Membership-based organizations tend to rely heavily on the dues or fees that members pay to join and access the benefits offered by such associations.
Membership fees can vary greatly, depending on their niche or industry, and on whether the association is a for-profit or non-profit organization. Non-Dues sources of revenue for associations also traditionally include events or conferences, sponsorship, selling or reselling education/training courses, fundraising or donations, and grants.
Online career centres or job boards also prove to be effective at generating revenue while adding value for both members and industry partners, and help associations stay true to their mission.
Advantages for Association Job Boards
Similar to online publishers who use job boards as a revenue stream, associations have the opportunity to benefit from the revenue and value a job board can add through the use of their existing membership, industry partner relationships, and marketing channels.
Your Members
The talented and qualified members of your association are your candidate database, which is a huge advantage over new job boards and recruiting sites who have to hustle and struggle to build up a database of qualified candidates from scratch.
Benefits for Members: Your members will benefit from career opportunities targeted specifically at professionals like themselves. Providing access to such career opportunities as a membership benefit helps create a return on the investment that members make in joining your association.
How Members Add Job Board Revenue: Job boards often give employers access to their candidate or resume database through which they can search, and pay to access the candidate profile of someone with whom they want to recruit. Associations can charge employers for this access to candidates, on a subscription or a per-candidate basis.
Your Industry Partners
Businesses and organizations who sponsor, partner, or work with an association develop relationships with it because they know the value of its membership. These industry partners are likely to be your first, best, and most consistent employer-customers.
Benefits for Industry Partners: Existing industry partners and other employers in the same industry space as your association want access to qualified talent, which your membership-based association job board can provide. Spending money to advertise jobs in a place where everyone meets the fundamental job requirements or is already experienced in the industry reduces the risk of being overwhelmed by unqualified applicants and increases the likelihood of quality hires. They get more value advertising jobs with you than they would elsewhere.
How Industry Partners Add Job Board Revenue: Because of the exclusive access to your talented member you can offer, industry partners can add revenue through paying to post jobs, paying to access candidates, and paying to feature job postings or their employer profiles. Some associations may even offer additional recruiting services, or facilitate networking and host job fairs.
Your Existing Marketing Channels
Whether by email, phone, advertising, snail mail, or in-person, an association’s existing marketing channels are fundamental to its job board’s value and revenue. Individuals and organizations who pay membership dues benefit from knowing how the association is serving them, and the association, in turn, benefits from keeping members informed about how they can participate and make use of those services.
Benefits for the Association: By using existing marketing channels to promote your association job board, you continue to demonstrate your value and purpose to your membership. Your job board will be of little use to the professionals and employers within your membership if they never hear about it! By integrating the marketing of your job board into your existing marketing, you keep people in the loop and serve your membership well.
How Existing Marketing Channels Add Job Board Revenue: Promoting your job board’s services to employers and candidates within your membership and thereby increasing sales on your job board is the obvious way your job board can add revenue for your association. Your external marketing can also be used to drive membership sales and job board revenue at the same time. This works particularly well if your job board is set up in such a way that your jobs are posted publicly, but can only be applied to by paying members. A great career opportunity you share may be just the thing that tips the scales to convince those who already follow your social media accounts and public blogs for your industry news and thought leadership to become a member.