Control Your Career: Career Growth and Strategy for Ambitious Professionals

Julia Toothacre | Helping Professionals Grow and Advance Their Careers
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Control Your Career is a career strategy podcast for professionals who want to make better career decisions, navigate workplace challenges, and take an active role in shaping what's next. Hosted by Julia Toothacre, career strategist and creator of the Control Your Career framework, the show explores career growth, workplace dynamics, leadership, career transitions, and the trends shaping today's world of work. Drawing on more than 15 years of experience in career development, Julia combines practical career strategy with a real-world perspective to help listeners navigate today's workplace and build careers they don't leave to chance. Topics include: → Career strategy and long-term career growth → Career advancement, promotions, and increasing your influence at work → Workplace relationships, office politics, organizational dynamics, and difficult managers → Leadership, executive presence, visibility, and sponsorship → Career change, career crossroads, and major career decisions → Aligning your career with your strengths, values, and goals → Hiring trends, AI, labor market updates, and the changing world of work Through a mix of solo episodes, expert interviews, and commentary on current workplace issues, you'll gain practical strategies to navigate your career with greater clarity, confidence, and control. Learn more at ridethetidecollective.com

  1. 2d ago

    Questions to Ask Before Changing Careers

    Thinking about making a major career change? Before you update your resume or start applying for jobs, it's worth taking a step back. Career frustration doesn't always mean you need a new career. Sometimes it's your company, your manager, your work environment, or a shift in your own priorities that's making you question what's next. In this episode, I walk through the questions I encourage professionals to ask before making a significant career move. We'll look at what's happening in your current role, why you're considering a change, how your personality and values influence career satisfaction, and the practical realities that should factor into your decision. If you're wondering whether it's time for a career pivot or simply trying to understand why work doesn't feel right anymore, this conversation will help you evaluate your options before making your next move. In this episode, we discuss: How to identify what's really driving your desire to make a career change. Questions to help you evaluate your current role before deciding to leave. Why your personality, values, and work preferences influence career satisfaction. Financial and personal realities to consider before making a major career move. How long-term employees can evaluate whether they need a new company, a new role, or a different approach. Resources & Links 🌊 Connect with Julia Toothacre Website: https://ridethetidecollective.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliatoothacre Free Career Resources: https://ridethetidecollective.com/free Control Your Career Podcast: https://ridethetidecollective.com/podcast If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave a review, and share it with someone who would find the conversation helpful. Remember: You control your career.

  2. Aug 4

    When Work Becomes Who You Are: Professional Identity Purgatory with Geoff Curtis

    What happens when the career you spent decades building becomes part of your identity, and then the role suddenly disappears? In this episode of Control Your Career, Strategic Career Consultant Julia Toothacre speaks with Geoff Curtis about professional identity, high achievement, career transitions, and the uncomfortable space between who you were and who you are becoming. Geoff spent nearly 30 years building a career in corporate communications, eventually serving as Chief Communications Officer at Horizon Therapeutics. Today, he leads Marshall Curtis Communications, where he advises executives and organizations on communication, leadership, and change. He is also the author of Embracing Your Own Purgatory, a book exploring professional identity and what happens when the career you built no longer fits the life you are living. After an acquisition made his executive role redundant, Geoff expected to move toward another version of professional success. Instead, he found himself confronting how deeply his work, relevance, achievement, and sense of self had become connected. Geoff describes this experience as professional identity purgatory: the unfinished and often messy space between an identity that no longer fits and a new one that has not fully formed. Julia and Geoff discuss why high achievers often find emotional comfort in work, how productivity can become a form of avoidance, and why losing a title can feel like losing part of yourself. They also explore the warning signs that work may be taking up too much space in your identity, including missing family events, allowing friendships to lapse, mentally remaining at work during personal time, and measuring your value through external recognition. The conversation also examines relevance, perfectionism, work-life balance, the pressures placed on Gen Z, and the challenge of creating a new definition of success after traditional career metrics stop feeling meaningful. What You'll Learn How a successful career can become intertwined with your personal identity Why high achievers often use work as a source of emotional comfort What happens when a title, role, or professional identity suddenly disappears Why relevance can become closely connected to self-worth The warning signs that work may be taking priority over your life and relationships What Geoff means by professional identity purgatory Why constant busyness can delay the emotional work required during a transition How perfectionism keeps high achievers chasing the next accomplishment Why an idealized future can become a way of avoiding the present How self-reflection can help you begin separating your identity from your work Why redefining success may require a completely different scoreboard How understanding yourself can make you a more thoughtful leader About Geoff Curtis Geoff Curtis spent nearly 30 years building a career in corporate communications, eventually serving as Chief Communications Officer at Horizon Therapeutics. Today, he leads Marshall Curtis Communications, where he advises executives and organizations on communication, leadership, and change. He is also the author of Embracing Your Own Purgatory, a book exploring professional identity and what happens when the career you built no longer fits the life you are living. Resources Mentioned Embracing Your Own Purgatory Learn more about Geoff's book and its exploration of professional identity, achievement, relevance, and life's uncomfortable transitions: https://geoffreycurtis.com/  https://www.amazon.com/Embracing-Your-Purgatory-Geoff-Curtis/dp/B0GVTY5KS5 Marshall Curtis Communications Learn more about Geoff's communications, leadership, and executive advisory work: https://marshallcurtis.com/ Connect With Geoff Curtis on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffreycurtis/ Control Your Career Resources Read the Blog: https://ridethetidecollective.com/2026/08/04/when-your-career-becomes-your-identity/  Explore All Episodes: https://ridethetidecollective.com/podcast/ Connect With Julia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliakrussell/ Visit the Website: https://ridethetidecollective.com Get Career Resources: https://ridethetidecollective.com/free/

  3. Jul 28

    Why Career Development Needs a Different Approach

    Most career advice focuses on one thing: finding your next job. While resumes, interviews, networking, and job search strategies are important, they're only one part of career development. As your career grows, so do the influences shaping your decisions, making it harder to understand what you actually want versus what you've simply learned to expect. In this episode, I share why I believe career development needs a broader approach. We talk about the experiences that shaped my perspective, why traditional career theories don't always reflect today's workplace, and why becoming more intentional about your career decisions matters long after you've landed your next role. This conversation also explains where the idea behind Control Your Career came from and why that philosophy continues to guide the work I do today. In this episode: ⭐ Why traditional career development doesn't always meet the needs of today's professionals ⭐ How expectations from family, managers, and society quietly influence career decisions ⭐ Why career development should extend beyond the job search ⭐ The experiences that changed how I think about careers ⭐ What it really means to take ownership of your career Whether you're navigating a career change, looking for more clarity, or simply trying to be more intentional about your next step, this episode offers a different perspective on how to think about your career over the long term. Resources 🌊 Learn more about Ride the Tide Collective 🎙️ Subscribe to Control Your Career for practical conversations about career strategy, workplace trends, leadership, career advancement, and intentional career growth.

  4. Jul 21

    What the Hiring Headlines Get Wrong About Gen Z, AI, and Personality Tests

    Hiring headlines about Gen Z, artificial intelligence, the Workday lawsuit, and personality assessments are moving faster than the facts. A study gets published, a lawsuit moves forward, or someone shares a frustrating experience on social media. Before long, a complicated workplace issue has been reduced to a confident headline that may not reflect what the original source actually says. In this Career Trends episode of Control Your Career, Strategic Career Consultant Julia Toothacre looks beyond the clickbait to examine three major conversations happening in hiring right now. Julia explores the assumptions hiring managers are making about Gen Z and early career professionals, including the legitimate concerns employers have raised and the broader realities affecting this generation. She also breaks down what the Workday lawsuit and Stanford AI hiring study do and do not tell us about automated hiring. Finally, Julia explains why personality assessments can be helpful for career development and team communication, but potentially harmful when employers use them to decide who deserves an interview or job. This episode also introduces the new format for Control Your Career. Rather than organizing episodes into seasons, the show will now feature conversations across five collections: Career Clarity, Career Growth, Career Transitions, Workplace Dynamics, and Career Trends. The goal is not to react to every headline. It is to understand the evidence, recognize the realities shaping the workplace, and make better-informed career decisions. What You'll Learn Why hiring headlines often lose the nuance found in the original research How individual experiences with Gen Z employees can become generational assumptions What employers are saying about communication, professionalism, reliability, and feedback Why the expectations placed on entry-level professionals have increased What early career candidates can do to challenge negative assumptions during an interview What the Workday lawsuit currently alleges and what has not been decided Why the Stanford study was not about AI reading resumes or every applicant tracking system What algorithmic monoculture and systemic rejection mean Why personality preferences do not determine whether someone can perform a job The differences between personality assessments, cognitive ability tests, and skills assessments What job seekers and hiring managers can control as hiring technology continues to evolve Why understanding your realistic reality is an important part of controlling your career Go to the episode Blog Page: https://ridethetidecollective.com/2026/07/21/hiring-headlines-gen-z-ai-personality-tests/ Learn more about Julia Toothacre and explore additional career resources at: https://ridethetidecollective.com/

  5. Jul 14

    Long-Term Unemployment, Employment Gaps, and Today's Job Market

    What happens when someone spends years looking for work, only to be judged by the gap on their resume? In this conversation, I sit down with HR professional Tank Rhodes to discuss long-term unemployment, hiring bias, employment gaps, and what today's job market looks like from both sides of the hiring process. Whether you're a job seeker trying to understand today's hiring market or a hiring manager making difficult hiring decisions, this conversation offers valuable perspective on how the labor market has changed and why employment gaps don't tell the whole story. In this episode, we discuss: → Why long-term unemployment has become more common in today's job market → How hiring bias can influence hiring decisions without people realizing it → Why employment gaps don't tell the full story of a candidate → What job seekers are actually experiencing during extended unemployment → How today's employer market has changed the hiring process → Why interviews become more difficult after long periods without work → What recruiters and hiring managers can do to make more thoughtful hiring decisions Listen to the full conversation This episode features a portion of my full conversation with HR professional Tank Rhodes. If you'd like to hear the complete interview, including our discussion about career transitions, recruiting, interviewing, and navigating today's hiring process, you can listen to the full episode here: https://ridethetidecollective.com/2025/07/16/season11episode10/ Resources & Links 🌊 Connect with Julia Toothacre: Website: https://ridethetidecollective.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliatoothacre Free Career Resources: https://ridethetidecollective.com/free Control Your Career Podcast: https://ridethetidecollective.com/podcast If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave a review, and share it with someone who would find the conversation helpful. Remember: You control your career.

  6. Jul 7

    Career Change Without Starting Over

    Are you miserable in your career? If the answer is yes, a career change might be worth exploring. But if the answer is no, that does not automatically mean you should stay exactly where you are. One of the biggest mistakes professionals make is treating career change as something that only happens when a situation becomes unbearable. In reality, many career changes happen because someone wants to build new skills, create more flexibility, increase income, improve quality of life, or move toward work that fits who they are now. In this final episode of Season 13, Julia Toothacre talks about how to evaluate career change more strategically. She breaks down why most career changes do not mean starting over, even when they feel big. You still bring transferable skills, relationships, judgment, leadership experience, industry knowledge, and credibility with you. The question is whether you can clearly explain how those pieces connect to the direction you want to move next. Julia also walks through four types of career change: • Functional change • Industry change • Structural change • Complete career change Each type carries different levels of risk, planning, and adjustment. This episode also explores the part many professionals skip: whether the desired career change is truly about moving toward something better, or whether it is an attempt to escape something that needs to be addressed more directly. Sometimes you do need a new career, but sometimes you just need a new manager, a healthier culture, stronger boundaries, different leadership, or a different company. This episode covers: • Why career change does not always mean starting from zero • How to identify what experience comes with you • Common transferable skills that support career pivots • The four types of career changes • Why financial obligations, family responsibilities, geography, and market conditions matter • How to test the waters before making a major move • Why burnout can make career decisions harder to evaluate • How leverage makes career change more possible Season 13 has been about career leverage, and this episode brings that idea full circle. Skills, reputation, influence, relationships, market awareness, and choices all shape what is possible when you decide you want something different. Read The Blog: https://ridethetidecollective.com/2026/07/07/career-change-without-starting-over/  Explore all episodes: https://ridethetidecollective.com/podcast/ Connect with Julia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliakrussell/ Visit the website: https://ridethetidecollective.com Get career resources: https://ridethetidecollective.com/free/ Remember, you control your career.

  7. Jun 30

    The 5 Types of Managers: How to Navigate Each Leadership Style

    Every manager has a different leadership style, and understanding how your manager leads can help you communicate more effectively, build trust, and continue growing your career. If you're planning to stay in your current role for a while, learning how to work with your manager may be one of the highest-impact things you can do. In this episode, I break down five common management styles, including the strengths and challenges of each, so you can better understand your current manager, evaluate future opportunities, and adjust how you work together. This framework comes from an earlier season of the podcast where I interviewed experienced managers across a variety of industries. As I revisited those conversations, I realized these insights are just as relevant today. In this episode: The five management styles I observed across experienced leaders The strengths and challenges of each leadership style Why different managers communicate, build trust, and hold people accountable differently How to identify your manager's leadership style Ways to adapt your communication and expectations without changing who you are Whether you're hoping to earn a promotion, strengthen your relationship with your manager, or simply make your day-to-day work a little easier, understanding how your manager leads can help you navigate your career more strategically. Explore The Manager's Perspective Season: https://ridethetidecollective.com/category/season-10-the-managers-perspective/ Explore all episodes: https://ridethetidecollective.com/podcast/ Connect with Julia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliakrussell/ Visit the website: https://ridethetidecollective.com Get career resources: https://ridethetidecollective.com/free/ Remember, you control your career.

  8. Jun 23

    Staying Market Ready in an Uncertain Job Market

    Market conditions can change your career faster than you think. In this episode of Control Your Career, Career Coach and Strategic Career Consultant Julia Toothacre discusses how professionals can stay market-ready, build career leverage, and prepare for unexpected career changes without living in constant job search mode. Over the last two decades, professionals have experienced the 2008 recession, the rise of LinkedIn, remote work, return-to-office mandates, layoffs, and the rapid growth of artificial intelligence. These shifts have changed hiring trends, career opportunities, and the skills employers value. The challenge is that most career changes happen gradually, making them easy to ignore until they directly impact you. Julia explores how market conditions, industry trends, technology, organizational changes, and economic factors influence career growth. She also explains why having career options leads to greater confidence, flexibility, and better decision-making throughout your professional life. In this episode, you'll learn: • How market conditions affect your career opportunities • Why career leverage depends on having options • What it means to stay market-ready • Simple career habits that help you prepare for layoffs, career transitions, and new opportunities • How to maintain professional relationships and strengthen your network • Why tracking accomplishments, projects, and career wins matters • Ways to improve your professional visibility without becoming an influencer • Questions to ask yourself to evaluate your career readiness Whether you're focused on career advancement, professional development, leadership growth, or long-term career management, staying prepared can help you navigate change with more confidence and control. Read The Blog:  https://ridethetidecollective.com/2026/06/23/stay-market-read…rage-preparation/ Explore all episodes: https://ridethetidecollective.com/podcast/ Connect with Julia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliakrussell/ Visit the website: https://ridethetidecollective.com Get career resources: https://ridethetidecollective.com/free/ Remember, you control your career.

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Control Your Career is a career strategy podcast for professionals who want to make better career decisions, navigate workplace challenges, and take an active role in shaping what's next. Hosted by Julia Toothacre, career strategist and creator of the Control Your Career framework, the show explores career growth, workplace dynamics, leadership, career transitions, and the trends shaping today's world of work. Drawing on more than 15 years of experience in career development, Julia combines practical career strategy with a real-world perspective to help listeners navigate today's workplace and build careers they don't leave to chance. Topics include: → Career strategy and long-term career growth → Career advancement, promotions, and increasing your influence at work → Workplace relationships, office politics, organizational dynamics, and difficult managers → Leadership, executive presence, visibility, and sponsorship → Career change, career crossroads, and major career decisions → Aligning your career with your strengths, values, and goals → Hiring trends, AI, labor market updates, and the changing world of work Through a mix of solo episodes, expert interviews, and commentary on current workplace issues, you'll gain practical strategies to navigate your career with greater clarity, confidence, and control. Learn more at ridethetidecollective.com

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