Nondues revenue through your online career center

Ask the Coach

By Marshall Brown, CPCC, President, Marshall Brown & Associates, Washington
published in AssociationTRENDS. reprinted with permission.

If your assn doesn¹t have an online career site for your members, guess what? It¹s time. The days of matching paper resumes (job seekers) and hiring managers is over. Online career centers are not only another resource for your members, but can be a nice stream of revenue as well. I know, some of you are thinking, ³Why would we provide this to members ­ their bosses will be mad because we give them the tools to look for new jobs?²

Guess what? The job seeker will find the resources regardless of who provides them. So, why shouldn¹t they turn to their assn? Why shouldn¹t you provide a career site for those entering the profession who might just become members, too. Who can argue with increasing membership?

I recently participated in a workshop in which four assn executives responsible for their assns¹ job banks spoke. Not one, but all said their job pages were one of the top-three pages visited on their web sites. Who can argue with drawing more members (and nonmembers) to your site? Who knows what else they might seek out while there?

Already have a job bank on your site? GREAT! Congrats for providing this service. Career sites today can¹t just be job banks though. What else can you provide to potential job seekers? Many assns offer resume critiques, career coaching and career workshops ­ all as additional sources of nondues revenue.

Yes, many of these services can be found elsewhere. However, if you are like most people today, you have less time to do your search. You want to be sure you are reaching your niche market and a site that will provide specific information about your profession. If you are an assn executive seeking to make a job change, wouldn¹t one of the first places you turn to for these resources be the assn of assn executives? (Association TRENDS also has a jobservice on its web site.)

And here is another idea for ³nondues revenue² through your career center. You can provide many of these services onsite at your annual meetings and conferences. Many assns provide (and charge) for résumé review and coaching at meetings. Some charge extra for attending ³personal development tracks² at their conferences and provide job search strategy programs.

For example, American Water Resources Assn provides a career workshop for student members at their annual meeting. Not only does this help members, but it also shows the member (or potential member) that AWRA is the place to go to for career resources.

Conferences and annual meetings are also good opportunities to recruit hiring managers to post jobs onsite (sometimes at a discount). Your members will appreciate the information and you receive additional revenue ­ it¹s a win-win for all concerned.

Marshall Brown, a certified career and executive coach has always had a passion for helping people find ways to live more fulfilling lives. As a coach, Brown helps individuals to find their passions and encourages them to move ahead in reaching their goals. His book, High Level Resumes, reflects his successful work with hundreds of job candidates. Reach him at marshall@mbrownassociates.com.

Ask the Coach addresses questions and concerns of assn professionals about their careers. Send your questions to marshall@mbrownassociates.com.

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