Job opportunities and career advancement are some of the primary reasons for members to join and remain part of an association. Hence, offering a career center that connects them with their next job opportunity is a great way to enhance membership value and loyalty.
A well-designed career center offers access to:
- Industry-specific job postings
- Career advancement resources
- In-depth information on employers
All of which in turn attract new members, engage and retain current members, and position your association as a leading career resource in your industry.
Once you have a career center in place, you need to make sure your members are actually aware and using it actively to increase member engagement—which we will go over in this blogpost.
Recent research findings
The 2024 Association Community Benchmark Report analyzed 1,500 associations and found compelling evidence that job boards do indeed drive member participation.
Overall, only a small number —15% of members—actively engage by joining groups or participating in discussions, which shows the need for encouraging more participation.
However, the report found that specific activities can create more engagement:
Associations that incorporate a job board see an impressive 88% increase in community logins, 84% more discussion activity, and 87% more unique contributors.
But simply having a career center is not enough; you need to actively promote it to (future) members to boost participation from job seekers and employers alike. Here are 6 effective ways to increase engagement on your career center's offerings:
1. Placement on your association’s website
One of the simplest ways to boost involvement in your career center is by placing a job widget on your association’s homepage. You can think of a job widget as a preview to your job board, encouraging members to click and explore your actual career center. Alternatively, you can use a static banner ad, with a similar effect.
This feature will advertise your career center and increase the exposure of employers’ job listings while providing valuable content for members directly on your website.
With Niceboard’s job board solution, you can simply select which jobs you want to display (by company, category, location, job type, and more), and implement the code snippet anywhere on your website.
2. Promotion during association events
Shine a spotlight on your career center offerings during a virtual, in-person, or hybrid event. Whether it’s your annual conference that your career center “sponsors” or a specific hiring event of your industry—you can showcase your expertise in the industry by offering career advancement courses or resources to attendees.
If your event is in-person, don’t shy away from traditional marketing material, with a modern twist. Hand-outs with a QR code leading to your job board could do the trick.
This helps position your association’s job board as a valuable source for hiring and getting hired in your industry. It also proves to prospective members that your association can help boost their careers, giving them another enticing reason to join—this might be the push they needed to start their membership with you.
3. Highlights in your newsletters
The best strategy to keep members engaged is creating multiple touch points—ideally daily—with your association and your career center. Your regular newsletters are a great place to put this into practice. Email newsletters still have some of the highest engagement rates among marketing channels, so you can be sure that your member are looking and clicking on the information in your emails.
Include the newest active job listings or highlight specific resources. You might also feature success stories from members who found jobs through your career center. Ideally, you can personalize these emails to show jobs that are relevant to the specific reader.
This approach not only engages current members, leading them back to your job board but also captures non-members who may be exploring job opportunities within your industry—and a membership with your association.
4. Helpful career resources
Promoting your career center through your association's blog is an effective way to engage members and drive traffic to your job board. By creating content that addresses the specific industry-information, you can position your association as the go-to resource for career advancement within your industry.
Plus, your SEO-optimized blogposts can enhance the visibility of your association as a whole and of your career center by showing up in search results. Research relevant keywords in your industry and include them in your content to attract non-members searching for job opportunities.
Start by writing articles on essential topics specific to your niche, such as crafting standout resumes, succeeding in interviews, and navigating the job market. This will drive interest toward your career center’s resources.
These topics are a wonderful place to start out with for (almost) every association's job board:
- [industry] salary guide for 2024
- How to land your dream job in [industry]
- 5 tips for networking in [industry]
- The [niche] job scene in [city/country]
- Preparing for a [industry] job interview
- 5 skills required to get a job in [industry]
- Most in demand jobs in [industry] for 2024
- Day in the life of a [role]
- Perfecting CVs, resumes and cover letters for [industry]
- Negotiating your job offer in [industry]
- Becoming a leader in [industry]
For example, if your association focuses on the design industry, writing about how to become a UX designer or sharing a real-life story of a member’s career in the industry can draw in professionals interested in your niche.
If you don’t already have a blog on your association’s website, with Niceboard you can easily host a fully integrated and SEO optimized blog on your job board site.
5. Engagement on social media
Leverage social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram to advertise jobs and announce new resources available in your career center.
Here are some strategic tips to get the most out of social media for your job board:
- Choose the right platform: You know your members best, so select a platform where they already spend time on, hence improving your chances of your career resources being discovered by the right people.
- Optimize your profile for your goal: To non-members, your social media profile will act as a landing page for your association. Within seconds it needs to provide visitors an idea of what to expect from you and a reason to follow you.
Include a summary of the contents you’ll be sharing and a call to action, for example: “Your only professional authority on design in Georgia. Find & land top designer jobs in Atlanta now.” - Select 2-3 pillar topics to post about: These will be the foundation of all the content you’ll put out there. This could be jobs in your industry (obviously), career advice specific to your niche, and expert insights from your industry.
Engaging with your audience is a well-known but evergreen tip. Focus 80% of your time on building genuine connections, asking questions, and adding value on others' posts. You can also repost and curate content while inserting your association’s unique point of view on relevant topics.
If you already have a large-enough following, hosting live Q&A sessions or webinars can be great to foster participation. These events can be focused around current job market trends in your industry or tips for navigating the job search process. Consider inviting relevant guests.
By encouraging real-time interaction, you create an engaging experience that can draw more members to your career center.
By cross-promoting the job board through various channels such as social media, blogs, events, and newsletters—and by utilizing personal data effectively—you can significantly increase engagement with your association's job board and membership for your association.