Hey CR,
Great question and I’m sure it won’t surprise you to hear that like most things in life, the value you get out of IDSA depends on what you put into it. Each designer participates (or doesn’t) for their own reasons and for many, those reasons change throughout their careers. For example, a younger designer might be looking to establish and grow their network while a more established professional might be looking to connect with prospective hires or business partners.
Sounds like you’re on the earlier part of your career and from my perspective, that’s one of the times IDSA can be most valuable, if leveraged effectively. As “someone who isn’t looking for work”, this is a great time to build your network and get to know others in your field from around the country. It’s so much easier to do that when you aren’t necessarily looking for a new position because your genuinely looking to build new relationships with no “strings” attached. Know what I mean? (As they say, it’s always easier to find a job when you have a job and those relationships can lead to great opportunities in the future–you never know.)
I experienced a recent example of this when I took a call from a designer who had been working for about 10 years in a specialized segment of the market and decided he wanted to “take a break” from work, assuming he could just get another job later when he wanted it. A year later, he started looking for a position and found it very difficult to connect with anyone because he never invested the time to build his professional network. He never joined IDSA, never attended any events and now he felt disconnected. Basically, he was a little concerned and really regretted not making that effort earlier on. Now he’s got to play “catch up” and trying to create these relationships that, frankly, aren’t very organic because he’s in a rush to get that new job. I made some suggestions on what his next steps might be, but since I didn’t know him personally, it was difficult for me to personally recommend him to any of my colleagues.
Conversely, I know of many of my fellow IDSA colleagues (including myself) that have found several new positions through the connections they’ve developed through IDSA. Some of them have never responded to a Coroflot job advert or applied for a position in the conventional way since they already had a positive reputation within the community and those opportunities came to them. Don’t underestimate the power of our community. I’ve got colleagues that I am honored to call my friends, some who I have known for over twenty years and we’re always there to help each other out.
I’m really glad to hear that you’re looking for ways of “giving back” to the community because I believe that’s one of the key benefits of an organization like IDSA in that it presents opportunities to participate in events where you can really give back by helping facilitate networking, mentoring and continuing education at IDSA events. You may want to reach out to you local Chapter to see what’s going on there. As an example, I am located in Raleigh, NC and have been working to reconnect the local ID community through regular “Thirsty Thursdays” where we can get together and just catch up with each other and see who’s working on what.
Just to clarify about the event in Seattle, the one that took place last August was the annual International Conference and is located in a different city each year. In 2016 it will be in Detroit. But as I mentioned and depending on where you are located, there are most likely local IDSA events (either through the Chapter or the District) that you can participate in.
With regards to the money, I understand that sometimes $375 can seem like a lot and the events can be expense (particularly when you add in the travel). But consider this: I typically budget about a couple of grand every year to pay for my IDSA membership as well as attending the International Conference and at least one District Conference. For that investment, I have never been without work and my network has led me to some amazing opportunities. What I get far outweighs what I put in. Now when I go to events it’s like attending a family reunion where I see all my friends from around the country, catch up with each other and see how our careers are going.
But at the beginning it might feel a bit awkward since you’re just starting to get to know everyone. We all went through that at the beginning. But I promise you that if you get involved and attend the events, you will get connected and doing so will make a huge difference in your career.
If you’d like to know more, feel free to contact me directly at warren@ginndesign.com. I’ll be happy to help any way I can.
Cheers,
w