Networking and support ‘key benefits’ of membership

We catch up with Naomi Taylor, Membership and Professional Services Director at IMarEST, in the first of our ‘meet the team’ features.

Tell us about your career to date

Membership has been very wonderful accident for me and is something that I fell into after leaving university. Fifteen years later I can say I am lucky to have found my calling!

I have worked my whole career in predominantly STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) related professional bodies within membership and professional standards departments. Whether it is individual or corporate membership, refreshing professional standards, accrediting courses, providing quality CPD (continuous professional development) content for members, volunteering, governance regulation, or raising the profile of the profession I work in, I have and continue to really enjoy all that membership has to offer.

How did you end up at IMarEST?

A friend of mine within membership approached me when I was a membership consultant to say that IMarEST were looking for an interim director to see them through a busy few months. Having really enjoyed my interim tenure I became permanent and continue to enjoy the challenge the role brings.

What does your current role involve?

My remit looks after three broad areas. Firstly, membership and professional registration to our individual members. Secondly, the accreditation and recognition of courses and training against the registers we serve, including degrees, apprenticeships and graduate schemes. Thirdly I oversee our learning and development function, including our fantastic mentoring platform and our soon-to-be-launched course provision to our members.

I also am responsible for making sure our membership offering remains enticing and relevant and to ensure our members continue to want to be part of our lively professional community. I am passionate about diversifying our membership pool and making it an inclusive community.

What are three idiosyncrasies about working for a membership institute?

A day in membership is never the same due to the variety of what we look after! One day it will be out and about meeting people, another proofreading standards documents, another doing very administrative procedural tasks, and another creating a new membership product.

The skillset of working in membership is hugely varied. Membership professionals need good people skills, project management, an eye for detail (especially when it comes to adherence to regulation under one of our licences), commercial nous, to be strong on processes and you also have to be approachable and great at customer service.

Finally, we are the ‘shop window’ for the organisation and so are always a good go-to department if you have any queries about IMarEST, even about something not related to membership. We pride ourselves on knowing enough to satisfy our members should they call up.

What are the main benefits of membership to an institute?

There are many! Here is my top 5 list:

1. Professional recognition - being a member signals commitment to high standards and continuous development. Use of designatory letters (such as CEng, CMarEng, MIMarEST) also enhances professional status.

2. Networking opportunities - events & conferences, access to exclusive gatherings, seminars, and workshops. The more you get involved, the more you get out of it. You get to connect with peers, mentors, and industry leaders, and volunteering is a great way to give back and gain vital CPD.

3. Learning & development and career support – whether it is CPD resources or learning through peer networking, such as our mentoring programme, the Institute will support your professional growth.

4. Access to research & publications – journals, technical papers and reports will help you stay informed of industry insights.

5. Advocacy & representation – the Institute is there to represent you. We’re your voice in the industry with the links needed to make your voice heard. We are also at the forefront of advocating for ethical standards to support in upholding professional ethics and practices.

And what about IMarEST in particular?

IMarEST is the global, multidisciplinary community for marine professionals, united by a shared commitment to sustainability, collaboration, safety, integrity, and professional excellence. We bring engineering, science and technology expertise together in one professional home for marine professionals to enable a community of collaboration. We are quite unique in our breadth of who joins us.

What do current members have to look forward to moving forward?

We are embarking on our new corporate strategy and within that we have an ambitious plan to enhance our membership offering and continue to be the go-to for all the things marine professionals need.

We have just launched our M2M IMarEST mentoring platform which is providing our members with peer-to-peer assistance for all career stages. As well as this, later this year we will be launching our new course content, meaning members can really enhance their CPD using our fantastic learning resources.

We are expanding our branch network into growing membership hubs to provide localised member engagement, including in India, which is truly exciting. We are also revamping our Fellowship standard and our science and technology registers as part of our continuous improvement programme, which will hopefully lead to more members joining us.

For our corporate offering, we are excited to have recently gained our licence to approve apprenticeships against the Engineering Council’s standards, meaning we are now able to accredit and approve fantastic engineering apprenticeship provision. In collaboration with the Nautical Institute, we are also launching our Certificate of Excellence, a badge of honour for training establishments providing fantastic marine training.

If you could give one reason why someone should join today, what would it be?

The fantastic global network you gain from being a member is immeasurable. You have nothing to lose and a whole new professional network to gain!

Is there anything else you want to share?

A bit about me. I have two daughters, and one says (at the moment) that she wants to be an engineer. I am determined for her to enter the wonderful marine community and ensure the community is welcoming to a diverse set of professionals, now and in the future.

M2M Mentoring, which is endorsed by the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development as a Decade Activity, is available at all membership grades, including free student membership and discounted early career and seafarer memberships.

To discover more, set up a M2M Mentoring profile now.

Newsletter image: Naomi Taylor, Membership and Professional Services Director, IMarEST. Credit: Naomi Taylor.

Main image: cargo ship in the ocean. Credit: Shutterstock.