Every two years, the membership of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) gets the opportunity to elect its representatives on the governing Council. Campaigning starts today (5th September) and voting opens next Monday (12th September). UPDATE: I am delighted to say that I was re-elected for another two year term … let the hard work to support the members commence.
I am standing for re-election on what is called the ‘Open List’, i.e. no affiliation to a specific regional / sectoral group, or representing Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales.
In 2014 I stood, for the first time, on a platform of making CIPR relevant to members and raising the standards of PR practice. Through being on the CIPR Board and as chair of its Professional Development and Membership Committee since January 2015, I have contributed to the advances CIPR has made in both areas – read my full candidate statement for how I have done this.
So, going back to the title of this post … why me?
In a nutshell, I have more to give.
This time around, my platform is more specific – to assist members and students in their pursuit for professional development, and help recruiters make more informed and effective employment decisions.
So far this year I have introduced three initiatives:
- Member mapping – to ensure CIPR provides the products and services members / students need at each level of their career
- Career Development Framework – linked to a competency framework to enable members to take control of their professional development and recruiters to understand what practitioners should be proficient at at each level of their career so recruitment decisions are not based on length of experience
- Recruiter Roundtables – work with those making recruitment decisions to understand what they need and map this to the benefits of recruiting CIPR members / students. Ultimately we want to get to a point where CIPR membership is sought by recruiters as they recognise it as a mark of quality.
These are not quick fixes. There is a lot of groundwork currently being completed which will then be built on to improve the employ-ability of members and students. Being on Council puts me in the best position to see these initiatives through to completion for members to benefit from.
I have the desire and drive to not only ensure the CIPR products and services are fit-for-purpose and what members need for their professional development, but to also work with the business world to improve their awareness and knowledge of what it means to employ a CIPR member and the benefits of CPD and Chartered status.
If you are eligible to vote in these CIPR elections, I encourage you to read not only my candidate statement, but those for all 17 standing on the Open List (for 8 Council places) whom I am up against and also the 6 standing on the Regional Group list (for 5 Council places).
If after reading some or all of the candidate statements you have any questions or can’t decide if you will use one of your preference votes for me*, then please get in touch – either in the Comments box below, via email (lindsey@bojangle.co.uk), Twitter (@LindsCollumbell) or the good old phone (01372 274975 / 07717 744719).
The CIPR is your professional body and this is your opportunity to elect the members you feel will represent your interests and do the most for your professional career.
You should receive your email with details of how to vote in time for next Monday when voting opens. If not, shout, and I will alert the CIPR Returning Officer … do check your spam/junk folder though as they have been known to hide in there at times.
* When voting, you are asked to rank candidates in your order of preference. The higher the preference you give to a candidate the more chance they have of being elected.
UPDATE
You are welcome @LindsCollumbell you’ve been a fantastic @CIPR_UK board & council colleague #unflappable https://t.co/o5SshqdXO9
— Sarah Pinch (@ms_organised) September 5, 2016
Lindsey: you have been a fantastic board and council member and a hard-working chairman of PDMC. I am 110% for you. https://t.co/ux0l8ssUxG
— Jason MacKenzie (@jasonmackenzie) September 5, 2016
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