps you can take to uncover whether you have a bad case of January Blues or whether it's time to make changes to you...

In today’s episode I’m talking about how to set boundaries so that work doesn’t take over your life. Without boundaries you can feel like you are the beck and call of everyone else and that you have little to no control over your own time. I know that for some people, setting boundaries is easier said than done.  I share the three different types of boundaries that you can put in place and th...

In this episode, I share a simple tool that you can use to help you feel more confident at work. It's quick, it's easy and it works (I share proof of how I used this tool with fabulous results!).  I mention a previous episode on How to Appear Confidence Even When You Don’t Feel Confident. which may also be of interest to you.  About Nicola Semple I help people to build their career confi...

If you identify as an introvert — drawing energy from being alone, disliking interruptions and unexpected requests, and tending to be reserved in meetings — then you are not alone!   Sometimes it can feel like promotions and success in the workplace are reserved solely for charismatic, quick-on-their-feet extroverts.   In this episode, I share how you can not just survive but thrive at w...

We are constantly being encouraged to get comfortable with failure. We need to take risks, fail fast and fail often. It's the best way to learn and grow. But let's face it, the feeling of failure sucks! Learning how to recover and establish effective ways of coping with failure is a vital building block for your career confidence.  In this episode, I share some tips to help you bounce back fr...

I often work with clients who are unhappy at work but for a variety of reasons it's just not the right time for them to change jobs.  In these situations, we focus on maximising the opportunity they have with their current employer and shifting their perspective on their current role. In this episode, I share my top tips to help you change your perspective and not your job.  About Nicola...

The vast majority (if not everybody) has experienced imposter syndrome, that creeping feeling of dread that you are going to be ‘found out’. In fact, research by Clare Josa found that “62% of people are struggling with Imposter Syndrome daily or regularly – enough for it to have a measurable impact on their performance and their health.” In this episode I share tools that you can use to manage tha...

Key Themes: Perspective, Work/Life Balance What happens when work takes over and impinges on all aspects of your life? When: You can't switch off at the end of the day You prioritise work at the expense of family, social life and even your health. You constantly think about work and worry about whether you should be doing better, more or differently. Your sense of self-worth is directly related to...

Key Themes:  Parenthood, Juggling Work and Family Leanne Chalmers and Rebecca Candy are the co-leads of the John Lewis Working Parents Network.  In this episode, we discuss how the challenges for working parents in the workplace, the move towards equal parenting leave, and how to be a confident parent in the workplace. This episode is for parents of children of any age who constantly jug...

Key Themes: Personal Branding, Working Dad, A Career Move That Doesn't Work Out What happens when your dream job doesn't live up to expectations? Dan Reed is Head of Digital Servicing for Small Business at Barclaycard Payments, the founder of the Career Dad, and an avid Peloton fan. In this episode, we talk about the power of personal branding and how Dan has very successfully and very authentical...

Key Themes:  Flexible Working, Working Parents, Work Life Balance Anna Mellor is a flexible working expert. She started her career as an HR manager and then shifted her focus in the mid-1990s to campaigning for better access to flexible work. By that time she had seen firsthand the challenges that working mothers faced trying to combine work and family; and how this was holding women back fro...

Key Themes: Being a good manager, Working for a startup Chichi Eruchalu is the Head of Leadership Development at Multiverse, having previously run her own business along with a 10 year stint at HSBC in both commercial and project management roles. Chichi shares with us what it’s like working in a startup. When she first started at Multiverse, she was employee number 56, now 3 years later the organ...

Key Themes: Burnout, Big 4, Management Consulting Today I’m delighted to share with you a Career Confidence Conversation that I had with Ben Jones. Ben spent the early part of his career rapidly rising through the ranks at Accenture, KPMG and PWC along with a stint in a Leadership position at the General Medical Council. As a new father, he was on the Partner Track at PWC when he found himself in...

Key Themes: Coming Out At Work, Diversity and Inclusion, Living Authentically Today I’m delighted to share with you a Career Confidence Conversation that I had with the incredible Blu Reynolds. Blu is a Senior Consultant at Moorhouse, following an attempted career in Law and working in a range of roles within healthcare and the NHS. I came across Blu when he published a blog post titled “Are You G...

Key Themes: Returning to Work After Illness, Management Consulting I’m delighted to share with you a Career Confidence Conversation that I had with the brilliant Amanda Newman. Amanda is a Senior Manager at Accenture, she is a We Are The City Top 100 Winner, Northern Power Woman Shortlist, founder of The Career Mum Community and an all round fabulous woman. In this episode we talk about her career...

Key Themes: Career Network, Relationships at Work According to an African proverb "it takes a village to raise a child". I believe that in a similar fashion “it takes a village to cultivate a fulfilling career”. We need a community of people to interact with us so that we can evolve and fashion a career that fulfills and satisfies us.  In today's episode, I share how you can cultivate your ca...

Key Themes: Outer Confidence, Believe In Yourself One of the most valuable things that you can do to benefit your career is to develop your inner confidence. However, there will come a time when you would benefit from appearing confident even if you are not feeling confident. In this episode, I provide you with some tools that you can use to develop an outward display of confidence. About Nicola S...

Key Themes: Managing Your Manager, Upward Management Today I share my tips on managing your manager. This is an important skill that is required from entry level positions all the way up to the C-Suite. There are very few people in an organisation that don’t have a Manager. And even for those that reach the pinnacle of leading their organisation as CEO, often they need to report into a Board. Gett...

Key Themes: Inner Critic, Imposter Syndrome, Confidence Your inner critic, that niggling voice in your head that tells you that you are not good enough is there to make you feel safe. However, in keeping you safe, your inner critic often stops you from taking risks and from taking the action required to achieve the goals that you set yourself. So what can you do instead? How can you stop your inne...

Key Themes: Boundaries, Learn to Say No In today’s episode, we are going to explore How to Say No. I know this is something that many of you listening struggle with. I touched on the topic back in episode 19 Stop Wearing Busy as a Badge of Honour. I wanted to dedicate a specific episode to learn how to say no because I know how tricky people find it and also how fundamentally important it is in te...