Why improving your association career center is the key to unlocking member value
Associations are at a crossroads.
Considerable challenges lie ahead, including adapting to the post-pandemic economy. At the same time, your members need you to support their career development now more than ever, and with 1 in 4 professionals looking to change jobs this year, improving your association’s career center needs to be at the top of your to-do list right now.
But why exactly should your association improve its career center? What are the benefits of doing so?
We take a look at all of that in detail below — but first, let’s examine the main issues facing associations like yours right now.
What are the challenges associations face right now?
Currently, associations face a number of headwinds — from generating revenue to retaining members to staying relevant with younger generations. The lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these obstacles in many ways. Recent Wiley Society Member Surveys have revealed some important insights for associations across all sectors.
Membership has declined
According to the 2021 Wiley Society Member Survey, 58% of professionals are currently a member of an association or society — a decrease from 62% the prior year.
What’s more, a 2021 report from Marketing General Incorporated revealed that 47% of associations reported a decline in membership in 2020, while 45% saw their renewal rate drop — a substantial change from the 24% reported in 2019.
Funding remains an issue
Declining membership has brought a decrease in membership fees to many associations. Compounding this problem has been the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which decreased or disrupted non-dues revenue by forcing the cancellation of events, conferences, career fairs, and other sources of financing for associations.
Although the worst of the pandemic appears to have receded, the damage has been done. As a result, many associations have struggled with funding — a trend unlikely to go away anytime soon.
Member satisfaction is down
Wiley’s surveys also revealed that member satisfaction has dropped, particularly when it comes to career support.
In 2020, 49% of association members reported being satisfied with the career support they received. However, that number dipped to just 44% in 2021. What’s more, 15% of professionals who left an association or society within the past 12 months said that lack of career support was the basis for their decision.
Similarly, overall member satisfaction has declined. While 75% reported being “Very Satisfied” or “Satisfied” with their association in both 2019 and 2020, just 70% reported being so in 2021. Alarmingly, Wiley’s data has also revealed that association member satisfaction was rated a very low 3.38 out of 5 — below even the minimum level of 3.5.
This drop in satisfaction has several consequences for associations, including lower member retention and decreased member engagement.
Recruiting and retaining younger members remains challenging
Finally, recruiting and retaining younger professionals is challenging for many associations. Millennial and Gen-Z professionals remain skeptical of the value that associations offer them, making recruitment difficult and skewing association membership toward older professionals, who are more likely to retire sooner and end their membership as a result.
What are the benefits of improving your association’s career center?
Focusing on upgrading your association’s career center offers myriad advantages.
With an improved, full-service career center, jobseekers can apply to relevant job postings, while professionals can read and view content, learn about upcoming industry events and news, receive career advice, and access learning and development resources.
An upgraded career center is very useful for association members, jobseekers, and professionals alike, giving them the tools they need to advance their careers and grow their skillsets all under one roof.
Here’s a closer look at some of these benefits in greater detail.
Grow your non-dues revenue
Improved career centers are an excellent way to generate non-dues revenue efficiently.
According to the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), membership fees generate less than 40% of total income for associations, meaning that non-dues revenue represents the majority of total income for most associations. This, in turn, makes it crucial for associations to maximize their non-dues revenue to stay financially viable.
So, how can improving your association’s career center help with this? If you’re able to successfully position your association as a leader in your industry’s professional development, you’ll be able to attract advertising from key employers in your sector, turning your career center into a critical revenue-generating tool for years to come.
Boost your membership
Through offering relevant job postings, as well as valuable content for your audience, your association career center can emerge as a leading destination for professionals in your industry. This can drive membership and overall growth for your association over the long term.
Build and engage your audience
Improving your career center is also a great way to build your audience and increase engagement.
With a full-service career center, your association can leverage SEO, job postings, and optimized, valuable content to increase its reach in your community, growing your audience and boosting engagement with them significantly.
Offer increased value
Another of the key advantages of improving your career center is the ability to offer increased value for your audience.
Along with offering relevant job postings, full-service association career centers can serve your audience with valuable and useful content, career advice, skill assessments, information about upcoming events, training and credentialing courses for members’ learning and development, and more.
In addition, an improved career center with career support capabilities can play a key role in increasing member satisfaction and boosting retention. According to Wiley’s data, members who use career support services give their association a much higher Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 57, compared to the average member score of just 20.
By offering job opportunities as well as valuable and relevant content for your audience in a single hub, your association’s optimized career center can play a key role in boosting member engagement, increasing members’ satisfaction, and reducing membership churn.
Gain valuable insights
Finally, upgrading your association’s career center is an excellent way to gain valuable insights into your audience and learn more about their pain points, goals, and more. Your association members can see first-hand the roles they’re applying for, which employers are the most popular, which content is most engaging, and the like. With this data, you can better understand your audience and tailor your association to meet its needs more effectively.
See how Madgex can help your association today
Want to boost your revenue, grow membership, and increase engagement with your audience? Improving your association’s career center is one way to do it!
By leveraging relevant job postings backed by SEO functionality, tailored content, and other resources for your audience, an upgraded, full-service career center can do all that and more.
Madgex offers the market-leading technology and expertise you need to grow your association and drive value for your members. Since 2000, we’ve been trusted by many of the largest and most prestigious associations in the United States, who’ve leveraged our experience and highly advanced technology to unlock the value of their audiences.
Using Madgex’s unparalleled SEO functionality, cutting-edge data security features, built-in revenue solutions, and experienced career center specialists, associations across all industries have been able to successfully grow their non-dues revenue, boost membership, obtain deeper insights into their audience and — above all — provide enhanced value to their members.
Your association can’t afford to wait any longer. Contact us today to learn more about how we can improve your career center and truly unlock the value of your audience.