Squiggly Careers

Hosted by The Squiggly Career

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Episodes

622

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Oct 2026

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About the show

Squiggly Careers is a weekly podcast that will help you take control of your career development. Hosted by the founders of Squiggly Careers. (https://www.squigglycareers.com/), Sarah Ellis and Helen Tupper, together they cover all things work: from how to manage stress and overcome your confidence gremlins to micro-aggressions and discovering your strengths. Each episode is full of ideas, actions, hints, and tips that you can put into practice straight away.  Every so often they take a break from talking to each other to interview other people who are leading the way in making work better. Past guests include entrepreneur and philanthropist Dame Stephanie Shirley, author of The Joy of Work Bruce Daisley, and neuroscience expert Amy Brann.  The Squiggly Careers podcast has been recommended by Harvard Business Review, Stylist, Marie Claire and Management Today. For more ideas, tools and inspiration every week, you can also sign up to their Squiggly Careers newsletter.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 22, 20268 min

#604 5 ways to have a more confident day at work

Building self-belief into your working day can help you feel more confident. In this Shortcut, Sarah shares five ways to have a more confident day at work, practical ideas to try if something feels missing, and two watch-outs that can get in your way. 🎯 What You'll Learn - Spot and use your strengths to help your team - Find five-minute favours to experience the helper's high - Zoom in and zoom out to recognise how you're being useful - Capture very small successes to cage your confidence gremlins – Navigate daily difficulties to recognise and build your resilience For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com Need some more squiggly career support? 1. Download our free career tools: https://www.squigglycareers.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.squigglycareers.com/squigglysprints/ 3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod 4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.squigglycareers.com/books/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

October 20, 202643 min

#603 Ask the Expert: Vibe and Building Better Connections with Adam Grant

What helps us connect with the people we work with, and what happens when that connection is missing? In this episode, Sarah is joined by organisational psychologist and bestselling author Adam Grant to explore his new book, Vibe, and what the science of connection can teach us about our Squiggly Careers. From seeing someone else’s ‘snow globe’ to sharing what brings out your worst, Adam shares practical ways to understand each other and work better together. He also answers questions from the Squiggly community about difficult feedback and feeling disconnected when working remotely. 🎯 What You’ll Learn – How curiosity about someone else’s world helps you build connection – Why sharing what brings out your worst can reduce misunderstandings – The difference between social and task cohesion, and why shared goals matter for teams – How to use a reciprocity ring to ask for help and share your knowledge or connections – How to respond when your boss says “your vibe is all wrong” – Practical ways to connect and learn from others when working remotely 📚 Resources Mentioned Vibe - Adam Grant: https://bit.ly/3WsyYXO For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com Need some more squiggly career support? 1. Download our free career tools: https://www.squigglycareers.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.squigglycareers.com/squigglysprints/ 3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod 4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.squigglycareers.com/books/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

October 15, 20266 min

#602 High performance habits for your Squiggly career

What’s one small thing you could do today that your future self would thank you for? In this squiggly shortcut, Helen shares four high performance habits that compound over time to build a resilient and successful career. Drawing on the time-tracking insights of Laura Vanderkam, Adam Grant's research on the power of giving, and Helen and Sarah's own 'Learn Like a Lobster' framework, learn how small, intentional behaviours in learning, tracking, reflecting, and giving can transform your day-to-day work and build long-term career resilience. 🎯 What You'll Learn – Why little and often learning is the secret to keeping your skills relevant – How tracking your time and energy provides vital data for your development – What your default response to reflection reveals about your working pace – How to use the 'What Worked Well, Even Better If' framework for quick daily reflection – Why giving and 'career karma' can generate 50% more success and reciprocity – How to choose and build just one high performance habit at a time For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com Need some more squiggly career support? 1. Download our free career tools: https://www.squigglycareers.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.squigglycareers.com/squigglysprints/ 3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod 4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.squigglycareers.com/books/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

October 13, 202648 min

#601 How to use profilers for your career development

Profilers can help you understand yourself, find words for your strengths and choose where to focus your development. But your results are clues to explore, rather than labels that limit you. In this episode, Helen and Sarah borrow brilliance from three profilers: Lynda Gratton’s Living the 100-Year Life diagnostic, 16Personalities and the Squiggly Skills Profiler. They share their own results, what they found useful and what they questioned, with practical ideas to turn what you learn about yourself into action. 🎯 What You'll Learn– Understand the benefits and common pitfalls of using career profilers– Discover Lynda Gratton's 100-year life diagnostic to assess your life threads– Learn how to use 16Personalities to identify your strengths and blind spots– Find out how to use profiling data to communicate your value on LinkedIn– Explore how to map team profiles to identify gaps in diversity of thought– Try the new Squiggly Careers Skills Profiler to identify your super skill and gap for growth 📚 Resources mentioned:-100-Year Life diagnostic: https://www.livingthe100yearlife.com/assessment-16Personalities: https://www.16personalities.com/-Squiggly Careers Skills Profiler: www.squigglyskills.com For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com Need some more squiggly career support?1. Download our free career tools: https://www.squigglycareers.com/toolkit/2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.squigglycareers.com/squigglysprints/3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.squigglycareers.com/books/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

October 8, 20268 min

#600 Everyday actions for everyday resilience

When your week gets busy, do you find yourself dropping the things that help you feel good? It can be easy to put rest, support and time outside work on hold just when you need them most. In this Squiggly Career Shortcut, Helen shares six small actions you can build into your week to support your resilience. Pick one or two that feel useful to you and try doing them regularly, before things start to feel difficult. 🎯 In this episode, you’ll learn how to: – Find something to look forward to, even in a hard week – Work out what help you need and ask for it – Notice and celebrate your wins – Find someone you can talk to when things feel difficult – Protect the rest and recovery that works for you – Make time for your world outside work For more free tools and ideas to support your Squiggly Career, visit https://squiggly.me and sign up for our weekly newsletter. For questions or feedback, email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

October 6, 202643 min

#599 Friction: Why making things harder can make you better

Is something at work feeling harder than it needs to be? It could be a meeting that takes too long, a decision that goes back and forth, or a process with more steps than it needs. This week, Helen and Sarah borrow brilliance from The Friction Project by Robert Sutton and Huggy Rao. They explore how to spot the friction that slows you down, what you could subtract to make work easier, and why some friction is worth keeping. 🎯 In this episode, you’ll learn how to: – Spot where friction is showing up in your work – Ask your team what’s making their work harder – Subtract steps, meetings or handoffs that aren’t helping – Add useful friction through better questions and saying the hard thing For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com. More Squiggly Career support: 1. Download our free career tools: https://www.squigglycareers.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.squigglycareers.com/squigglysprints/ 3. Sign up for our weekly Squiggly Careers newsletter: www.squiggly.me 4. Order Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.squigglycareers.com/books/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

October 1, 20268 min

#598 How to understand and take action with your ambition

In this shortcut, Helen, talks about a matrix that can help you to understand where your ambition is right now and what is the most effective action to take to support your development. 🎯 What You'll Learn - that ambition is individual - where your ambition in today - what action to take to activate your ambition For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com Need some more squiggly career support? 1. Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/ 3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod 4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

September 29, 202642 min

#597 How thinking inside the box will lead to more opportunities for your squiggly career.

Could putting more constraints on your career actually create more possibilities? In this episode, Helen and Sarah borrow brilliance from David Epstein's book (Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better) to explore how choosing your own constraints can help you think differently and more creatively about your career. They experiment with constraints across six areas of career development, from learning and strengths to confidence and future possibilities. 🎯 What You'll Learn – Why constraints can help you think more creatively – How to experiment with constraints in your career – How to focus your learning, strengths and values – How constraints can help with confidence and networking – How to explore your future possibilities differently 📚Resources mentioned David Epstein – Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better https://davidepstein.com/inside-the-box/ Adam Morgan & Mark Barden – A Beautiful Constraint https://www.eatbigfish.com/thinking/a-beautiful-constraint Squiggly Careers podcast episode #256 – You Coach You: Overcoming Constraints https://www.amazingif.com/listen/you-coach-you-overcoming-constraints/ Squiggly Careers podcast episode #220 – How to Explore Your Progression Possibilities For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: [helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com](mailto:helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com) Need some more squiggly career support? 1. Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/ 3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod 4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

September 24, 20268 min

#596 3 ways teams can learn when they are not together

The people you work with make a significant difference to your development. In this shortcut, Sarah shares 3 ways to learn more from the people around you. 🎯 What You'll Learn - the importance of showing how you work - why volunteering to support somone outside of your day job helps you grow - how next level noticing will support you to succeed in your team For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com Need some more squiggly career support? 1. Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/ 3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod 4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

September 22, 202646 min

#595 How to Answer AI Questions in Job Interviews

Getting ready for a job interview can feel daunting, but what happens when you have to face an AI interviewer or answer tough questions about how you use artificial intelligence? In this episode, Helen puts Sarah on the spot with real AI interview questions shared by the Squiggly Careers community. Together, they explore how AI is changing the interview experience, what interviewers might be looking for in your answers, and how you can prepare to talk confidently about how you're using and learning about AI at work. 🎯 What You'll Learn– How AI is changing the interview experience– The AI questions you could be asked in an interview– What interviewers might be looking for in your answers– How to talk about where AI adds value and its limits– The AI questions you could ask an interviewer 📚Resources mentioned - Claudia Harris on the future of AI and work: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudia-harris-obe-71793374/ - We Are Not Machines by Sarah O’Connor: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/462159/we-are-not-machines-by-oconnor-sarah/9780241704226 - Hannah Fry’s AI agent experiment with Cass/Cassandra: https://microblog.christhomas.co.uk/blog/hannah-fry-cass-why-ai-agents For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email: helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com Need some more squiggly career support? 1. Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 2. Sign up for our Skills Sprints: https://www.amazingif.com/squigglysprints/ 3. Sign up for our Squiggly Careers Newsletter, a weekly summary of the latest squiggly career tools: https://bit.ly/squigglynewsletter_pod 4. Order our new book Learn Like a Lobster: https://www.amazingif.com/books/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices