How to use technology to support your members’ career journey

Your members’ needs and expectations evolve as they move through their careers. Having the right technology in place helps you understand and engage with your members through each stage of their journey.  

When you think about your members’ experience with your association, you likely think about acquisition, onboarding, engagement, and renewal. But when thinking about the complete member journey, it’s important to also consider your members’ needs and expectations as they move through their careers.

According to the Community Brands 2018 Member Education and Career Development Report, helping advance their career is the number two most important benefit of joining an association, as cited by Millennial member survey respondents. Similarly, the Community Brands Member Loyalty Study found that job opportunities tops the list as one of the most valued member benefits.

A key part of supporting your members’ journey is making sure you have the right career center and learning management technologies in place to enhance and increase the value your organization provides its members through each phase of their career – from student and early career to retirement.

What to look for in career center technology

Your career center should be a source of engagement and help for your members. Look for career center technology that supports job alerts, personalized searches, and recommendations, plus the ability for members to import their resumes from LinkedIn and log in through existing social accounts, such as Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn. Your career center platform also should allow you to support members at various career stages.

Your career center should be a source of engagement and help for your members…Your career center platform also should allow you to support members at various career stages.

For example:

• Automatically send jobs to interested, relevant job seekers via email when they’re posted, and allow your members to quickly apply to jobs from their mobile device.
• Increase engagement and job views by recommending opportunities to job seekers, based on their prior searches.
• Offer hiring managers sophisticated options that maximize exposure of their job postings to improve their return on investment.

What to look for in a learning management system (LMS)

Members choose their association as the “go-to” source for training and education. In fact, according to the 2018 Member Education and Career Development Report, 85 percent of members look to associations for professional development opportunities.

Virtual learning experiences are gaining in popularity, because members want convenient digital experiences that fit into their busy, mobile-enabled lives.

Here are three things to look for in an LMS to support your member journey:

• Flexibility — Look for a system that allows you to grow your online learning program over time to meet your members’ needs. For example, you may want to offer only on-demand learning now, but as your program evolves, you may want to offer livestreaming of your in-person events.
• Interactivity — One of the key elements that makes your on-site events appealing is interactivity: talking with other attendees, asking questions, making comments. Interactivity can be brought to virtual experiences, as well. Look for a system that supports networking and interaction opportunities in your online learning experience.
• Ease of use — Be sure the system you select streamlines and simplifies manual tasks to free your learning staff’s time, so they can focus more on delivering the right content to your members when they need it. At the same time, it’s important to allow your members to easily find content. Be sure your LMS allows staff members to easily tag and categorize content, so your members can quickly find the specific content they’re seeking.

According to the 2018 Member Education and Career Development Report, 85 percent of members look to associations for professional development opportunities.

Connect your career center and your LMS for a more complete member experience

To create an easy, seamless, and complete experience for your members, your LMS should integrate with your career center.

Just imagine the following scenarios:

• Your job board visitors see relevant jobs and popular, relevant, or recommended courses offered by your association that will help them become qualified for those jobs.
• Non-members visiting your job board receive recommendations for courses and continuing education tied directly back to your association learning offerings, providing additional opportunity for new learner and member acquisition.
• Members and non-members browsing your LMS course menu are presented with actual and relevant job opportunities they would be qualified for if they took suggested courses or learning paths through your organization.
• Upon exiting courses or receiving certifications, learners are presented with job opportunities they are now qualified for as a result of their new competencies or credentials.

With the right technology solutions, you no longer have to imagine these scenarios. Community Brands offers career center and LMS solutions as part of our integrated software suite for associations. That means they work better together to help you support the complete member journey.

Related posts that you may also find useful:

• Member Loyalty Study: Members value job opportunities.
• Strategies that support every stage of your association’s members career journey – from student to retiree.
• Is your association helping millennials further their careers?
• AMS/LMS integration blueprint: Create efficiency, enhance experience, bridge the gap.