Crank up your career center: take your career site beyond job and resume postings.

JOB BOARDS ARE FAST BECOMING THE norm in associations. According to The State of Association E-Business (2001, ASAE), 29 percent of the associations that have Web sites provide users with a job bank. And 21 percent were planning to provide one within a year. To the 50 percent of associations that professed no intention of starting a job bank, take note. You may be missing an opportunity to add value for your members and generate nondues revenue (see companion article, "Revenue From Resumes"). Job boards are morphing into career centers-places where members and nonmembers alike can go for career advancement tools from articles and on- and off-line resources to professional development and networking opportunities.

Internal complements

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), New York City, for example, uses its job site to create internal synergies. "A lot of our professional development programs tie into the JobCenter," says John D. Robinson, chief marketing and sales officer. With the launch of a redesigned JobCenter in February, PRSA worked with an employment recruiter to provide job seekers with a teleconference on working with recruiters in their searches. The course was prominently promoted through the JobCenter, a place where the target market was likely to look. Seventeen people participated--a turnout encouraging enough for PRSA to repeat the session in May. The association is considering developing additional teleconferences with recruiters and other professionals. Research is under way to determine what topics would be most valuable to members.

Another option for going beyond position- and resume-posting: career content. A career site becomes more valuable when it wraps career-related content around its job listings such as interview tips and articles that are specific to the niche the association serves. "Our JobCenter isn't only about job and resume listings," says Robin A. Michaels, PRSA's director of Web content. "It's an entry point for a wealth of career resources, including articles whose topics range from getting your start in the public relations industry to advancing your career at a more senior level. Alongside the positions with top employers listed on our Web site, we provide tips on dealing with the job market as a public relations professional. We also offer a detailed salary survey, which is free to members. These resources help users to see the value inherent in PRSA membership, as costs are structured so that members get a deep discount even on job listings with resume postings and many other career resources for free."

Data minefield

Mining career center data for exhibitor, advertiser, and sponsor leads has become a standard practice for the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPMR), Chicago. "Companies that place an ad on our job board are added to our industry database," says Steve R. Smith, CAE, director of marketing communications and member services. "Several companies are added to our system each month. From that point forward, each receives information about other opportunities designed to help them connect with our members."

Smith continues, "Job board advertising has helped us build relationships within thc industry and is a service that our members value. These organizations typically approach us first, which indicates they have a vested interest in our industry, and that's something we want to follow up on.

"We're glad we could help." That's what the American Institute of Architects, Washington, D.C., tells nonmembers who find positions through its career center. Data mining has enabled the association to launch a letter-writing recruitment campaign that congratulates successful job seekers and reminds them of the benefits of membership, says James S. Dinegar, AIA's chief operating officer. Nonmember firms that advertise positions get a similar letter telling them how much money they could have saved on their job posting had they been a member.

Our hope is that firms and individuals realize the value of being a member, says Dinegar. Because this campaign is in its infancy, numbers are not yet available to confirm its success. However, says Dinegar, membership is an "easier sell to firms," because they can easily see the benefit of a price break for postings if even one person on staff is a member.

Networking's companion

At AAPMR, online job board advertisers are also tapped to participate in the academy's annual career fair, another source of nondues revenue for the association. And just as online publishing hasn't cannibalized print as pundits once predicted, AAPMR's more recent online job efforts have not harmed participation in the more than 15-year-old career fair. "Often there is concern that offering new ways for people to access similar information will negatively affect an existing program," says Smith. "Our online job board has not detracted from the face-to-face networking opportunities at the annual career fair. In fact, it has complemented and extended the career networking services we offer our members.

"Some people really want the face-to-face time that the career fair provides, but many use both the fair and the job board to reach prospective employees," adds Smith. To tie the high- and low-tech options together, companies that participate in the career fair receive a complimentary posting on the career site.

Without a doubt, networking continues to be the most effective way to find a new position. This isn't lost on Charles "Chip" Deale, CAE, vice president of member and candidate services at the Association for Investment Management and Research, Charlottesville, Virginia. But "as a global organization, it's difficult for AIMR to provide the means by which our members can network with one another face-to-face. When you have 64,000 members in 112 countries that's rather difficult," says Deale. "JobLine supplements [the networking] our members do on a local level, whether it's on their own or through local chapter membership. They're able to network locally and then [come] to JobLine to cast a global net."

PRSA's JobCenter complements its mentoring program. Through its College of Fellows, senior-level public relations practitioners volunteer to help others with career development topics such as career transitions, formal education versus professional development, and career path planning. "Even though our JobCenter is based online, personal guidance is just a click away. It's one simple step to find a mentor with expertise in a given area or to locate a professional-interest section that offers networking opportunities within your field of interest. These programs tie in closely with our JobCenter, allowing any candidate the opportunity to personally interact with a public relations professional," says Michaels.

An exclusive club

To place your career site behind a members-only wall, or not, is a question many associations are facing. And the answer is, it depends. If your goal is to take your job site beyond the realm of position and resume postings by making it a part of your association's value proposition, then behind the member wall it goes.

Exclusivity was a major factor in making JobLine a members-only benefit, says Deale, of the Association for Investment Management and Research. "It is our intention to eventually offer JobLine to individuals who are enrolled as candidates in our Chartered Financial Analyst program, and that would be on a fee-based basis," he adds. "Beyond that it's our desire to [keep] it an exclusive service just for AIMR members as opposed to opening it up to anyone in the investment management profession."

The Institute of Packaging Professionals made viewing career center postings a members-only benefit in May 2002. "Since May 2002, IoPP membership is up 20.9 percent," says Patrick M. Farrey, the association's general manager and principal of the association management company Landon, Farrey and Associates, Naperville, Illinois. "I can directly attribute about 6 percent of the new members to individuals joining specifically for access to the members-only sections of the IoPP Web site," of which the career center is one. This anecdotal evidence suggests that access to the job site is a strong recruitment tool.

"Associations struggle with two sometimes conflicting issues--nondues revenue and enhanced member benefits," says Farrey. "Initially," he adds, "we had a fee for posting to the career site and a fee for viewing postings. We did away with [both fees] because the member benefit of the service far outweighed the nondues revenue in our case.

LaRonda R. C. Famodu is a senior editor of ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT. E-mail: [e-mail].