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 position. She outlines how firm but fair is often the best approach to negotiations - as in the majorit...
Mar 06, 2025•59 min•Season 2Ep. 10
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 Annie managed most recently. Dani doesn’t hold back - highlighting that Annie’s a ‘horse girl’… We’v...
Feb 20, 2025•43 min•Season 2Ep. 9
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 discussion about: The top 3 most common problems you see in first interviews from the hirers perspect...
Feb 06, 2025•43 min•Season 2Ep. 8
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 the merits of both different approaches. Listen to this episode to hear more about: Resources we reco...
Jan 23, 2025•47 min•Season 2Ep. 7
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 a coach. By the way - Annie highly recommends working with Seb (the best coach she’s worked with in ...
Jan 09, 2025•51 min•Season 2Ep. 6
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 their behaviour… And much more…. Enjoying this content? Please rate and subscribe on your preferred...
Nov 28, 2024•32 min•Season 2Ep. 5
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 there a ‘right’ construction of a team? What most often goes wrong when trying to build a team How to...
Nov 14, 2024•48 min•Season 2Ep. 4
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 relevant. Annie share how candidates should also leave an interview with some value - it shouldn’t just fee...
Oct 31, 2024•47 min•Season 2Ep. 3
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 becoming pregnant which were not explained to her at all, and both Bec and Annie feel that pregnancy at wor...
Oct 17, 2024•56 min•Season 2Ep. 2
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 scenarios when you may want to quit Job scenarios when you don’t want to quit How to quit well How not to q...
Oct 03, 2024•53 min•Season 2Ep. 1
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 Annie overall. Listen into this episode to hear us answer listener questions on: Is all feedback wort...
Jul 12, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 10
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 make the office environment productive Which work is best done in an office vs at home How hybrid wor...
Jun 27, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 9
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 increasing your resilience and recovering from burnout. Listen to find out answers to: Do you have b...
Jun 14, 2024•55 min•Season 1Ep. 8
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 hearted tips and tricks that can help you in moments where you feel like an imposter. This entire e...
May 30, 2024•1 hr 3 min
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 backs How can you start a side hustle alongside a job? How useful is it to do an MBA? Enjoying this con...
May 16, 2024•46 min
Annie takes the lead in this episode, having strong feelings about how she likes her team to manage upwards to her. We discuss the importance of preparing for your line management meetings, knowing and communicating exactly what you need from your line manager, and establishing your boundaries early. Annie shares how one of the most common things people forget when managing upwards is that often, you are a small part of your managers whole job and responsibilities. Sometimes, this can lead to pe...
May 03, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 5
In this episode, Bec and Annie discuss the importance of being assertive but how it takes energy and is not always needed. Bec finds being assertive very easy - but this means she sometimes has to watch her tone and hold her breath. Whilst Annie is perceived as very assertive or direct, but doesn’t actually think she is assertive for much of the week. You’ll hear about how being assertive is related to confidence, but not exactly the same thing. We agree that assertiveness is generally important...
Apr 18, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 4
In the third episode of the Career Coven, Bec and Annie discuss leadership. We discuss the best and worst leadership characteristics we've seen our respective careers. You'll hear about how leaders can't be everything to the people they lead; and how expectations differ on female and male leaders. We both agree on the importance of a ‘well done’. You'll hear about our own personal leadership styles and values, and some of the mistakes we've made in leadership. You’ll also hear us unpack some gre...
Apr 04, 2024•42 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Our second ep of the Career Coven is on boundaries - the things that keep you sane, and can also drive you insane. In this episode we hear from Bec who has spent a lot of time thinking about boundaries, and Annie who is in her boundary ‘discovery’ era. We talk about types of boundaries, experimentation, the opportunity cost of saying ‘yes’ to everything, professional boundaries, the role of communication, powering through the awkwardness and guilt, and why is it that senior leaders all have weir...
Mar 22, 2024•42 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Welcome to the first episode of our podcast The Career Coven with Bec Ellul and Annie Coleridge (and Annie’s dog Susan, who loves to have her voice heard too). We want to help women in their careers shortcut the hard parts we have faced through candid conversation and sharing what’s helped us, to accelerate women into leadership. Our first episode is a biggie and it’s on confidence. In this episode we’ll cover the role of confidence as a motivator and indicator of more likely successful outcomes...
Mar 07, 2024•1 hr 3 min
