I am a member of two professional bodies the Career Development Institute (CDI) and the Association for Professional Executive Coaches and Supervisors (APECS). For this month’s blog, I thought I’d write a few reflections on what I have gained from joining them.
Advantages to becoming a member of a professional body:
Here they are, in no particular order:
- I’ve joined several webinars that both these bodies have run and that has led to great Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities. They run these webinars for a small minimal fee, or they have been completely free.
- Due to my membership, there’s been several opportunities that have come my way as a freelancer. For example, when I applied to become a recommended coach on the Medic Footprints website, as a member of APECS, this gave me the recognition I needed to become one of their ‘vetted, handpicked coaches’. As well as my experience of working with medics (of course!)
- With the CDI, I am an unpaid volunteer editor on their Careers Matters Magazine. This has led to me gaining more experience in editing articles, if I want to have a role in this in the future. In addition, in October 2022, I wrote an article for the magazine. It’s always great to see something you have written in published format! I have written an article on volunteering, if you wanted to read further about the advantages.
- Also with the CDI, I get the opportunity to be on the CDI register of professional careers advisers. Similarly with APECS I’m listed on their site. Both sites have codes of ethics which members are all signed up to. All of this gives me credibility. Being on their registers can lead to more 1:1 career coaching sessions (which I love!!).
- There are opportunities run by both professional bodies to get involved in networking activities. The CDI has connections with the Careers Writers’ Association, of which I am a member. This brings me access to a great network of like-minded careers advisers. We meet twice a year and this gives me a great sense of support, which is sometimes needed when you are a freelancer. Our profiles are on the site and occasionally this has led to website editing work!
- Both professional bodies care about how much professional development I achieve each year. For the CDI I log all my hours and they stipulate that I do at least 25 hours in total per year. I fill in a form for APECS. My Coaching Supervisor reviews this each year. In it I write reflections on what I have learned the previous year and what areas I would like to focus on for the coming year. This keeps me motivated to keep on improving!
Professional bodies
I’m sure there are more advantages, please do let me know in the comments, of your experiences. I, for one, am grateful to these bodies for their work in raising the recognition of our professional status.
By the way, I’ve decided to publish my new blogs on Medium. You can access them from my Medium profile page.