By Paul Raworth Bennett, NCOPE, CPRW & Director of Member Support (New Business Owners, Western Region)
The breadth and depth of NRWA education and resources are vast and invaluable. In myriad ways, the NRWA can help you develop thorough, strategic, long-lasting skills in the craft of resumes and online profiles, and it can help you learn the skills normally required to run a career services business.
But since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, for most of us, our work life has been anything but "normal." The greatest cost we've borne has been interpersonal; as social creatures, all of us humans have become a little hungrier for connectedness.
Many professional organizations offer you access to online resources and education – but beyond that, there's not much in the way of networking or the interpersonal realm. However, the NRWA is different because of all we do for our valued members, and your Membership Committee helps make these things happen.
Who exactly is the Membership Committee?
We’re a group of seven NRWA board members that exist to ensure every NRWA member feels welcomed, valued, informed, and invited to participate in our great organization. Headed by Annette Richmond, our 2021 Membership Chair, the Committee also has six Directors of Members Support (DoMS):
- Kiersten Troutman (DoMS for New Business Owners, Eastern Region)
- Paul Bennett (DoMS for New Business Owners, Western Region)
- Tom Powner (DoMS for Experienced Business Owners, Eastern Region)
- Dawn Rasmussen (DoMS for Experienced Business Owners, Western Region)
- Brandi Munoz (DoMS for College Career Centers)
- Caitlin Outen (DoMS for Military & Workforce Career Centers)
You can read the Membership Committee member's profiles at this link.
What do the members of the Membership Committee do?
Each DoMS keeps in touch with their constituents, and approximately once a month, the Committee meets to discuss how to promote member engagement in ways that help us all get to know each other and have some creative fun.
One highly engaging, Committee-sponsored activity is the quarterly business owner virtual meeting. Much more than just opportunities to learn from your DoMS, our quarterly virtual meetings are where you can meet like-minded members, share your expertise, and speak up about what's important to you.
And we're always thinking of other, less formal engagement activities. For example, we've recently run three contests featuring prizes such as Amazon gift cards. At the end of 2020/beginning of 2021, we had an "update your member profile" event that encouraged all of us to maximize the quality of our NRWA profiles and thereby enhance our professional credibility. A couple of months ago, we had a "create your own video contest" that resulted in some outstanding short promotional videos. And most recently, we ran a "create a meme" contest that enabled us to poke fun at ourselves and the work we do.
The Membership Committee also promotes engagement in its monthly themed member mixers–nice little shots of connectedness–and we help with planning annual conference activities.
In summary, we have a lot of fun on the Committee! And we're always grateful for ideas, from the NRWA hive mind, on how to make our membership experience better and better–so if you're interested, be sure to contact your own DoMS.
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Paul Raworth Bennett is a regular contributor to the NRWA newsletter and the Director of Member Support for the Western Region. He ensures that NRWA members feel right at home within the organization and are well-informed about its resources and events. Paul owns NOVA Career Strategies in West Vancouver, British Columbia. Find him online at LinkedIn.com/in/paulraworthbennett.
