Is This Working? What 100 people are saying about the world of work in 2025 - with Charlie Colenutt

Change Work Life

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#207: Charlie Colenutt spent three years interviewing people from all walks of life about their jobs. He explains what causes people to change their career, why most people stay at their current job, and how to find happiness in your career.

What you’ll learn

• [01:30] Why Charlie wrote a book about the different jobs people do.
• [04:28] The experience of having a career crisis.
• [06:30] The problems with the professionalisation of modern life.
• [11:04] How we expected Covid to affect people’s work lives, and what really happened.
• [13:19] The pros and cons of working from home.
• [16:00] Negative experiences people have working from home.
• [19:10] How different generations view the workplace differently.
• [24:46] The different aspects of control people have in their jobs.
• [28:14] What causes people to change their career.
• [29:39] Why most people don’t explore different careers.
• [33:00] The increased challenge of applying for jobs and “career inelasticity”.
• [35:00] Interviewing a Job Centre work coach.
• [37:30] Why there’s been an increase of bureaucracy in the workplace.
• [42:38] How to improve growth in the economy.
• [44:00] How to find happiness in your career.
• [49:40] Questions to ask yourself about your career.

Resources mentioned in this episode
Please note that some of these are affiliate links and we may get a commission in the event that you make a purchase. This helps us to cover our expenses and is at no additional cost to you.

• Is This Working? The Jobs We Do, Told by the People Who Do Them, Charlie Colenutt
• Working, Studs Terkel
• 80,000 Hours
• Technics and Civilization, Lewis Mumford and Langdon Winner
• The Inner Game of Tennis, Timothy Gallwey

For the show notes for this episode, including a full transcript and links to all the resources mentioned, visit:
https://changeworklife.com/is-this-working-what-100-people-are-saying-about-the-world-of-work-in-2025/

Re-assessing your career? Know you need a change but don't really know where to start? Check out these two exercises to start the journey of working out what career is right for you!