This spring, we invited you, our readers, to share your opinions and observations about the CareerWise website and CareerWise Weekly newsletter as part of our continued commitment to meeting your learning needs. More than 300 people responded, helping us better understand our readers’ experiences and their ideas for the future of CareerWise. Here are some of the highlights and how we plan to use these insights going forward.
What did we learn?
The vast majority of respondents expressed satisfaction with the content they find on CareerWise. We were thrilled to see that readers are, by and large, finding the articles we create and share to be relevant to their work (92%) and of a high writing quality (95%).
We also learned that readers have found the content to be actionable, with 41% of respondents having taken a new or modified approach to their work as a result of visiting the website. Some readers have also passed on their learnings to others, sharing an article with a colleague or peer (71%) or a client (42%).
Many people shared issues, topics and themes they want to read more about on CareerWise, including:
- Employment and future of work trends
- Career development for children and youth
- Helping clients navigate barriers to employment (e.g. newcomer clients, clients with disabilities, formerly incarcerated clients, etc.)
- Older workers
- Mental health
We are taking these learning priorities into account both in the articles we curate from diverse sources across the web as well as in the original content we produce. (For instance, you can find recent resource compilations related to older workers, ex-offenders and mental health in our In the Know section.)
How have we responded?
While some readers lauded the modern design of CareerWise – a major departure from our old ContactPoint website – others shared their suggestions to make the site more aesthetically pleasing. We have conducted follow-up phone interviews with some respondents to better understand their feedback about the website design. We are currently considering how to best implement what we’ve learned.
We also received many responses from readers of CareerWise’s French sister site, OrientAction, and are examining feedback. Any changes to design will be made to both websites, although content will continue to be tailored to these unique audiences.
Survey feedback has also helped us make a small but significant change to our CareerWise Weekly newsletter. We have modified the layout to ensure readers are always able to quickly and easily click through to the content they want to read. We are considering potential changes to further streamline the design.
Drop us a line
We are immensely grateful to those who took the time to participate in our survey. However, we are always open to reader feedback. Have a suggestion on how we can improve CareerWise and/or CareerWise Weekly? A topic you’d like to read more about? Get in touch! You can reach me, the Editor, at lindsay@ceric.ca or 416.929.2510, ext. 134.
We were also pleased to have many people request more information about how to contribute to CareerWise. If you are interested in writing a blog, feel free to reach out any time. We welcome a variety of perspectives and levels of experience.
Let’s keep working together to enhance knowledge and build community in the career development field.
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