It’s always important to continually bring in new members.
Especially when you need to to replace those who leave due to job changes, job loss, retirement, and other reasons. But, keeping members on board with your association long term is also critically important. After all, loyal members represent the core of your member base. They tend to be most involved and can help get other members to join and become more involved.
Community Brands research shows that help advancing their career is one of the top benefits for most members. It’s often why they join, and it remains important throughout their career journey.
Your online career center can be a powerful tool for giving members the career help they seek. It can also be a source of engagement for your members, keeping them connected with your organization and other members.
One key to optimizing your career center is to ensure you have the right technology in place. Your career center technology should include these capabilities:
Email job matching – Automatically send jobs to relevant job seekers via email when they are posted, and allow your members to quickly apply to jobs from their mobile devices.
Personalized search and recommendations – Increase engagement and job views by recommending opportunities to job seekers based on their prior search history and personal qualifications.
Mobile responsiveness – Allow your members to quickly apply to jobs from their mobile devices.
Career resources – Offer members access to professional resources, including career advice articles, career coaching, and résumé critiques, to help them land the job.
TECH TIP: YM Careers by Community Brandsgives you the tools you need to create a robust online career center. Using YM Careers with Crowd Wisdom by Community Brands, you can provide even greater member value by recommending learning courses that can help members become qualified for specific job opportunities.
Another finding from Community Brands research is that members get value from the organization in which they belong in different ways along their career journey. As you think about how to keep members around for life, consider what they might be looking for from your organization in each phase of their career. For example:
Student/new graduate – These members are often looking for internship opportunities, training, and certification opportunities.
TECH TIP: YM Careers InternBoard can be fully integrated with your online career center, or you can create a stand-alone intern board. Either way, internship seekers can easily create their own accounts and profiles, and add resumes and cover letters. They can search internship postings and apply directly within the job board.
New grads and early careerists – These members are typically searching and applying for jobs. Your organization can help connect them with job and networking opportunities, mentors, certifications, professional education and credentialing.
TECH TIP:Using YM Careers MentorBoard, you can give members the ability to set up their own accounts and profiles with all information needed to qualify them as a “mentee”. They can then search user profiles and initiate contact with a potential mentor.
Mid careerists – These members are often looking for their next great job, additional certification and credentialing, recommended learning paths, industry news, and professional networking.
TECH TIP:YM Careers job board allows members to easily search and apply for job opportunities. They can receive alerts when new relevant job opportunities are posted. They can also access professional resources, including career advice articles and résumé critiques to help them land the job.
Late careerists – These members are often looking to hire employees, become a mentor, and find leadership courses.
TECH TIP: YM Careers MentorBoard, can match prospective mentors with members who are just starting out in the industry. Your YM Careers online career center can help them easily post job opportunities and distribute them to the right audience based on skills, certifications, geography, and more.
Take the next step
With the right career center technology, you can give members the career help they need and, ultimately, make them members for life. Learn more about how to create a great member experience that keeps members around for years to come: Explore YM Careers by Community Brands
