The Career Coven, with Bec & Annie

In the final episode of season 3, Annie and Bec discuss how to approach your first 30 days in a new role. This obviously differs from place to place, and organisation to organisation. Bec gives great tips from the perspective of starting in a larger organisation, whilst Annie gives her best advice having more recently started a new role. Tune into this episode if you want to hear about; Getting th...

In this episode Annie interview’s Tina Kennedy, a former colleague and general all around legend to anyone who has had the true pleasure of working alongside her. Tina has recently started a new role as the Chief Customer Officer at the Ordnance Survey. Prior to that, she led the product and commercial teams at SimplyHealth which is one of the UK’s leading health insurers. She’s held quite the num...

This week's episode of the Career Coven is on the non-fiction books that changed our lives. Bec and Annie have a really fun time discussing the books which have had the most impact on them, particularly professionally, as well as going through some incredible listener recommendations. If you’re looking for a reading list to get you through the year, this episode will give it to you. Our top 5 reco...

Get a notepad and pen as this week's episode is a little different again - as Bec talks us through what’s covered in an MBA. This is in response to a lot of listener questions that Bec gets, about whether an MBA was really worth it. Well, Bec gives it to us in a single episode so buckle up. She covers: SWOT analysis PESTLE analysis Porter’s five forces framework Business Model Canvas Value Chain a...

This week's episode is all about something that many people fear - networking. Bec and Annie reveal how they both feel about networking, and you’ll hear them discuss: Is networking essential to success? How to plan for networking Linkedin… Small talk - and whether that’s good networking The importance of asking good and open questions Active listening as part of networking Networking and maintaini...

This week’s episode of the Career Coven is an incredible interview episode. We speak to Jas Chambers, who is the President Elect of Science and Technology Australia. Jas is also the chair and co-founder of Ocean Decade Australia. In addition to her formidable professional achievements, Jas is also a mother of three and matriarch of her family unit. In this interview, we discuss what motivates Jas...

In this week's episode we cover values in the workplace, what they are, and why they matter. Bec this week goes completely off the cuff on this as she’s a values pro, and Annie did a bit of soul searching to reflect on what her values in the workplace are. We cover: How values and ethics are related How your values can be supported in work, or not Our own personal values and how we live them How v...

This week's episode is on the “Let Them” theory. A controversial theory, which can be summarised as a mindset and boundary-setting approach that encourages emotional freedom and letting go of control over how others behave. At the core of this idea is that you can’t control other people's emotions, so you shouldn’t worry about it. In this episode, Annie and Bec give their hot take on: What are the...

In episode 2 of season 3, we cover the long awaited topic of burnout. This is potentially Annie’s favourite thing to talk about, as she considers herself often close to a burnout episode (and this is not a point of pride). This episode covers: The 3 dimensions of burnout The “double shift” that women do at work, and at home Annie’s personal experience of burnout How burnout changes your brain, and...

We’re starting season 3 of the Career Coven strong, with an episode on having a personal career advisory board. Get the expert take on the value of career advisory boards and learn about how we’ve both approached having career advisors around us. This episode covers: Why women need a personal advisory board How important advisory boards can be in periods of transition (e.g. return to work, navigat...

In the last episode of season 2, Bec and Annie discuss the skill of negotiation. Bec has a strong belief that everything in life is about negotiation, and this is one of her favourite skills to practice. Annie tends to rush negotiations, and push for outcomes, something which is a development area. Bec talks through how she prepares for negotiations, so that she feels confident and calm in her pos...

This week’s episode is a risky experiment. Bec and Annie decided to put their chat to the test - by interviewing two people they’ve recently managed about what they’re really like. Annie interviews Francesca Ward, who Bec is currently managing. Francesca has done not one but two jobs with Bec - so knows her like the back of her hand. Bec has a chat with Dani Conlon, who was part of the team which...

In this week’s episode, Annie speaks to Clare Mullen. Clare is the Chief People Officer at the health-tech startup Scan.com . She works across the UK and the US to build that team. Annie and Bec decided, having an expert in interviewing on the show, we should probably focus on how to get a job from the perspective of someone who has really seen it all… over 20,000 interviews. Listen in to hear a d...

In this week’s episode Bec and Annie talk through self development, and how they’ve both approached building their careers. Whilst Bec has taken a very structured and deliberate approach to building her career, Annie’s career moves have been more opportunistic and often led by passion and gut instinct. Bec has a 3 year life plan, that helps her focus in on her progression and goals. They discuss t...

This weeks episode is all about coaching. Both Annie and Bec have benefitted from coaching at different points in their career. They’ve also spoken about coaching at various points across season 1 and 2 of the Career Coven. In this weeks episode Bec speaks to Annie’s former coach - Seb Agertoft. This episode is for people who are either thinking about getting a coach or are interested in becoming...

In this week’s episode of the Career Coven Bec and Annie answer a series of questions from the listeners. They cover: Is there a dream job for everyone? How to balance finding your ‘dream job’ with working where you are now? Should we all be purpose driven in our jobs? How can you change culture in a highly political organisation? What to do when you’re managing engineers that don’t like to change...

In this week’s episode, Annie speaks to Lizzi Amartey. Lizzi is the Head of People at the UK non-profit Founders Pledge. Lizzi has worked across the globe in HR, and is passion about how to build diversity into teams. Annie and Bec decided that given Lizzi’s incredible background, we should focus the chat on how to build diverse and high performing teams. Listen in to hear a discussion about: Is t...

This week on the Career Coven, we talk about the process of being interviewed for a new job. It covers how to make a good first impression, how to develop a narrative around your own skills and whether or not to have notes in front of you during an interview. Bec shares her best and worst of interviews, and how she finds it easier to interview for jobs where your own experience is directly relevan...

In this week’s episode of the Career Coven, Bec interviews Alice Pelton who is the founder and CEO of the Lowdown. The Lowdown is a health platform - where women can research their health choices (used by over 2 million women per year). Alice and Bec have an honest conversation about what it’s really like being pregnant at work, and being a leader. Bec felt that there were lots of parts of becomin...

On the first episode of their second season, Annie and Bec talk how to quit your job. They discuss when to quit, how to quit, and whether it’s ever a good idea to go out in a blaze of glory. Like most people, Annie and Bec debate whether it’s always best to have your next job lined up when you quit, or just to go. Listen to this episode to hear more about: How to think about job tenure Job scenari...

In this last episode of season one, Annie shares her deep love of feedback, and some techniques to help make giving feedback less painful. As usual, Bec holds Annie to account on giving clear examples of these tools things actually work in practice. Whilst we both agree giving feedback is important, and that it should be specific and not vague but Bec is possibly less obsessed with feedback than A...

In this episode we talk about the importance of trust in making hybrid working work! Bec is a huge fan of hybrid working, whilst Annie can see more benefits of working in the office for some of the week. Listen into this episode to get tips on: How to get your team to come back into the office (carrot vs stick) The social importance of working in the office How employers have a responsibility to m...

We all need resilience - in work, and in life. Recovering from setbacks is part of everyones journey. In this episode, Bec and Annie cover times when we’ve not felt resilient, our own ‘watch out’ signs that our resilience may be low, and what we both do to maintain our resilience now. They talk about the importance of having a longer term mindset, and spending time on self care can be critical to...

The most requested topic by our listeners - attempted by us for the first time. Annie and Bec discovered in researching imposter syndrome that they’ve both had it, and they’ve both recovered (almost) from it. We cover what imposter syndrome, and how it’s linked to structures in society. We also discuss the importance of having a growth mindset in overcoming imposter syndrome, as well as more light...

In this episode, Annie and Bec give you a career coven palate cleanser and answer some audience questions which have been left since the start of the podcast. It’s a “snippy snappy” episode, to use Bec’s words, where we both alternate in giving answers. We cover questions like: Born to lead, or learn to lead? Can you have work-life balance as a leader? How to build up your confidence after set bac...