How Can TAPPI Serve Recent Graduates?

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If there is one time in your professional career when TAPPI mem­bership should be of maximum value to you, it is when you're just getting started in the industry. You need to know how other companies are tack­ling the problems which have been assigned to you. Your performance de­pends so much on your staying up to date on the latest advances reported in the technical literature. You need to sharpen your skills in dealing with people since you're new in the role of a supervisor. You need TAPPI courses and the specialized seminars a professional society like TAPPI can offer to keep you current. You need a broader perspective.

Then why, excluding student mem­bers, is the median age of new TAPPI members in the mid-30s? Why do many college graduates entering the indus­try wait roughly 10 years before they join the Association? Several reasons are given. They can't afford the dues. Their employers should pay those dues. They can always read someone else's copy of TAPPI Journal or Paper360°. They aren't allowed to travel to TAPPI meetings. They're too busy. The bene­fits of TAPPI membership and of con­tinuing education aren't self-evident.

After several years in industry, they'll seek such opportunities to promote their own professional and leadership skills. They'll recognize the opportuni­ties TAPPI provides to work coopera­tively on industry-wide technical prob­lems. But the opportunities of those early years will have been lost for­ever. This is the reason why TAPPI has a less expensive membership option for industry professionals less than 29 years of age. This is also why TAPPI has started a young professionals committee to focus in on specific needs of recent graduates. So pass this along to the younger members of your team and get them involved in TAPPI now!

More information about the TAPPI Young Professionals Committee is available online.