Joi a Professioal Associatio 1. The secret job resource: professioal orgaizatios. You may ot kow this, but the career field you re i, or plaig to work i i the future, probably has at least oe professioal orgaizatio coected to it. Professioal orgaizatios provide a wealth of iformatio ad opportuities to lear more about your field, make coectios with people i the field, lear the latest treds ad issues, ad eve fid out about hidde job opportuities. Employers ofte look favorably upo idividuals who participate with professioal orgaizatios because it shows you re committed to your career. Professioal orgaizatios provide a log-term beefit of keepig you educated ad up-to-date i your field. By joiig ad participatig i a professioal orgaizatio, you will automatically icrease your visibility i the market, develop ew relatioships ad cotacts, ehace your résumé ad develop ew skills. You ca also give back by voluteerig to serve i a variety of capacities, agai addig to your résumé ad future employmet opportuities. Locate the professioal orgaizatio which best fits your career field ad joi it. Check with the staff at your career ceter or use the Natioal Trade ad Professioal Associatios directory foud at almost every library to get some ideas. Try searchig o the web as well, usig your career field ad professioal associatio as keywords. Fid out if your school has a studet chapter. 2011 Califoria Commuity Colleges Chacellor s Offce
Joi a Professioal Associatio 2. Fid a professioal orgaizatio. There are literally thousads of professioal orgaizatios. Each orgaizatio will vary i the costituets it serves, its missio, ad the services it provides to its members so you will eed to do some olie research to determie which orgaizatio has the most to offer you. These resources will help you fid oes that are most related to your iterests: Associatios o the Net lists a variety of orgaizatios ad categorizes them by subject area. They offer liks directly to the orgaizatio s site. http://www.ipl.org/iplbrowse/getsubject?vid=13&cid=7 The ASAE Gateway to Associatios Directory is updated regularly ad will help you locate associatios related to your field: http://www.asaeceter.org/directories/associatiosearch.cfm The WEDDLE s Associatio Directory also provides liks to several thousad associatios: http://www.weddles.com/associatios/ I additio, you ca fid the Gale Ecyclopedia of Associatios at your local or college library. Oce you ve located a orgaizatio that fits your career field, read through its website to become familiar with its offerigs. 2011 Califoria Commuity Colleges Chacellor s Offce
Joi a Professioal Associatio 3. How to make the most of a professioal coferece. Oe of the biggest beefits of a professioal orgaizatio is the cofereces ad meetigs they sposor both regioal ad atioal. Cofereces provide a great opportuity to meet ew people i your field ad get ito iformal coversatios that might someday lead to a job or other career advacemet. Here are some tips for attedig your first coferece: If you ca, arrage to stay at the hotel where the coferece is happeig that will esure you have better chace of meetig as may people as possible. Take the time to review the covetio or coferece program before it starts. Idetify the programs you wat to atted ad take ote of which speakers you d like to hear. Arrive early to the coferece ad use the meals ad breaks to meet ew people. Brig your busiess cards ad/or résumé i case you ru ito ayoe who is hirig or who might be able to offer you some job search assistace. Be sure to follow-up with emails ad thak-you s to the people you met at the coferece. Check out the upcomig cofereces or group meetigs of your professioal associatio. See if they have reduced studet rates. Register, ad get ready to atted ad make the most of it! 2011 Califoria Commuity Colleges Chacellor s Offce
Joi a Professioal Associatio 4. How to get the most from a professioal orgaizatio. If all you do is pay your dues, you wo t get much from the orgaizatio. Istead, thik of this group as your career-builder because it is. Start by reviewig what they have to offer: publicatios, cofereces ad meetigs, etworkig opportuities, job listigs, product discouts, etc. Decide where ad how you d like to fit i. What talets or stregths do you have to offer the group? What skills, experiece, or kowledge would you like to gai? What activities would help you? Cotributig articles of iterest for a ewsletter, speakig o a topic of iterest, maitaiig a website, participatig o a board of directors or o committees for special projects, voluteerig to assist with meetig coordiatio or fudraisig are all ways of becomig more ivolved that ca produce substatial persoal rewards ad satisfactio. For the small ivestmet of a few additioal hours each moth, it is possible to maitai a etwork of cotacts you would ot ordiarily have access to, fid support should your employmet (or other) circumstaces chage, build o your existig skills, lear ew skills, get coected with ew people ad become visible i your professio ad commuity. Are t you worth it? Read through your orgaizatio s website ad select oe area for further ivestigatio. Follow up by cotactig the idividual who hadles that area. Not sure who that is? Write the head of the orgaizatio ad ask them to forward your email to the right perso. 2011 Califoria Commuity Colleges Chacellor s Offce
Joi a Professioal Associatio 5. Writig opportuities i professioal orgaizatios. Most professioal orgaizatios offer varied opportuities to improve your writig skills. They publish trade jourals, ewsletters, magazies, ad brochures, ot to metio a website. Writig for their publicatios ad website ca greatly icrease your visibility i the professioal commuity, provide you with a product to show potetial employers, ad demostrate your strog writig skills. You wo t likely be paid for the opportuity, but a article olie will be located by ay employer doig a Google search of your ame, preset you i a positive light ad maybe eve lauch your career. Also, a article which requires you to do some research ca give you the perfect excuse for cotactig authors of books i your field, experts i the field etc. If you d like to write a article, cotact the editor of the publicatio. Write dow 5 ideas you could develop ito articles. Be creative. You could iterview a local leader i your field. You could review the latest books i your field. Write about the five cocers you hear from your fellow studets about the professio ad how they ca overcome them. Maybe you could write a advice colum for studets gettig ready to eter the field. 2011 Califoria Commuity Colleges Chacellor s Offce
Joi a Professioal Associatio 6. Develop your speakig skills i a professioal orgaizatio. If you re tryig to build up your commuicatio ad public speakig skills, professioal orgaizatios ca offer lots of opportuities. You ca start small ad just offer commets at other people s presetatios, or offer to lead a discussio at a meetig. Take a look at the list of speakers at a upcomig coferece you pla to atted. Cosider cotactig oe or two speakers who are presetig o topics of iterest to you ad offer to assist them i ay way. You ca help them with their hadouts o the day of the presetatio or offer to do some research for them ahead of time, Thik about the topic ahead of time, ad prepare a questio or a commet you ca offer durig the presetatio s Q&A sessio afterward. Whe you re ready, cosider deliverig a presetatio at a local meetig ad whe you re ready for the big time-- cosider proposig a presetatio at the ext coferece. Presetig at cofereces is a great way to boost your visibility both withi the orgaizatio ad with potetial employers. The ext time your orgaizatio aouces a upcomig coferece, look for the call for presetatios or call for papers. Read the proposal guidelies ad cosider submittig a proposal for a program you could do. 2011 Califoria Commuity Colleges Chacellor s Offce
Joi a Professioal Associatio 7. Networkig opportuities through professioal orgaizatios. Professioal orgaizatios host a variety of meetigs, cofereces, symposiums, programs, workshops, ad other orgaized group activities. While all of these activities ca provide a great base for learig ad etworkig, some orgaizatios eve host specific etworkig evets for their members. These gatherigs provide a great way to meet iformally with other members ad get to kow their iterests ad backgrouds-- ad because people are away from the offce they are usually relaxed ad eager to commuicate with each other. Oe eveig of etworkig at a professioal evet ca coect you with more people i your professio tha moths of job hutig. Ad you ever kow where that ew relatioship might lead. As soo as you joi a professioal orgaizatio, look for a opportuity to atted a local, regioal, or atioal evet where you ca etwork ad meet ew members. Sig up for oe today. 2011 Califoria Commuity Colleges Chacellor s Offce
Joi a Professioal Associatio 8. Buildig your orgaizatioal ad commuicatio skills through professioal orgaizatios. Professioal orgaizatios provide a wealth of opportuities to develop your orgaizatioal ad commuicatio skills. Because they represet a broad rage of idividuals i ay give career field, professioal orgaizatios offer you the opportuity to work with people from diverse cultures, ages, ad backgrouds. You will develop your team maagemet skills as well by workig o a variety of activities or programs withi your orgaizatio. Read through the website or materials from your professioal orgaizatio. Decide o oe committee, program, or activity that iterests you. Cotact the perso i charge ad see if they could use your assistace. 2011 Califoria Commuity Colleges Chacellor s Offce
Joi a Professioal Associatio 9. Become a leader i a professioal orgaizatio. Professioal orgaizatios are a great place to develop ad practice your leadership skill a valuable additio to your résumé. You ca offer to lead a committee, a project, a discussio group or ay umber of activities. Becomig a leader i this way will help you develop ad demostrate your teamplayig skills, your competecy, ad your take-actio style, ad you will be see as someoe who is professioal, carig ad trusted. Followig through o your promises to the orgaizatio is key: real leaders ca be trusted ad their word is their bod. You might ot have time to lead a committee or deal with a log-term project, but you might have time to work o oe activity that will oly take oe day. Beig a good leader requires that you also kow how to follow if you ca t take a leadership role yet, select a committee or project topic that iterests you ad offer to help. You ca work as your way ito a leadership role. Read through the website or materials for your professioal orgaizatio. Idetify where you could take a leadership role based o your time ad skills. Cotact someoe at the orgaizatio who could help you get started. 2011 Califoria Commuity Colleges Chacellor s Offce
Joi a Professioal Associatio 10. Fid a metor through a professioal orgaizatio. Do you have some career ideas ad goals, but ot sure how to carry them out? Would you like to get advice or assistace from someoe who s i the career field you re iterested i? Cosider fidig a metor. Start by thikig about what you d like from your metor ad how ofte you wat to coect with them. Cotact your professioal orgaizatio ad see if they have a established metorig program some will match you up with a metor. Eve if they do t, go to a few of the orgaizatio s evets ad if you meet someoe you ejoy talkig to, ad who has some experiece i your field of iterest, cosider askig them if they d be willig to metor you. Ask someoe to metor you. Explai why you re seekig their help, ad why you thik they are a great perso to help you. If they tur you dow, thak them ayway, ad ask if they have a recommedatio of someoe else who might be able to help you. 2011 Califoria Commuity Colleges Chacellor s Offce