Welcome to the Careers Writers Association. We are a professional network of highly experienced careers writers and editors. Our members create articles, books, videos, podcasts and other resources on a wide range of careers-related topics for many different audiences and clients. Many of our members are also qualified career guidance professionals, offering career guidance services in schools, colleges, universities and with private clients.
Our blog is filled with useful careers content on a wide variety of topics. Visit the Looking for a careers writer? page for more details on members, including our areas of expertise. Feel free to contact us with any questions or comments, and if you’re interested in joining the CWA we would love to hear from you!
Latest blog posts from the Careers Writers Association
Future-proofing Father Christmas
Clare Lewis shares some wise advice with Father Christmas on the importance of staying relevant in a fast-changing jobs market… Happy Christmas!
Festive Games
Chris Targett reflects on how the games we play in the holidays can teach us valuable lessons for our career development thinking
What is a “good career” anyway?
There are lots of people out there pushing what they think a “good career” looks like. In many cases this is “careers advice” masquerading as “careers guidance”. It is disconcerting on multiple levels, as it pushes people down paths that might not be for them. It applies pressure, via judgement, that only certain types of…
Featured: content by careers writers
Considering a career in animal science? Check out this article written by CWA member Mark Yates, originally published in Career Matters and then republished on Careerfocus Essex.
Navigating the Job Hunting Process
Finding a new job can feel like a full-time job in itself! But with the right approach and some planning, not only will your chances of finding a new opportunity increase, you will be able to balance this with ‘having a life’ at the same time. What, why, how? First off, you need to think…
Featured: content by careers writers
In this article for Trotman, CWA member Caroline Green writes about how to thrive in a solitary role when working in the careers sector.
Featured: content by careers writers
In this article on Careerfocus Essex, CWA member Mark Yates shares information on advice for applying to international universities as a UK student.
Options at 13-14: Ten questions to help students with their choices
Decisions, decisions! Never easy at the best of times, but particularly when it may be the first time students have been faced with having to make some major choices. Deciding on school options at the age of around 13 or 14 is straightforward for some, but some students struggle to choose between different GCSE/Scottish National…
What are the Gatsby Benchmarks and why are they important?
A guide for the uninitiated In short, the Gatsby Benchmarks are one of the major influences on how we prepare young people in schools and colleges for the world of work. What? How come I’ve never heard of them? Well if you work in a school or college, you really should have heard of them.…
Mastering the ‘Greatest Weakness’ Interview Question
‘What is your greatest weakness?’ must be the toughest question you can get asked at an interview. In this article I want to discuss the type of answer that would be acceptable to your next prospective employer. You must give a balanced answer – it needs to be a little bit true, but also something…
What’s in a name? How the naming of jobs impacts on career choices
What’s the strangest job title you’ve ever heard? Sometimes it seems that organisations are having a secret competition to come up with the most puzzling way possible to describe a role. When I find myself having to read a job title several times just to try to work out what it means, I come back…
Careers walks
CWA member Alan Bullock recently published an article on Careerwise by CERIC all about delivering career guidance whilst on a walk. Check it out now for a fascinating look at a different form of guidance delivery and to see Alan’s beautiful pictures from a recent scenic careers walk.
Apprenticeship chances: Planned happenstance
‘Planned happenstance’ is an idea put forward by Professor John Krumboltz of Stanford University. In a nutshell, it is the recommendation that we ought to seek out opportunities and make our own luck, by being open to opportunities and actively doing what we can to be in the right place at the right time. I…
Risk and decision making
It is widely understood that our brains change as they develop; the teenage brain is very different to the adult brain, notably with decisions and emotions being led via the amygdala rather than the prefrontal cortex, which finishes developing at about the age of 25. This is often presented as a deficit for “good decision…
How to write an effective UCAS personal statement
“There’s no such thing as a model statement, each one should be different.” This is how one university admissions tutor responded to the question of how to make a UCAS personal statement stand out from the crowd. Whilst it might be useful to use a template to help create the statement, the final draft should…