I remember when I was in my first semester of graduate school, a mere fifteen months ago, when people started throwing around a bunch of acronyms. "Hey were you at ACPA last year?" "When is ACUHO-I doing their conference?" "How much is it to go to Region I for NASPA?"
I was lost. What were they talking about?
Turns out, they were talking about professional associations-- and professional associations are big. But why? Importantly, what are they?
A professional association is a group of people, sometimes spanning several regions,or en entire country, who are connected by being part of a similar industry or job title. A more in-depth definition can be found on good ol' Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_association
(for whatever reason, links don't automatically hyper-link on this blog)
What are the benefits of joining a professional association? First, ther networking opportunities via regional events, conferences and workshops, are great opportunities to meet people with experience in your field. It is important to remember, I think to nurture your relationships, and recognize that networking is a two way street: you are not the only one gett5ing a benefit from the relationship, and if you are, you might need to evaluate your role in a netowkring relationship. Are you e-mailling interesting articles occasionally to the person, meeting them for coffee, hearing about their experiences, etc?
Additionally, newsletters and e-mail lists help people to stay abreast of current events at different organizations so you can pay attention to what is happening in your field or industry. Finally, conferences and workshops, and often internships and scholarship programs will help you to develop professionally and make even more connections than you would if you were otherwise not engaged. Often the educational offerings in these workshops and conferences are great ways to learn new practices and ideas whihc can then be brought into your current workspace, or help you to locate a great place to work in the future.
