You might realize that your association needs a job board for members, but you may not realize all the benefits an online career center can offer. Not only can it help your members find jobs and develop their careers, but it also can help your association attract and retain members.
How can an online career center help an association acquire and retain members?
Based on association trends research conducted by Community Brands, we know that offering an online career center can help associations recruit and retain members. Why?
Job opportunities and help with career development are among the most valuable member benefits. Those who are in the early and mid-stages of their careers are especially interested in job opportunities and help with career advancement.
An online career center helps members and other job seekers gain access to:
- Jobs postings in your industry
- Career planning tools and resources
- Higher recognition with employers
Delivering these member benefits leads to better member engagement, which in turn makes for loyal members who will continue to renew their memberships and encourage their colleagues to join as well.
A top-notch career center can help you:
- Attract new members with engaging content and jobs
- Better engage and retain current members
- Position you as the top career resource in your industry
As a bonus, a career center can also be one of your biggest sources of non-dues revenue. Through it, you can give employers exclusive access to your members, increased brand recognition, and unmatched recruitment resources. You can also offer valuable sponsorship opportunities and ad sales to employers that will drive non-dues income for your association.
How do you acquire and retain members using your career center?
There are multiple ways to acquire and retain members using your career center. Here are some ideas:
- Capture non-members – Not only do your members use your job board to look for jobs or career resources, but so do other professionals within your industry that you may not yet have acquired as members. Include membership sign-up content on your career center so that you can capture non-member information in your association management system (AMS) upon sign-up. You can then use the information in your AMS to drive member acquisition campaigns.
- Be sure to check to see if your association management software (AMS) integrates with your job board software. Integrating your AMS with your job board software can help you to improve member acquisition and retention.
- Be sure to check to see if your association management software (AMS) integrates with your job board software. Integrating your AMS with your job board software can help you to improve member acquisition and retention.
- Present job seekers with learning opportunities – As job seekers visit your online career center, present them with learning opportunities. That way, they will be more likely to visit your association’s education catalog and invest in their continuing education. In turn, this gives you another chance at getting them to become members.
- Send members relevant job opportunities – Community Brands has found that members want new, relevant jobs delivered directly into their inboxes via a dedicated job email.
- Send career resources to job seekers and members – Email job seekers regularly with tips, best practices, and jobs (or job posting) opportunities. Point them to resources based on their past activity with your association’s career center to provide them with added value and keep them coming back for more.
Learn more about how to attract and retain members
With a robust online career center, your association can create a true career destination for your industry that attracts members to your organization and helps members achieve their professional goals – keeping them around for years to come.
