I’m not one for new year resolutions but if I was going to make one it really should be to blog a little more. I’m just over one year on from taking the leap from employee to freelancer and I’ve discovered that time to reflect has been pretty much non-existent.

Looking back personally, it’s been a good year. Always on the look-out to broaden my knowledge I’ve delved into the graduate labour market, written my first article with an ISSN, familiarised myself with Twitter analytics, became an ambassador for National Careers Week and even managed to build an – albeit basic – website. And all on top of doing what I love most – developing useful careers information!

In terms of the wider world of careers it’s been a bit of a mixed bag.

Continuing frustrations around the lack of a careers strategy for England, the mind-boggling stripping-down of the National Careers Service website, the disbanding of the UKCES and leanings towards combining Matrix accreditation and Quality in Careers Award standards remain concerns.

There has been a media ‘overkill’ around the question of whether robots will take over all our jobs and little progress in terms of the number of people on zero hours contracts across a range of sectors which don’t work well for them. However, on the plus side, the new National Living Wage was introduced in April which is a positive step forwards.

So despite the (website) silence it’s been a satisfying year for me, creating workshops, leaflets, guides, posters, articles and lists, making new ‘careers’ buddies along the way and generally passing on knowledge which might actually help someone find a job they love.

Busy is good I guess.