Associations are wonderful places to work. As an association executive, you can quickly gain experience in a broad variety of functional areas. Moreover, associations also tend to give you the opportunity to gain responsibility very quickly. If you are smart and work hard for your association, you could find yourself with skills and power that will leave your corporate-based friends green with envy.
How do you find a job in an association? There are two easy answers:
– Your local state society of association executives. The state societies are particularly helpful if you do not wish to relocate. A good example of an association job posting site can be found at the Indiana Society of Association Executives at http://www.isae.org/jobs.php.
– The American Society of Association Executives also has a good job listing source at their Career Headquarters area athttp://asi.careerhq.org/post.cfm?snItemNumber=7323.
Note that a number of state societies of association executives also use the Career Headquarters system on an affiliate basis, so that may be a good place to start when looking for an association job.
While both of the options above are excellent, there are two other options you might consider when looking for an association job:
– The associations themselves. Many associations do not list their openings on the society of association executives web sites. Call or visit the web site of the associations you are interested in to see if they have any openings available.
– Supplier to associations. While more difficult to find than the associations, suppliers to associations often have a large personal network of association colleagues, making contact with them worth the effort.
Association careers can be wonderful. Finding the perfect association job can require a bit of work, but the reward makes it well worth it.
What do you view as the best resources for finding jobs in associations? What association job paths turned out to be dead ends?
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