The Career Equation®: The Formula for Career Clarity

Erica Sosna & Zoë Schofield
  • 5.0 (45)
  • CAREERS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

The world’s best organisations know how to attract and keep the world’s best employees.  However, even those firms struggle with employee retention. Why? Because their employees can’t see their future there.  The problem with careers in great firms is that employees know what they want but don’t know who to talk about it, and their organisations don’t know what they want and so don’t help them get it ( even though they want to!) The result? Great employees leave all too soon, missing out on all the exciting opportunities in their existing firm.  The tragedy is, this brain drain could be arrested with a simple, powerful career conversation that anyone can master.  Welcome to The Career Equation®, a practical formula for career conversations that helps organisations engage, retain and grow their talent.  Hear how firms like Microsoft, Amazon, and Capital One make use of the formula to enhance career conversations, reduce attrition and unlock internal mobility.  With anonymous Q&A on the juicy career questions talent are afraid to ask, real world case studies from learning professionals, and expert advice from over 20 years of careers consulting, we bring the Equation and all its benefits live and direct to your workplace.  If keeping great people is your biggest challenge, this podcast shows you how The Career Equation® can be the solution. For more information, to book your career conversation assessment or download our free guides on all things career, www.thecareerequation.com/contact

  1. The wrong way to survive a layoff with Steve Jaffe

    23 HR AGO

    The wrong way to survive a layoff with Steve Jaffe

    Most people respond to being made redundant by immediately updating their CV and sprinting towards the next role. But according to Steve Jaffe — author, marketing leader, and four-time redundancy survivor — that instinct is exactly backwards. In this episode, Steve shares the framework behind his book The Layoff Journey and explains why treating job loss as grief is the most practical thing you can do.   What we cover:   Why a layoff isn't a career event — it's a grief event. Steve maps redundancy onto the Kübler-Ross stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance), explaining why our brains process job loss the same way they process any major life disruption, and why understanding that framework removes shame and creates space to heal.   The myth of meritocracy and why it makes redundancy worse. Over 83% of Americans tie their self-worth directly to their career. When the myth that hard work insulates you from being let go collides with reality, the fallout is personal as well as professional — and Steve explains how to separate the two.   Radical acceptance as a practical coping tool. Drawing on the Serenity Prayer and his own experience, Steve unpacks what radical acceptance actually means in the context of job loss: not toxic positivity, but a shift from "what if" and "if only" to "what's next" — and why that single reframe changes everything.   How to deliver a redundancy message with humanity. Steve's advice for managers in the room: imagine how you'd want your own child to receive this news, and lead from there. He also explores the legal, reputational, and human cost of getting it wrong — including the Glassdoor effect and what layoffs signal to the people who stay.   The forced pause as an opportunity. Steve and Erica explore how redundancy creates a rare window for genuine career recalibration — identifying what brings joy, auditing whether your career path has longevity, and exploring pivots or upskilling before the next move.   The good conversation and the bad one. In Steve's bad conversation story, he tells an employee with a promising modelling career on the side that she must stay in the office during business planning season — a decision he still regrets. His good conversation story centres on a boss who told him exactly what he was doing well and why, at the height of the 2008 recession, and gave him five years of confidence from a single honest exchange.   Links:   Purchase The Layoff Journey: From Dismissal to Discovery: Navigating the Stages of Grief After Job Loss Steve's website: https://www.thestevejaffe.com Career Conversations Guide: https://www.thecareerequation.com/career-conversations-guide Free Equation Builder: https://www.thecareerequation.com Book an intro call: https://www.thecareerequation.com/book-intro-call Erica on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ericasosna Zoë on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/zoeschofieldcoach

    44 min
  2. Do You Need An Internal Career Coaching Team… Or Better Career Conversations?

    4 DAYS AGO

    Do You Need An Internal Career Coaching Team… Or Better Career Conversations?

    It's careers Q&A day where we give you some personal attention by answering your questions.   Today's question comes from Greg, who works in talent development in insurance: "Should every business have an internal career coaching team?"   What we cover:   Not every business needs a formal internal career coaching team, but every business does need to give people access to good career conversations. Those two things are not the same thing. Where internal career coaching services do exist, they are almost always oversubscribed. That appetite is real, but a dedicated team is not the only way to meet it. The risk of a formal coaching function is that it accidentally becomes the only place career conversations happen, which outsources the responsibility for building a career culture to a small group in one corner of the business. A more sustainable and economical approach is to broaden the skillset internally: managers, peers, mentors, alumni, and people-growth enthusiasts can all be equipped to hold good career conversations using one consistent framework. Confidentiality matters. If people don't feel safe speaking openly with internal colleagues, they won't engage, however well-resourced the provision is. The right answer is usually a mix: internal coaches and enthusiasts, trained managers, and a sprinkling of external coaching where needed, all operating from a shared model that makes career conversations familiar and accessible everywhere.   Send your questions: Email or voicenote to pod@thecareerequation.com   Links: Career Conversations Guide: https://www.thecareerequation.com/career-conversations-guide Book an intro call: https://www.thecareerequation.com/book-intro-call Erica on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ericasosna Zoe on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/zoeschofieldcoach

    14 min

  3. 13 APR

    Helping Senior Leaders Design Their Next Chapter: A Savills Case Study

    Most organisations know how to onboard people well. Far fewer know how to help their most experienced, most loyal leaders transition out with the same care and intention. In this episode, we share the full story of how Savills partnered with The Career Equation to do exactly that, and why it changed everything.   What we cover:   Why this problem matters. For many senior directors at firms like Savills, work isn't simply what they do, it's who they are. Decades of tenure, deep client relationships, and a career spent largely within one organisation create both extraordinary value and a quiet strategic risk when no transition plan exists.   The brief Savills actually gave us. It wasn't "retain these people at all costs." It was "help them transition well, because they deserve it, and so does the business." That different framing changed the entire design of the programme.   The three core programme principles. Building trust before anything else (including one-to-one confidential conversations before any group work); using biographical narrative to honour the past before designing the future; and shifting senior leaders from convergent, risk-managing thinking back into divergent, imaginative possibility.   What the programme looked like in practice. Across a year: an opening dinner, individual coaching sessions, group workshops, vision board work, worst-case scenario planning, and peer "success circles" to keep momentum alive beyond the formal programme.   The range of outcomes. From 2 to 5 year handover strategies to entrepreneurial leaps to joyful retirements, no two next chapters looked the same, and that was exactly the point.   The commercial and human impact. Better-planned exits, stronger succession, more structured knowledge transfer, and alumni who continued to refer and advocate for the business long after leaving.   Links:   Hear from Dominic Grace, former Head of London Residential at Savills and Your Next Chapter graduate, on what the programme gave him and what he did next: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-career-equation-the-formula-for-career-clarity/id1767894956?i=1000671247645   Career Conversations Guide: https://www.thecareerequation.com/career-conversations-guide   Free Equation Builder: https://www.thecareerequation.com   Book an intro call: https://www.thecareerequation.com/book-intro-call   Erica on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ericasosna   Zoë on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/zoeschofieldcoach

    40 min
  4. We're a huge business, how can we embed career conversations across it in a scalable way?

    9 APR

    We're a huge business, how can we embed career conversations across it in a scalable way?

    It's careers Q&A day where we give you some personal attention by answering your questions.   Today's question comes from Diana, who works in a large-scale organisation: "We're a huge business. How can we embed career conversations in a scalable way?"   What we cover:   You don't scale career conversations by making them bigger, you scale them by making them simpler. The goal isn't a new platform or a 20-page framework. It's a few consistent behaviours that enough people actually do. Structure without behaviour just creates noise and ticks boxes.   Give managers a conversation scaffold, not a document. Three simple questions, what does success look like for you right now? What experiences would you like in the next 12 months? What would you like to do more or less of? Asked consistently across an organisation, they will transform the quality of those conversations overnight.   Build career conversations into rhythms that already exist. Monthly one-to-ones, quarterly check-ins, project debriefs, onboarding. The less decision-making required to make it happen, the more likely it is to happen. Everybody needs both a question set and a time and place.   Measure the conversation, not just the outcome. Engagement scores and retention data won't tell you whether the conversations are actually happening. Ask people directly: have you had a career conversation in the last three months? Does your manager understand your aspirations?   When it comes to rollout, both approaches work: go loud and proud with a whole-organisation launch, or identify a pilot group where there's a willing leader or a retention risk and build a good news story from there. You know your culture best.   Most managers haven't been trained to have these conversations. Give them permission to be imperfect, to not have all the answers, and to focus on listening rather than fixing. The ownership of a career sits with the individual, the manager's job is to make them feel seen.   Send your questions: Email or voicenote to pod@thecareerequation.com   Links: Career Conversations Guide: https://www.thecareerequation.com/career-conversations-guide Book an intro call: https://www.thecareerequation.com/book-intro-call Erica on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ericasosna Zoë on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/zoeschofieldcoach

    13 min

  5. 6 APR

    If You Don’t Have a Career Philosophy, You Have a Retention Problem

    If You Don't Have a Career Philosophy, You Have a Retention Problem   Most organisations have values, competency frameworks, and learning programmes. What they're missing is a career philosophy: a clear, articulable promise about how progression works and what a career actually looks and feels like inside your business. In this episode, Erica and Zoë explain why the absence of one is so costly — and how to start building yours today. What we cover: What a career philosophy actually is. Not your values page, not your competency framework, and not an aspirational paragraph on your website. It's your organisation's clear promise about how progression and growth happen, what experiences people can expect along the way, and what a career around here should look and feel like. Why the vacuum is expensive. When there's no stated philosophy, employees invent one — and they usually invent the wrong one. The result is stories about favouritism, career-blocking managers, and a culture that says it values innovation but actually rewards conformism. The knock-on effects hit recruitment, internal mobility, engagement, and trust. The business case in numbers. Gallup research shows that highly engaged teams deliver 23% higher profitability, 18% higher sales productivity, and up to 51% lower turnover. Career philosophy drives that engagement — because engagement depends on employees knowing what's expected of them and understanding how to grow. Real-world examples. Erica and Zoë look at how Netflix and Siemens signal their philosophies publicly — what each approach says about progression, what it costs, and what you can learn by running the same audit on your own careers pages. The 10-sentence test. A practical exercise to distil your organisation's existing career philosophy: complete 10 honest prompts, then do it again as employees would over a private coffee. The gap between the two versions is where your strategy has to start. Links: Career Conversations Guide: https://www.thecareerequation.com/career-conversations-guide Free Equation Builder: https://www.thecareerequation.com Book an intro call: https://www.thecareerequation.com/book-intro-call Erica on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ericasosna Zoë on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/zoeschofieldcoach

    45 min
  6. Succession Planning vs Reality: Why Career Conversations Matter More Than You Think

    2 APR

    Succession Planning vs Reality: Why Career Conversations Matter More Than You Think

    It's careers Q&A day where we give you some personal attention by answering your questions.   Today's question comes from Mark, who leads talent in a global organisation: "What role does a career conversation play in succession planning and high potential talent retention?"   What we cover:   Succession planning tends to live in data and spreadsheets, while career conversations live in one-to-ones — and when the two aren't connected, you end up with ready-now lists no one has agreed to, high potentials who don't know they're seen as such, and people lined up for roles they don't actually want. A good career conversation tests ambition properly: does someone want broader scope, or deeper expertise? Do they want your job, or something entirely different? Too much succession planning assumes upward ambition — and that assumption is expensive. Career conversations surface development gaps early, making the whole process more developmental and less reactive — moving from building blocks to genuine dialogue about where someone is now versus where they want to go. When people feel seen and heard, they become relationally invested — and relationally invested employees are far less poachable than those who are simply labelled high potential and left to it. Common traps to avoid: treating succession planning as a confidential strategy rather than a shared dialogue; only discussing the next role when a vacancy appears; overlooking the "forgotten layer" of high performers who don't shout about themselves but could be your strongest succession candidates. If someone is on your succession plan and doesn't know about it, it isn't a retention strategy — it's admin. Their involvement is what gives it meaning. Surprise resignations, flight risks, and people quietly twiddling their thumbs are all things you should already know about. Career conversations, done well, mean none of this should catch you off guard.   Send your questions: Email or voicenote to pod@thecareerequation.com   Links:   Career Conversations Guide: https://www.thecareerequation.com/career-conversations-guide Book an intro call: https://www.thecareerequation.com/book-intro-call Erica on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ericasosna Zoë on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/zoeschofieldcoach

    14 min
  7. Transactional to Transformational: What Great Career Conversations Really Look Like

    30 MAR

    Transactional to Transformational: What Great Career Conversations Really Look Like

    Some career conversations stay with you for years. Others leave you feeling like a statistic. In this episode, Zoë sits down with Anca Cojocaru, a global talent management consultant in the financial services sector, to get personal about both kinds.   What we cover:   Anca's experience of a career conversation that went wrong. She went in ready to talk about her aspirations and ideas, and came out feeling like a KPI. Not because her manager was unkind, but because the conversation never moved beyond deliverables. It stayed transactional, and that is where the damage was done.   The conversation that changed everything. A mentor who took a coaching approach, challenged Anca's thinking about what kind of environment she needed, and helped her build a values list that she still lives by in her current role. She did not realise how much it had shaped her until years later.   What the Career Equation reveals about both. Anca maps each conversation against the four components of the equation. The bad one covered skills and immediate impact, nothing more. The good one went deep on environmental fit, which turned out to be exactly what she needed at that point in her career.   The quiet resignation problem. Since COVID, disengagement has become harder to spot. In global, remote or hybrid teams, people can check out mentally long before anyone notices. Career conversations are one of the few tools that can catch this early, if they are done with genuine curiosity rather than just as a process to tick off.   What organisations in financial services are getting right. Anca shares how her organisation approaches career conversations not as an annual event but as an ongoing, fluid habit. The goal is to stay close to people's changing motivations and circumstances, not to wait for a scheduled review to find out someone has already moved on in their head.   Why being seen matters more than being promoted. The thing Anca most needed in that difficult conversation was not a new role or an extra project. It was simply to be acknowledged as an individual. That insight now shapes how she supports managers and designs capability programmes across the business.   Links: Career Conversations Guide https://www.thecareerequation.com/career-conversations-guide Free Equation Builder https://www.thecareerequation.com Book an intro call https://www.thecareerequation.com/book-intro-call Erica on LinkedIn https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ericasosna Zoë on LinkedIn https://uk.linkedin.com/in/zoeschofieldcoach

    35 min
  8. If you’re a tech leader watching key people walk out the door with little warning, you’re not alone.

    26 MAR

    If you’re a tech leader watching key people walk out the door with little warning, you’re not alone.

    It's careers Q&A day where we give you some personal attention by answering your questions. Today's question comes from Chris, who works in the tech world: "How do we stop unexpected resignations in tech?" What we cover: Most resignations aren't truly unexpected — by the time someone hands in their notice, they've likely been disengaging for months, quietly interviewing elsewhere, and feeling stagnant or undervalued. The decision has been brewing long before it lands. Tech is particularly vulnerable: high demand, high mobility, remote working, and constant recruitment pressure all thin the emotional ties that keep great people in place. But at the root of most "surprise" resignations is a simple absence of good dialogue about growth, progress, and the future. Stop waiting for annual reviews. At a minimum, build in quarterly career check-ins — and go bold by asking questions like "if a recruiter called you tomorrow, what would tempt you to leave?" Make it a real conversation, not a tick-box exercise. Train managers in career conversation, not just project delivery. Most tech managers were promoted for technical brilliance, not people leadership — they may need support spotting disengagement signals, handling ambition without getting defensive, and creating growth pathways beyond the management track. Make internal mobility easier than external mobility. In many tech businesses, it's actually easier to move to a different company than to a different team — and that needs to change. Visible internal opportunities, secondments, cross-functional projects, and job swaps all help people see a future without having to resign to find one. The goal isn't zero resignations — some turnover is healthy. The goal is zero surprises. If a resignation feels like a shock, the real issue is that the conversation should have happened six months earlier. Send your questions: Email or voicenote to pod@thecareerequation.com Links: Career Conversations Guide: https://www.thecareerequation.com/career-conversations-guide Book an intro call: https://www.thecareerequation.com/book-intro-call Erica on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ericasosna Zoë on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/zoeschofieldcoach

    10 min
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About

The world’s best organisations know how to attract and keep the world’s best employees.  However, even those firms struggle with employee retention. Why? Because their employees can’t see their future there.  The problem with careers in great firms is that employees know what they want but don’t know who to talk about it, and their organisations don’t know what they want and so don’t help them get it ( even though they want to!) The result? Great employees leave all too soon, missing out on all the exciting opportunities in their existing firm.  The tragedy is, this brain drain could be arrested with a simple, powerful career conversation that anyone can master.  Welcome to The Career Equation®, a practical formula for career conversations that helps organisations engage, retain and grow their talent.  Hear how firms like Microsoft, Amazon, and Capital One make use of the formula to enhance career conversations, reduce attrition and unlock internal mobility.  With anonymous Q&A on the juicy career questions talent are afraid to ask, real world case studies from learning professionals, and expert advice from over 20 years of careers consulting, we bring the Equation and all its benefits live and direct to your workplace.  If keeping great people is your biggest challenge, this podcast shows you how The Career Equation® can be the solution. For more information, to book your career conversation assessment or download our free guides on all things career, www.thecareerequation.com/contact

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