The Unexpected Career Podcast
Real people’s stories to inspire at every twist and turn of building a career and a life.
Did you know what you wanted to be “when you grew up” when you were small? Is that what you are doing now? Most people don’t and yet there is so much pressure at every milestone in life to know exactly what you want to be doing and make the right decision, as if there are only a few “right” ways to create a life.
While there are cultural differences and systemic barriers that create real roadblocks and heighten this pressure for some, most individual decisions do not set your fate in stone. Most people I know have found themselves in a particular industry largely by accident and have built careers from there; taking steps forward, sideways and complete pivots around great (or terrible) bosses, company cultures that encouraged (or discouraged) them, changing life circumstances and evolving values. I’m excited to share the stories of people who have built their career and life on the winding road.
The Unexpected Career Podcast
Season 3 Trailer
S3 Trailer: Sneak peek from another amazing season of incredible career journeys.
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Season three of the Unexpected Career Podcast is almost here. It's another amazing season full of unique career journeys where my guests share the roadblocks, detours, and lessons learned along the way. Their stories are incredible examples of how we are the captains of our own ships, and I learned so much from these discussions and know you will too. Season three starts next week on October 14th. You can listen to Seasons one and two on your favorite podcast provider now, and please follow rate and review and share with friends to help the Unexpected Career Podcast grow. I'll see you next week, but enjoy this sneak peek from season three.
Lisa:at that stage I really wanted to go and do something that was focused on performing arts and ideally become an actress or something like that. And. Actually in some respects, I have drawn on that a lot in my professional life. It certainly stood me, in good stead when it comes to things like public speaking and having that confidence to speak up and have a voice, not just,, on a public stage or on a podcast.
my dream was to, become a history teacher and go back to my old high school and coach rugby, and that's kind of what I wanted to do. And, as I was going through, university and I was struggling and I was diagnosed with dyslexia. Mm-hmm. And my particular waveform manifests itself is what I write. And I remembered all the way back through my university career I was already working in computers.
Christina:I was drawn to engineering and I decided on that rather than physics or anything else, purely because of role models. Mm-hmm. My dad was an engineer. My grandpa was an engineer and it was just a an ability for me, therefore to see what the world looked like as an engineer. I doubted it shortly afterwards because as you know, I have a very much a passion for music.
Derrick:I was fascinated with history. I was fascinated with. How people lived because I felt like we just never knew. Which is weird because that was part of our history. Mm-hmm. And we just didn't know enough. And so for me, trying to figure out what happened and all the things that we've forgotten about our past was really enticing. And also I went to work outdoors. I did not want to be at a desk. For most of my life and like my parents going into work and they come back, I'm like, oh, I feel so good to be outside and feel the sun. And I was like, God, that must suck being in an office all the time. So yeah, I wanted to be an archeologist.
Jen:I always really wanted to do something creative as a job. So I'd always sort of lean towards thinking it would be something maybe in the entertainment industry, you know, maybe something a little bit glamorous. I was was involved in a lot of performing arts growing up. I always really enjoyed writing and like when it came to choosing subjects at school, I picked things like music and drama and English. But at the same time, I also mixed it in with things like. Biology and chemistry and physics and psychology. So, a real kind of mix. But I don't remember ever thinking I would end up in a corporate job when I was younger.
John:I think 16-year-old John wanted to be a dj, but like anything else, there's kinda limits to that. It was fun in high school, but it wasn't something. I, at that time anyways, I could imagine building a career doing and
Megan:mm-hmm.
John:Didn't picture
Megan:yourself in Ibiza.
John:Well, I mean, that would be fun. It looks amazing, but the reality is I remember the last thing I, DJ'ed was a wedding where people got drunk and there was a fight,
