Look At Future Of Work From Gender Equality & Diverse Workforce Point Of View

Podcaster: Karin Tischler

Karin is the founder of Emily’s Path Consulting, promoting flexible working methods to create a more diverse workforce and increase gender equality. She is a speaker, researcher and podcast host of “Job Sharing And Beyond” – talking to international experts about job sharing, reduced work hour weeks, father networks, professionals returning from unpaid care work and much more. A returner herself with a master’s degree from the University of Oxford and a focus on professional research and consulting, Karin utilizes her European & German background to raise awareness of this untapped part of the workforce, to share innovative solutions and to create international collaborations. She is also a co-host of LinkedIn Local in Vancouver, a global volunteer initiative to organize networking events focused on human connections.

Podcast name: Job Sharing and Beyond

My podcast focuses on future of work. In particular I look at it from a gender equality and diverse workforce point of view. I interview experts, business leaders, practitioners and academics in the areas of flexible working, fathers & care, returning professionals and transferable business skills learned from unpaid care work.

My listeners cover a range of people: Business leaders, HR personnel, professionals, academics and experts and practitioners in the above mentioned categories

I love research and have talked and met many people in the areas that my podcast is about. I realized how helpful it would be for other people to have first hand experience listening to my guests instead of hearing from me third hand. Also, given my German and European background allows me to create a broader platform for people who may typically not be speaking about their expertise in English. Hosting a podcast seemed like the best way to spread the knowledge.

I love listening to podcasts - in English and in German. I listen to a lot of future of work, academic, research based podcasts.
My goal is to change society's perception towards flexible working and (unpaid)work for dads & moms and professionals returning. This more positive attitude will lead to a more diverse workforce and will help us to get to gender equality faster.

I published my trailer episode at the end of March 2020 and have since published 15 episodes with guests from 8 countries & 4 continents.

Publishing my first guest episode took longer than I had anticipated. I recorded it in February but did not publish is until the end of April. I am not very technical and I felt that there was quite a huge learning curve initially - especially on the editing side.

I started off releasing an episode every two weeks but in celebration of International Podcast Day I published an episode every week in September. I now have so many guests that I will publish weekly episodes at least until the end of 2020.

My goal is to make podcasting, speaking, researching and consultant based on it my full time job.

I spend probably much more time on researching my guests than most people - usually around 8-12 hours. Editing time varies - I interview guests whose language is not English and so maybe more editing than others. I think it is somewhere between 4-10 hours per episode. I spent a fair amount of marketing, probably 3-5 hours across a week. I have also started a monthly newsletter that shares information about previous and future guests and topics that listeners may find interesting. That takes definitely some time as well as it includes a Q&A interview. Maybe this might be 10-20 hours across a month.

At this time I am funding it myself - I am planning to have sponsors for my podcast in the future as well as potentially support through something like Patreon. I am also interested in international collaborations which I have started already.

This is all definitely something that I am planning to do in the future.

I have currently listeners from 19 countries with 353 downloads in my latest month.

I have met the most amazing people, learned so much, started collaborating with people from different countries and it really broadened my horizon - my guests have been from as far as India, Australia, Europe and North America (I am based in Canada). I also feel that it will really help me to get closer to my goal of changing societies' behaviors towards flexible working and gender equality.

I use Zoom to interview people, edit my episode on Garage Band, use Libsyn as a host and market it mainly across LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.

I tend to find guests through LinkedIn or research that I conduct.

I prepare for the episode by sending my guests a list of potential questions. I find these questions by reading my guests' books, listen to previous interviews/ podcast episodes they have done, research papers etc.. I feel I know my guests well before I "see" them on Zoom.

My listeners can find my show on the main listening platform like Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify etc. and on my website.

(Chrome 28%, Apple Podcasts 15%, Spotify 10%)

I find LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter the most useful marketing channels.

Most people will not like their own voice initially or find it very strange to listen to their own voice. You will get over this after a few episodes.

Many people find publishing the first episodes particularly nerve-wrecking. "Why would anyone listen to me? There are so many other people who are more experienced subject matter experts than me. How am I going to talk to a guest who is so famous, knowledgeable etc.. " are very common thoughts. You will get less nervous over time. It is a huge act of bravery to press that publish button for your first episode! - You can do it! I wish you lots of luck!!

Join lots of Facebook groups related to podcasting. It is such a wonderful community and experienced people are so willing to help. Podcast Movement Community or Podcast Guest Collaboration Community

Finding your hosting platform feels like a stressful decision - you can always change later if you don't like it.

People stress a ton about the right equipment etc.. At the end of the day no one expects perfect recording studio quality but there is only one "you" and the story and knowledge you can bring = content - either by yourself or with a guest is really where the focus should lie (in my opinion - especially in the very beginning)

It is a marathon not a sprint - you will not have super many downloads initially and so don't be discouraged - keep going - if you feel that your topic is important and needs to be heard - people will come.

Don't expect to monetize your podcast right away - all of this will usually take time

Enjoy the journey - it is a very amazing feeling to edit an episode and press the publishing button - it feels like a true creation - like how someone may feel writing a short story, drawing a small painting etc..

emilyspath.ca, 

twitter.com/karin_tischler, 

twitter.com/JobsharingByond, 

instagram.com/karintischlerbc, 

instagram.com/jobsharingandbeyond, 

linkedin.com/in/karin-tischler