f.Professional Associations

What are Professional Associations?

Can they be of help to you now in your studies and throughout your career?

Background.      

You are luckier than you imagine.  Throughout your academic life there has always been:

• a well-stocked library on site
• access to paid-for (and often very expensive) online sources and archives giving you breadth of scope and depth in detail
• teachers who know and can advise or can use their ample contacts lists with industry and research groups to direct you to someone who does know the answer to your question.
• Effectively all the 'doors' are there and you have people like teachers and specialist librarians to lead you to the right 'door' for you.

You have probably taken this for granted – and at times you may even have cursed the omission of certain sources from our subscriptions list or moaned at the sheer volume of material you have to 'sift' through to find what you are looking for.   However, once you find yourself in industry, you will discover just how quickly the situation changes:

• You will be pressurised by deadlines and may not have the luxury of time
• You may well be focused upon the immediate workload / problem / situation
• Asking questions like 'why?', may not always be met with an explanation but rather with a:'Just do it, will you', response.
• After a while inside the company 'box', you may find your knowledge and expertise becoming dated (outdated even) – just what are your competitors doing? …. Where is the 'leading edge' of research heading? … What new technologies are approaching and how to harness them?  Such information exists for the mostpart OUTSIDE the company walls, so where can you find it? ….. Where can you find like-minded souls who are in the same situation as you who might share their ideas and knowledge.
• Most companies have libraries and corporate intranets, but they are often poor in quantity and quality.
• Most companies tend to 'play their cards close to their chests': they worry about information-sharing and disclosure on the basis that information and its control can represent power and commercial advantage.
• If you feel yourself, your knowledge and capabilities aging….because of all of this, then how attractive will you appear on the labour market when seeking promotion etc???

The Professional Association is perhaps a significant and productive response to the above and [IMHO], all of you should consider joining an appropriate such organisation in your own specialist field. The membership fees for students are normally very low or indeed free – some, however, restrict access to graduates only.. Once you have qualified, the membership fees are usually quite reasonable and for this you have access to a range of free services (often like CV hosting) and discounted prices for other products and services.

Examples of such associations.

A couple of non-ENSISA-type examples both of UK origin but increasingly worldwide membership:

• The Tourism Society – I was a member for over 25 years
• The Chartered Institute of Marketing.    You may well be in Textiles or in Engineering but if you are in an overtly Marketing role, such an organisation could be for you.

Some Ensisa-related illustrations (just general ones…. you will need to look out some that are perhaps more specific to your particular interests and business funtions).

• The Textile Institute – based in my old home region (Manchester).  And why Manchester and not London?  And why is Mulhouse called the 'Manchester of the South', by the way?
• The Institution of Civil Engineers or 'ICE'
• The Institute of Engineering and Technology.  NB. it concerns a specific focus/ function (ICT) and its use within a general context (engineering).  You may be looking for a body which combines two things like this.
• Association for Project Management. Many of you may be involved in this aspect of Engineering.

Scenario. 

Permit me to lay before you a scenario / sketch for you to consider….

Dramatis Personnae:  

1. You  = Y
2. Interviewer  = I

Context:

You are being interviewed for a job that you very much want: right place, right conditions, good salary, good fringe benefits (aka: 'perks').  The interview appears to be going exceptionally well and you are feeling 'vibes' from the other side of the table that they just might be on the point of offering you the job.

Action:

I.  …. I take it, that like the vast majority of our managers – myself included – you will be a member of a Professional Association:   … Association x / y / z, for example…..?

Y. …..    …… (Thinking desperately)   ……..  ( Thinks: I need to lie but how can I?) …… Errr …….. Err, well….  I always intended to, but I was always too busy to get around to it…… But I certainly will in the future……. (Hopes: Hope that was good enough – I don't want to lose this….).

I. …. Thank you very much .   We'll be in touch when we have interviewed all the candidates….

Y.   (Kicking self metaphorically…. I think I just blew it!!!)

Yes, quite possibly…. better luck next time.

More and more companies have come to realise that if they want to improve, to remain ahead of the competition, it has to come through constant innovation and performance improvement.  They also are coming to realise that this does not happen in an hermetically sealed environment: ideas and solutions rarely come from one person in an office: they tend to come from interactivity both inside and especially outside the business and for this one needs contacts, networks, seminars, conferences, events, showcases, academic research etc. etc.  This is where the right Professional Association can make a significant contribution.  Many open their membership schemes not only to individuals but to companies and organisations for just this reason.

Your Mission

1. Consider your industry generally (Textiles, maybe)
2. Consider the functional area or speciality in which you want to focus your career (Nano-fibres and safety and security clothing, perhaps).
3. Use these as search terms along with 'Professional Association' and/ or 'Industry Lead Body' and perhaps 'Institute' and seek to identify a range of Professional Associations (with websites and content in English, of course) which might potentially help you significantly and be worth becoming a member of.
4. Consider and define a set of criteria to apply to each of these (3 or 4) bodies, then apply the criteria to these bodies analysing them and evaluating their potential 'worth' to you in your chose future.
5. Produce the above on 2 pages of word-processed material in English. Print a copy out for me for our next scheduled lesson and come prepared to present or discuss your findings with the rest of the group.
6. Consider 'striking while the iron is hot'….. while you are still thinking about it, why not apply for membership.  Remember you can put 'letters after your name' on your cv and business card:  'A. N. Other.  BSc. MA. MCIM.  Other students with whom you are competing for a job stopped at university studies…. YOU are in on-going personal and professional development through membership of your Professional Association.  Could give you the 'edge' you need…..