NAPERVILLE, Ill.-The Illinois CU League is establishing a Young Professionals Group, with an eye toward establishing young professionals on a career track in the credit union industry.
Melanie Murphy, manager of member services at the Illinois league, told Credit Union Journal that the program is a rebirth of a similar program the league ran about 10 years ago, but which ultimately died out because there were no successors lined up take the place of those who got promoted, left or aged out of the group.
The league has had about 25 young CU staffers "crash" its annual convention for each of the last two years, and "as a result of that and talking to the young people, they expressed an interest in wanting to have something more than just the one-time event," said Murphy. "So we decided to take a look at what other people are doing, what we've done in the past and where we wanted to go."
The league has established an advisory committee of nine members from various parts of the state who will help craft the group. Those members have been looking at similar groups for young professionals that can serve as a model-including similar groups in places like Wisconsin and Kansas, along with other non-CU-related groups-as well as working on crafting mission statements. Murphy said the league expects the group to begin operation in early 2014.
Spreading The Word
The league does not currently have any estimate as to the number of young professionals (in this case age 40 or younger) working at CUs in Illinois. "I'm not sure there's a way to find that out unless credit unions volunteer the information," said Murphy.
The advisory committee plans to spread the word about the group by contacting credit unions and CU chapter groups throughout the state.
Networking and establishing mentor/mentee relationships will be the group's primary focus, said Murphy. She and others associated with the group view that approach as the best track toward keeping young professionals in the industry-particularly in an age when Millennials and Gen Y are forecast to have as many as six or eight different "careers" during their time in the workforce.
"It's a risk that is definitely real," she said. "We realize that all the people who start out in credit unions aren't going to stay there-but they can also play important roles when they move to other organizations. One is just being aware of credit unions and being able to explain what they are and help spread the word about why a credit union is a good place to have a bank account. And then there are the people who are going to go 'Hey, this is so cool, I never want to leave.' And hopefully we can find good places for them so they can have a career that does last for their lifetime."
The league will measure the group's success by tracking its membership, as well as what sort of events happen-either at a local, regional or state-wide level-and how well those events are attended. It is also discussing opening up membership to CU-related groups, such as CUSOs and the vendor space, rather than just limiting it to natural-person credit unions.
One View Of Opportunities
Murphy noted that even though the number of credit unions is shrinking, she believes there are plenty of places in the CU movement for young professionals.
"The number of institutions has declined, but the number of dollars and members has increased," she said. "In some ways you could look at it as a growing industry-it just looks different than it did five or 10 years ago. Consolidation is just a natural part of any business lifecycle for an industry."
