How important is to be a member of a professional body?

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Hello everybody.

I have just filled in an application form and once again, there's a space for membership of professional bodies...

How important is this and will it actually increase your chances of landing a job?
What professional bodies can one join? IT related?????

Any comments please bring them on.

Cheers.

 

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In my opinion, it doen't help at all with getting a job. Esspecially in todays climate. Experience and qualifications counts not membership to some pro body. Only if job/company is somehow related to that body...
From my experience, when I apply for job where there are 200+ applicants nothing really helps!

 

Actually I think it depends on the level of the position, for senior management positions it does count more if you have a membership to a professional body but not so much at the junior level.

 

I'd go with what SimonD said. I've been contemplating joining the ICS when I return to Europe but all the conferences they hold are at completely inappropriate times!

I don't consider it as something that would help me to gain employment per se but it would certainly reflect upon my character well.

 

IMO it shows that you regard your career as a profession and whilst it is not a job winner per se it goes a long way to show your interest in the area in which you work.

You may also have noticed that CF has a Professional Body forum so you might want to view some of the posts in there

 

I know my membership of BCS and my PRINCE2 and ITIL Certs put me above the other candidates at the job I just left, they asked me why I took them and why I am a member of BCS and I told them because I believe in IT as a career not just a job, so even if it just shows I take IT seriously as a professional, along with ITIL (as every company should have standards and everyone in IT should know about processes and standards). That is what made them take me on.

So it has helped me out, granted it wasn't the be all and end all, but it put me above those that just happen to work in IT.

 

I don't think it's 'important' in the sense of landing you a job, but it does show that you have outside interests and pursue your career outside of the office. It also shows that you're likely to be up to speed on the latest goings on in the industry.

For some senior positions or in certain industries it may be desirable to have people on board who play a role in professional bodies. It can be good for networking and especially if that person is part of a steering group or comittee.

However, beware of too many memberships as it might begin to look like a conflict of interests in terms of time and commitment.

 

Just teasing but that reminds me of this Dilbert video (fast forward to 4m20s).