We spend time at work, think about work, talk about work and then come home and watch TV shows about work!

Would you love to message ‘Urgent exit required’ to get out of boring meetings?

Would you sever your work self from your self outside work?

Could you work in Carmy’s kitchen from ‘The Bear’?

We talk about what we can learn from the portrayals of different workplaces in our favourite TV shows.

You’ll learn:

• How Chris learned to launder money from a TV show
• Which show Lily thinks is the offspring of a workplace drama and a Black Mirror episode
• Why Lily would want to have a failing business just so Nathan Fielder could visit
• How Ted Lasso formed a new Perkins family Christmas tradition

Whether you could see yourself working in Suits, Succession or Schitt’s Creek, join us for this episode to hear about how we’ve actually applied some things from TV shows at our work and what these shows have taught us about the workplace.

If you love a show we haven’t discussed below, get in touch and let us know as we might revisit this topic in a future episode….

Hit play now.

1.10 Lily’s top TV shows

1.47 Chris’ top TV shows

2.40 The Office (UK)

3.26 THe Office (US)

4.15 Mad Men

5.26 Line of Duty

6.50 Brooklyn Nine-Nine

7.25 Severance

9.48 Parks & Recreation

10.36 The Bear

13.15 Schitt’s Creek

15.03 Ozark

17.30 Nathan for You

19.37 The Curse

20.25 Suits

21.33 Succession

22.26 Ted Lasso

24.15 What does all this mean for us?

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!

https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/

Is your social circle shrinking? Learn the rules of making and keeping friends, no matter your age.

Why is it so much harder to make new friends after school? From the playground to the workplace, the rules of friendship change drastically. In this Ultimate Guide, Chris and Lily break down the lifespan of your social circle.

We share our stories about those childhood BFFs and dive into the tough adult realities: different roles in a friendship group, what you risk ‘borrowing’ friends from your partner and the impact social media and AI is having on really connecting with your friends.

You’ll learn:

• How and why our friendships change as we get older
• Gender differences in friendships
• Why it’s nearly impossible to maintain more than 150 relationships in total
• Causes of loneliness
• How to manage friendship breakups
• How to get better at making and keeping friendships as an adult

If you've ever felt the pang of loneliness or wondered how to build a stronger crew, this episode is for you.

Whether you’re Gen X trying to juggle your friendships and your partner’s, or Gen Z figuring out social media's impact, listen in to transform your social circles and get better at the art of being a friend.

Hit play now.

1.34 Lily and Chris’ best friends
5.13 Defining friendship
6.37 Can you be friends with someone you’ve never met?
9.10 Loneliness limbo
10.40 Earliest friendships
15.48 Gender differences in friendships
21.15 Social media’s impact on friendships
23.30 Dunbar’s number explained (why you can only handle about 150 social relationships)
25.56 Roles in a female friendship group
29.40 Roles in a male friendship group (spoiler: not as many!)
30.45 Are your friendships ‘side-by-side’ or ‘face-to-face’?
34.00 The risks of ‘borrowed’ friends
36.19 Ways to overcome loneliness
37.53 Modern solutions to creating new friendships
40.55 Friendship breakups
42.42 How to get better at making friends and keeping friends

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!

https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/

Did you know you experience some kind of transition in life about every 18 months? Every now and then, we experience a major change that threatens to totally derail us. It can seem overwhelming, but there’s a practical toolkit you can use to help you get through it.

We all make plans and expect our lives to follow the pattern we have in mind. Life, unfortunately, has other ideas. Typically, we experience 3-5 major life transitions in adulthood. Some we instigate, others seem to come out of nowhere.

In this episode, Chris and Lily discuss their own life transitions and some different ways to approach them. Drawing on research into what works when facing one of these big ‘lifequakes’, they discuss eight steps you can take to make sense of the upheaval.

You’ll learn:

• Why a transition needs to start with an ending
• What we can do to develop the right mindset for dealing with setbacks
• Why you need to shed your old self to move on
• How getting creative can be exactly what you need at rock bottom
• How to tell the story of the new you

Whatever you have to deal with, the tools and approaches we discuss in this episode will help you get through it a little more easily.

Hit play now!

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!

https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/

Are you preparing for a job interview for your first ‘proper’ job, or getting back into the job market after not having interviewed for a while?

You need to listen to this episode. While some fundamentals of the interview remain the same, AI, online interviews and what to do and say now have changed.

We break down what the different types of interview need to achieve from the recruiter’s perspective, so you know how to approach them with confidence. You’ll be better prepared for what to expect and more likely to progress to the next stage.

We cover tips on everything from how to make a strong first impression to the best kind of questions you can ask the interviewer.

You’ll learn:

• The most common interview formats and how to prepare for them
• Where people fall down with competency-based questions
• Interview etiquette for in-person and remote interviews
• The most common mistake hiring managers think candidates make
• What AI can now monitor in your interview and what it does with that info

So if you’ve got an interview coming up and you want to understand what the person the other side of the desk needs to get from you to move you to the next stage….

Hit play now!

0.54 Lily’s interview track record

3.00 Chris’ big interview mishap

4.40 Gen Z’s worries and uncertainties about interviews

5.20 Gen X’s worries and uncertainties about interviews

6.15 Challenges in the job market right now

7.40 The most common interview formats

10.40 The phone screen - what it is and isn’t

13.38 First hiring manager interview - what they’re looking for

14.45 How to prepare for the initial questions

16.03 How to prepare for competency-based questions

18.24 Where people fall down with competency-based questions

20.08 What to do when you don’t have any relevant experience

22.30 Cultural fit interviews

24.24 Interview etiquette for in-person interviews and the ‘Horns & Halo effect’

26.34 The most common mistake hiring managers think candidates make

28.00 How to make a strong first impression

30.50 Etiquette for online interviews

32.00 What AI can monitor in your interview and what it can do with that info

33.20 How to prepare for a video interview

34.18 The best kind of questions to ask the interviewer

37.10 How to make a strong last impression

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!

https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/

If you’ve thought you need to be doing more with Linkedin, but don’t know how, this episode is for you. Whether you’re a student or new grad building your network, or a mid-career professional starting a job search, we break down how to get the most out of LinkedIn.

We’re joined by LinkedIn expert and career coach Sarah Burgess. For over 20 years Sarah has coached everyone from school leavers to C-suite execs, becoming an expert LinkedIn user along the way.

You’ll learn:

• The essentials of building your Linkedin profile
• LinkedIn etiquette for new users
• How to get started liking, commenting and posting (if you want to)
• Whether you should use AI for content
• How to get started job searching on LinkedIn
• How to get more recruiters looking at your profile
• Whether you should use the Open to Work green banner and LinkedIn Premium

We’ve split this episode in two, but Sarah offers so many great tips we think the whole episode is worth a listen, whatever stage you’re at!

To connect with Sarah about her workbooks and coaching, see below.

Hit play now.

3.25 Sarah’s journey to becoming a LinkedIn expert

PART ONE

6.15 Gen Z launching on LinkedIn - how to get started

6.53 Building your profile

7.57 Starting to build connections

8.20 Starting with liking and posting

9.08 Linkedin etiquette

10.52 What kind of posts get more engagement

12.25 The Three P’s for your post boundaries

13.22 How to get started with posting

14.20 Sophie Broome’s authentic, diary-like posts https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-broome/

15.05 What kind of tone of voice to use on LinkedIn

16.46 How to use your university’s alumni page for networking

18.13 Example of how powerful alumni connections can be

19.38 Shout out to our reviewers - Thank you!

20.25 How LinkedIn can help with your studies

22.34 Is there an acceptable amount of AI to use?

23.36 How JobMatch works

24.24 Sarah’s forthcoming workbooks

26.55 LinkedIn for Smart Students sessions and parent consultations on career choices

27.40 PART TWO

28.12 Gen X: the essential things to get started with LinkedIn’s job search capabilities

30.06 What’s the point - why should I bother?!

30.50 How to easily boost your visibility with people outside your network

31.20 How to get people looking at your profile - including recruiters

31.46 How commenting can showcase your expertise

33.21 Controversial topic 1: the green ‘Open to Work’ banner

35.54 The little known prompt the green banner triggers

37.18 The importance of ‘current role’ for recruiter searches - how to not be invisible

39.22 Controversial topic 2: LinkedIn Premium - is it worth it?

40.18 How taking the free trial and cancelling can work to your advantage

41.45 LinkedIn’s less well known features that are worth looking at

45.17 How to follow up with Sarah and learn more

Connect with Sarah Burgess

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahburgess/

https://www.koru-associates.co.uk/

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!

https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/

Are you thinking about leaving the UK?

Maybe you’re struggling with the cost of living. Or fed up with how broken the country feels right now. Perhaps you’ve been somewhere on holiday and thought ‘It would be so great to live here!’

But what about the post-Brexit practicalities of getting a visa and making the move, and the downsides?

We delve into all of this in this episode. Whether you’re Gen Z or Gen X, we talk about where you could go, how you’d manage the move and how to manage the possible downsides.

You’ll learn:

• What Gen Z talks about as to why they’re think of leaving
• The practicalities and downsides of a move
• Gemini’s shortlist of the most attractive English-speaking and European countries to move to (based on ease of entry, cost of living, expat lifestyle and employment prospects)
• Gemini’s recommendation as to whether dissatisfied Gen Z’s and Gen X’s should stay or go and why
• The probability that life in the UK might actually get better

So if you’re getting increasingly fed up with what life is like for you in the UK right now, listen in and discover how a move abroad could be easier than you think!

Hit play now.

1.08 Why Chris moved abroad in 1999

2.24 How seriously are Gen Z’s considering moving abroad?

5.20 The top countries people are moving to according to some Reddit threads

5.40 ONS stats on emigration

7.00 What Gen Z talks about as to why they think about leaving

10.10 The downsides of moving abroad for Gen Z

12.39 The practicalities for Gen X

14.43 The downsides of moving abroad for Gen X

15.24 Gemini’s shortlist of the most attractive English-speaking countries for British citizens

17.14 Gemini’s analysis of the most attractive European countries

18.59 How Digital Nomad visas work

19.55 What has to change to make it worthwhile staying in the UK?

20.18 Gemini’s recommendations as to whether dissatisfied Gen Z’s and Gen X’s should stay or go and why

22.00 What’s the probability that life in the UK will improve?

23.48 What will Lily and Chris do as a result of all this?

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!

https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!

https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/

Whether you’ve heard of Cringe Mountain or not, this episode is for you if you’ve ever wanted to try something new or step out of your comfort zone and have been paralysed by the fear of being judged by others.
This isn’t just about posting on social media. It could be starting to network more if you’re job searching, trying to get fit if you’ve not exercised for a while, or wanting to tell your friends you’re starting something new.
If you think people are going to scoff or try and drag you back down, you’ve got to climb ‘Cringe Mountain’.
You’ll learn:

• Why it feels scary, but what’s on the other side that makes it all worthwhile
• Why not starting because of avoidance or perfectionism can cause you to stagnate and miss out on opportunities to grow
• How to develop the Climber’s Mindset and keep going when times get tough
• Advice and ideas to help you set out from Basecamp and make the climb
• Lily’s Grandma’s advice to keep in mind when something doesn’t go according to plan

So if you’ve been wanting to do something new but have been too anxious to get started, listen in and hear about others who have made the climb - and how you can too!

And listen to the very end to hear Lily’s special rendition of ‘The Climb’.

Hit play now.

1.15 Introduction to climbing Cringe Mountain
2.13 Biggest Gen X cringe
3.25 Gen X/Gen Z beef on TikTok
5.05 Why do our brains make us cringe?
6.19 The Spotlight Effect and ‘sonder’
8.04 An example of someone climbing Cringe Mountain
9.54 What is Cringe Mountain?
11.25 The Climber’s Mindset
13.55 How perfectionism can hold you back
14.40 Chris’ example of climbing Cringe Mountain
17.12 Ideas to help you climb Cringe Mountain
18.37 Grandma’s advice for climbing Cringe Mountain
20.46 An inspiring example of someone climbing Cringe Mountain
21.40 Advice for setting out on the climb

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!
https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Microsoft Windows 95 launch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAkuJXGldrM
Megan Washington TedX Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MegHiL93B0
Aqsa:
https://www.instagram.com/itsxaqsa/

Connect with us:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!

https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/

It’s an inter-generational battle!

Well, not quite. More a fun and light-hearted quiz on how much Gen X and Gen Z know about some of the defining aspects of the other generation’s formative years.

Ten questions each, four rounds:

1. Popular culture (TV, movies and music)
2. Historic events
3. Youth culture
4. Life and tech

If you’re Gen X, you’ll easily get full marks on the Gen X questions. Same for Gen Z on your questions. But that’s not the point.

How will you score on your knowledge of the events that shaped the other generation’s coming of age?

With a special guest joining Lily on team Gen Z, you’ll hear:

• Gen Z debate what was a New Romantic band
• Gen X completely flummoxed by which rapper got shot when
• Confusion over date format leading to a huge misunderstanding about a big Gen X historic event
• A Gen Z slang term that is actually made up of two normal words, not a mash-up
• How it all comes down to the last question….and which generation takes the win!

We promise neither side knew any of the questions in advance and the fact that it ended up being so close was a total fluke.

As well as having a bit of a laugh, there is an explanation of the context to each question, so you will learn something from this.

Let’s just say both generations have a lot to learn, and there will almost certainly be a rematch at some point…

Listen in and laugh at the other generation’s near-total absence of understanding about what was really important to you growing up. And test yourself on how well you’d do.

Hit play now.

2.40 Popular culture

10.30 Historic events

17.25 Youth culture

23.34 Life and tech

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/

Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!

https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange

Connect with us:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/