This month’s episode is a unique one in that Alice spoke to none other than herself! After her podcast guest dropped out last minute, she took the opportunity to record and share her own career change story. Alice discusses what made her want to move away from being a Probation Officer, and how and why she ended up starting a coaching business. She talks about the patience and grit required to change career, and what often holds people back from making a change. Alice also passes on her advice for career changers, based on her 14 years of coaching experience. The episode also covers the pros and cons of changing career, as well as sharing Alice’s particular path to self-employment. Whilst not the usual format for this podcast, hopefully all that is shared will be helpful for the year ahead!

This month we spoke with Rebecca Ferreira. Following university, Rebecca worked as a Teaching Assistant and in Hospitality while exploring her career options. During this time, she discovered a genuine interest in Advertising and Production. As a result, she is now working in Advertising and PR as a Creative and Strategy Executive, with the aim of also expanding her work into Media Production.We hear how initially Rebecca shied away from a creative career due to her perceptions around what it took to be a ‘creative’, opting for safer, more corporate careers to start with. However, she decided to step out of her comfort zone and explore her options in the creative industry, which she knew very little about, when it became apparent through coaching that working in this space was what she truly wanted. Rebecca discusses how LinkedIn research, signing up to various short courses, and completing an internship opened doors to a creative career she’s now well on her way to pursuing.

In this honest and heartfelt episode, we hear from Chris Rice. Chris worked in marketing for the film and entertainment industry since leaving university back in 2006. He achieved senior roles within global agencies and brands before making the move to become freelance in 2020. In 2023, he decided that a more wholesale change was needed, and, today, while still working in his original industry, he is also retraining to become a plumber.Chris opens up about how his constant search for ‘more’, and never feeling at home in his career, led him to the realisation that a change was required. He discusses how he needed to let go of some of his own stereotyping and judgements around certain careers before he could really commit to a career that he felt was right for him. Chris also describes how working freelance in his previous career enabled him to re-train whilst still drawing an income. He makes it clear that completely changing career can be hard financially, requiring severe sacrifice at times, but that, in the end, it felt necessary and totally worth the temporary struggle.

We’re back after a short break over the summer! In this episode, we kick things off with the brilliant Mie Kayser Jensen. Before deciding to change career, Mie worked as a Communications and Social Media Executive at a luxury travel company in London. When she moved to Australia and took a job in sales, she realised she needed a career change. Since finishing her Masters in Journalism, Mie has been working with news podcasting, and now writes about lifestyle and motherhood.Alice and Mie discuss the importance of moving forward despite having fears and doubts, and how, often, the next step can only become apparent by getting started. Mie shares how she felt returning to work after having babies, and how managing the timing of a career change whilst having kids is not always clear cut. She shares the highs and lows of changing career, whilst being incredibly patient with herself, and the journey, along the way.

This month, it was a real pleasure to speak to Philippa Dunn. Philippa began her career with a brief stint as a press officer, before building a career in fundraising and philanthropy for cultural and environmental charities. Having gone freelance in 2020, she is now a creative strategist for a range of third sector clients. She's also a writer (having just completed her first novel), and runs a small holiday cottage business, too - so no two days are ever the same in her new portfolio career.In this episode, Philippa talks about how she managed to overcome her need for societal validation to carve out an authentic career that gives her the more balanced lifestyle she craved. She discusses how coaching led her to realise what was key for her in life, and how understanding and communicating the value she brings to a role meant she could be more proactive in seeking out career opportunities that she enjoyed. Philippa’s career change shows us that career ‘success’ is down to your own definition, not society’s.

Ayisha Gulati started her career at an Investment Bank, where she spent six years. Whilst it was a career she was happy to pursue at the start, it soon lost it’s novelty, especially when Covid struck and WFH meant she was faced with the undeniable fact that it just wasn’t what she wanted anymore. Despite others encouraging her to stick with a career that carried status and prestige, Ayisha knew a change was needed. In this episode, we hear how volunteering (and a chance Instagram story) opened her up to the realisation that she could be paid for doing what she loved - talking and writing about sport. We also hear about the 'On Purpose' programme that Ayisha completed, which helped her rule out a social impact career. By taking the time to explore her interests in a variety of different ways, Ayisha was able to carve out a career that works for her. She is now nearing the end of a Sports Journalism diploma, and will be starting her first full time sports journalism job in June! Listen to her talk through the highs and lows of changing career, and why she has no regrets about making a change.

For April’s episode, we spoke to career changer, Milly Pelmore. Before making the leap into sports coaching and education, Milly worked in the charity sector, running innovation teams to develop new products and services in a wide range of areas including health, sport for good and children’s services. Although motivated by the end goal of supporting people, a life behind the desk wasn’t enough, and last year Milly left it all behind with the goal to ‘figure it out.’ Milly talks about how she fell into her career, and how she knew a career change was needed when each new job she tried just didn’t resolve the nagging feeling that the career wasn’t right for her. In order to move forward, she had to let go of societal expectations, and the assumed need to have it all figured out before taking her first steps in the right direction. Milly discusses how putting herself out there, believing in what she had to offer, and having patience with the process helped her move into work that now lights her up, and she feels proud to talk about.

This month, it is an absolute pleasure to welcome onto the podcast the renown career strategist, and author of 15 books on careers and work, John Lees, who’s best-selling book ‘How To Get A Job You Love’ was last month's WHS Travel’s Business Book of the Month.

In this episode, we discuss the three most common perceived barriers to a career change - money, the sunken cost fallacy, and confidence. John shares incredibly helpful ways to open up and shift your thinking around these obstacles so they don’t continue to hold you back from moving forward. We discuss the power of starting small, exploring alternative career options with a curious and playful mind, the importance of talking to the right people about your career change, and stepping away from the black and white into a space of grey. We hear how the stories we tell ourselves, and the assumptions we make around our careers are not always true, and how looking outwards is often the key to progress.