My name is Susan Kistler and I am the Executive Director of the American Evaluation Association (AEA). It is my pleasure to contribute each Saturday’s post to the aea365 blog.
Are you seeking work in the field of evaluation? Draw upon AEA resources, networks, and colleagues to identify leads.
Hot Tip: Find an Evaluator: Create a website that identifies your services, skills, and provides examples of your work. There are many low-cost/no-cost site builder options out there. Once you have a site, if you are an AEA member, sign on to the AEA website and submit a listing to the Find an Evaluator directory at http://bit.ly/findanevaluator.
Cool Trick: Browse for Ideas: Browse the Find an Evaluator listings to identify examples of great ways that your professional colleagues are promoting their business and sharing their expertise.
Rad Resources: AEA Career Center: Search the Job and RFP listings on AEA’s Online Career Center, the largest repository of job listings of interest to evaluators. http://bit.ly/evalopportunities.
Hot Tip: Sign up for Email Notifications of New Job Listings: Sign up to receive an emailed notice, once each day for which there are new listings, of the new additions added to the AEA Job Bank. http://bit.ly/evaljobfeed. (Free and available to members and nonmembers)
Hot Tip: Post Your Resume: Post your resume in the AEA Online Career Center, in particular if you are seeking full-time employment.
Hot Tip: Join AEA’s LinkedIn Group: Join AEA’s LinkedIn Group in order to build your professional network and to check out the ‘jobs’ tab on the AEA LinkedIn site. Although we encourage cross-posting of jobs, because they are self-submitted, occasionally opportunities appear on the LinkedIn page that are not in the Online Career Center. Also, on LinkedIn, you are more likely to have a clearly identified person with whom you can correspond and ask questions. http://bit.ly/evallinkedin.
Hot Tip: Network, Network, Network: Join your AEA Local Affiliate if there is one in your area, participate in their activities, and reach out for informational interviews. Build your network and let your colleagues know of your interests and skills. Some affiliates post positions on their websites as well. http://bit.ly/aeaaffiliates.
This contribution is from the aea365 Daily Tips blog, by and for evaluators, from the American Evaluation Association. Please consider contributing – send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org.
Another networking tip is to make presentations or do posters for non-evaluators whenever possible, especially about your evaluation work or methods. I once got on the program for the meeting of an association for preventive medicine, which led to multi-year consulting with a university-based research group for evaluation of implementation and sustainability. Look for local meetings of professionals in the content areas for which you do evaluation.
Also – do publishe your work in peer-reviewed journals. Although this may not lead directly to new work, it does add to your credibility as an evaluator. Your peers have approved your work!
One other advantage is that when clients – or others – exchange information about you, they can note that there is a place to learn more about you.
For instance, I think Jara contributes thoughtfully to our blog comments – if you want to learn more about her, and her consultancy, go to http://www.jdcpartnerships.com/!
These are great suggestions in particular the one on websites. For some the notion of having to “advertise” seems unncesseary. But as leadeships changes and in all honesty becomes younger, the relationships that have supported on-going work are often no longer there. Having a web presence conveys a sense of relevance and understanding of the current social environment. I also think the discpline it takes to communicate NOT what one does but HOW one does it and the BENEFITS is an important excercise that can strenghten one’s own practice in addition to better communicating to prospecitve clients and colleagues.