| President’s
Letter
Learn digital skills with ASBPE
by Steve Roll, National
President, ASBPE
Senior State Tax Law Editor,
BNA Tax & Accounting
 The
best time to start building a foundation
for a future career
move is now. Wait until you are out of a job
and it might be too late
to demonstrate that you have the skills that
are in demand today.
What are some things
you could be doing now to prepare for
your next career move? For starters, you’ll
need to get out of your
comfort zone and start learning some new
skills. You’ve probably
mastered every aspect of that print publication
you work for. But
what are you doing in the digital realm?
One obstacle that prevents
many of us from learning new skills
are full-time jobs that require us to perform
the same tasks over and over.
Break free
ASBPE holds the keys to
help you break free of this cycle. As a volunteer-based
organization, we count
on our members to help with one of its
key missions: to equip trade
and
association journalists with the skills
they need to excel in their profession.
ASBPE
has
launched multiple initiatives to help
accomplish this goal. These include the
national and
local
chapter blogs, webinars,
Tip
Sheets, and a national
newsletter.
Assisting ASBPE with the
production of any one of these initiatives
could serve
as a
training ground for you to learn and
show off new skills. Regular contributions
make
you a known entity to your colleagues
in the B2B press. This will work in your
favor
when the time comes to dust off your
résumé, because
employers are more receptive to
job applicants that they have heard of
before.
Members’ digital
education
Since the start of my
presidency in August,
I’ve watched ASBPE members
step into volunteer roles and develop
marketable new
skills. One example is Warren Hersch,
the president
of ASBPE’s New York chapter. Warren
has been instrumental in developing
and
implementing ASBPE’s webinar series.
As the moderator of our webinar
about the Azbee Awards, Warren’s
interplay with the guests was flawless.
He has also shown a
real knack
for important behind-the-scenes tasks
such as finding interesting speakers.
Another example of someone
who has learned new skills by taking on a
volunteer
role with ASBPE is the Chicago Chapter’s
Erin Erikson. In a recent post on
ASBPE’s national
blog, Erin
recounted how she transitioned from a print
journalism
position to a new
job as a digital editor. Erin wrote, “I
was good at my job, but it was mostly
print; I
didn’t want to become a journalism
dinosaur.” So, she began pursuing
opportunities outside of
her full-time job. One of them included
writing posts for ASBPE’s national
and
Chicago blogs.
There are plenty of other
ways you can learn something new that do
not
require
a big
time commitment by becoming more
involved with ASBPE. You might start
off attending our next webinar or
by joining ASBPE’s
groups on Facebook or LinkedIn,
or by following us on Twitter.
The longest journey begins with one
step. Make
your first step towards acquiring
marketable
job skills by becoming
more involved with ASBPE today. Just
e-mail me at b2beditor@gmail.com.
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