During lockdown, I decided to create a weekly blog. This month, I’m celebrating five years of The Career Catalyst. I was inspired to provide a useful resource for people struggling with the many life challenges and curveballs that COVID presented. With 40 years of experience working in both careers practitioner and leadership roles.
I hoped my blog would provide useful content for those who were:
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Reassessing the meaning of work in a post-COVID world
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Considering a career change
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Feeling ‘lost’ and unsure what they wanted
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Lacking in confidence
After I’d published my first post, I panicked that I’d run out of things to say. Those of you who know me well, may have thought to yourselves “fat chance of that!” Well, you were right. Over five years, I’ve written or edited 223 posts- more or less one per week. This figure includes a number of guest posts from my contacts, who I’ve been very grateful to – especially when I was running short of ideas. My posts are grouped into five searchable themes:
- What do you want from a career?
- Career Confidence
- Career Development
- Careers Resources
- Gender Equality
Search by topic
When I became self-employed, I moved the blog into my new website. This now makes it easier to find relevant posts. For example, if you’re interested in a particular topic such as job interviews, free careers questionnaires or leadership, you can now use the search bar at the top of the blog page to locate relevant posts.
Newsletter and LinkedIn
Each week I share my latest post through a weekly newsletter on Mailchimp. I also then reshare it through LinkedIn. If you’d like to subscribe to posts, you can sign up through the link at the bottom of my blog page. LinkedIn can be a bit hit and miss with who sees/doesn’t see my content, depending on the algorithm, so the newsletter guarantees you’ll receive my posts.
Why writing my blog has been useful
I’ve enjoyed a number of benefits:
- Meeting people who have read and enjoyed my blog and tell me so, which is always gratifying to hear
- Paid work opportunities
- Invitations to international webinars and conferences as a keynote speaker
- Delivery of presentations and webinars to professional bodies
- Requests for career coaching
- Being paid for an article in Myslexia magazine, winning in the ‘best blog’ category
The future
So what next for The Career Catalyst blog? I’m looking forward to continuing to write posts. I’m always open to a guest post if you have something you’d like to contribute, providing it fits into one of the five themes listed above. Do drop me an email if that’s something you’d be interested in.
Think of me if you:
- Want to to provide career support workshops staff at risk of redundancy/restructuring
- Want to change career and would like a career coach to support you
- Need a speaker for your event
- Would like to make the most of your team through bespoke Strengths workshops
For those of you who have encouraged me, commented on my posts, written guest posts, or hired me to deliver work as a result of my blog- a big “thank you!” for your support! Here’s to the next five years.