You probably know that your members look to your association to help them advance their careers. So, you might offer an online job board as a member benefit. That’s a great start. But, does your association’s online career center truly deliver as much of the career advancement benefits your members are seeking?
The study shows that career advancement benefits are important and/or increasing in importance to members of professional membership associations. The same study shows that these benefits are especially valued by members who are early in their careers – your next generation of members.
Yet, those who work at professional membership associations (“Pros”) do not always think career advancement benefits are as important to members as members themselves do.
MOST IMPORTANT BENEFITS
(CURRENT MEMBER AND PRO VIEWPOINTS)
(% very important)
MEMBER PRIORITIES BY CAREER STAGE
(% very important)
These findings are consistent with multiple Community Brands studies over the past several years. So, how can your association deliver more of the career-boosting benefits your members want?
A great approach is to start thinking about your online career center as more than simply a place for job postings. Don’t get me wrong; allowing employers to post job openings, and job-seeking members to apply for them, is a great baseline member benefit. But your online career center should go beyond job postings to offer a wealth of career advancement opportunities – which is especially valuable for members when the economy is in flux.
Here are some examples of career resources you can add to your online career center to give members the support and know-how they’re seeking:
- Career path mapping – Give your members a roadmap to reach their professional goals. For example, using Career Journey by Community Brands, offer your members an online tool to map out their career path based on the job they want. It gives them a clear path, including the skills, learning, and job titles they need to reach their goals.
- Résumé review – Offer free résumé critique through your career center.
- Job seeker articles, tips, and recommendations – Offer content including résumé writing tips, interview techniques, job search ideas, and tips on social networking.
- Career coaches – Connect members with certified career coaches to help with things like job search strategies, résumé writing, and interview tips.
- Networking – Allow job seekers who view a job in your job board to see any LinkedIn connection they have who works at the company. This is a useful technology integration that can help them open doors to new opportunities.
- Professional education – Use your career center to promote your association’s online learning courses and credentials. For example, recommend relevant learning courses that will make your members more qualified for the jobs they seek.
- Virtual career fairs – Virtual career fairs offer a convenient, low-cost alternative for job-seeking members to network and engage with employers when attending onsite events aren’t possible due to budget, schedule, health concerns, or other circumstances. You can offer these types of online events through your online career center. They offer many of the features of an onsite career fair without the need for employers, job seekers, and your organization’s staff to travel. Members and recruiters can meet one-on-one, online, in the comfort of their office or home.
Take the next steps.
Offering job opportunities via a job board is a great start for providing members with career advancement help. But if you think of your online career center as simply a place for job postings, you’re missing an opportunity to better serve your members. YM Careers by Community Brands offers job board software and career center solutions that power the examples in this article and more to help you deliver more of the career advancement benefits members seek.
