The world is a social place. With the advent of social media and other avenues to interact online, people turn to the web to communicate, learn and interface. With online member profiles (Meet our Members), the NASPP has opened the door for you to get to know more about our member population – both personally and professionally. If you are an NASPP member and haven’t yet created a profile, I’ll use today’s blog to highlight the reasons why you should do this now!
5 Reasons to Create Your NASPP Member Profile
1. Put a face to your name. I can’t say how many times I’ve heard someone’s name, or heard them speak on a webcast, or had a name thrown in the hat for some idea. Putting a face with a name only helps people to get to know you better. Even if they don’t “know” you, they know you. Or, at least they feel like they do.
2. Self manage your information as it changes. Okay, so you change jobs, get a promotion or add a credential (CEP, anyone?) to your resume. You can self manage your profile details on the NASPP web site and your updated information is always there for the industry to see. Your profile is available to non-members, too, so keep that in mind when you meet that recruiter who may want to learn more about you by searching online. Keep everyone up to date on the status of “you”. You can even take the profile quiz again to “refresh” your answers at anytime, which can be interesting.
3. Let people get to know you personally, and you them. The profiles aren’t limited to just industry specific content. We have lots of “get to know you outside of work” questions in our profile quiz that help you get to know the whole person. Wondering what kind of personal information we incorporate? Take our “Name that Member” quiz below!
4. The member profiles show up in Google searches. Yes, it’s true. I tested this feature firsthand. I started with the first name on our member profile list (in alphabetical order) – Inta Abele of Charles Schwab. Her NASPP profile came up in the top 6 results from a Google search of her name. We all know people do it – they want to learn more about someone and Google them. So why not show the span of your affiliations and brand by having your NASPP profile show up in the results?
5. Build your brand. Building your brand is really a culmination of the above points. Getting your name and face out in the industry, showing that you’re engaged with industry organizations, and letting people know you more personally, all lends to creating the brand called “YOU”!
Have I convinced you to create your profile yet? We have over 100 member profiles on our site, and each week we “feature” a different member on our home page for the entire week! Be sure to update your profile if your contact information changes (click the “submit” link in the Meet our Members section of our web site to edit your profile.)
Name that Member
I thought it would be fun to do a quick guessing game about some of our members. Here are some interesting facts gleaned from some of our existing member profiles. Can you put the name to the fact?
1. Which member would be a U.S. History teacher if he didn’t work in stock compensation?
2. Which member cites her “investigative skills” as the one thing she couldn’t do her job without?
3. Whose favorite vacation idea is to ride her Harley to San Francisco?
4. Who would be running an auto repair shop if she didn’t work in stock compensation?
5. Who loves to play tournament poker in her spare time?
6. This person has been an NASPP member for 21+ years!
It only takes a few minutes to join the ranks of profiled members – why not do it now?
-Jennifer
Answers:
1. Joseph Purdy, Jr. 2. Susan Berry 3. Christina Howell 4. Inta Abele 5. Karen Stroup 6. Ed Burmeister
Tags: brand, member, member profile, NASPP member, social media
It’s happened to me twice recently: someone approaches me, bright eyed, with a great idea: “The NASPP should really put together some chapters or guides for international countries.” Did I say it’s a great idea? It is, the only catch being that the idea has already been implemented – in the form of (a whopping) 33 country-specific chapters that are collectively entrenched as one of the crown jewels of our Global Stock Plans portal. It occurred to me that some of our members may not even fully realize the multitude of resources available to them, all included with their NASPP membership. In today’s blog, I’ll revisit some the gems available to NASPP members (test your knowledge – are you in the know about all of them?)
7 Lucky Resources (ok, I made up the “lucky” part, but they are still fabulous!)
1. International Discussion Forum: Did you know that the topic of global stock plans has its own discussion forum? On top of that, questions posted to the forum are answered by experts in the field – members of our Global Task Force (a list of those members exists in the Global Portal).
2. Country Chapters: We currently have 33 country-specific guides in our Global Stock Plans portal, and more under development. The guides cover the basic legal, tax and exchange control landscape in the covered jurisdiction. This is a great place to start when venturing into a new country or offering new equity types in an existing one.
3. 42 Portals: In the world of NASPP, a portal is a portion of the site dedicated to a particular equity compensation area of focus. This means we have portals on 42 different administration and regulatory topics (and more under development). A portal contains anything from applicable regulatory and tax information, to articles, sample documents, tools, and other resources. The full list of portals can be accessed from the NASPP home page, the drop down menu on the NASPP home page, or here.
4. Global Alerts: Members of our Global Task Force (all of whom are experts in Global Stock Plans) sponsor the NASPP Global Portal by supplying country-specific alerts, global updates and articles. This means that when something significant happens in a particular country that impacts stock compensation, we’re likely to receive an alert. The alerts are posted to our Global Portal and alert subscribers receive an email notifying them of the update. You can subscribe to alerts by individual country, allowing you to receive alerts only for your areas of focus. We currently offer alerts for 68 countries. You can visit the Alert Archive at any time to see past alerts.
5. Monthly Webcasts: If you aren’t taking advantage of the free monthly webcasts, don’t delay. The subjects cover timely administration, regulatory and best practice topics (next month’s is: “Understanding Payroll Administration Related to Equity Compensation”. The speakers represent the best and brightest of the industry. Can’t make a particular webcast? Want to recall something from a past webcast? You can access the archive and dig up the details. This is a huge resource. Did Legal just approach you and ask you about grant practices? Go access the relevant webcast archive on the topic (March 2012) and you’ll have the expert opinions right at your fingertips!
6. Enhancers: There are several features of our web site that I refer to as “enhancers”. They are designed to enhance your knowledge or awareness of stock compensation practices and requirements. They include our weekly Question of the Week quizzes (all of January’s quizzes are active until the end of the month, so if you haven’t started the contest, jump in today!), our Compliance-O-Meter (this month’s topic is Employee Communication Practices), and our Practice and Regulatory Alerts(found in the dead center of our home page).
7. Career Center: I blogged about this feature last week, so I’ll keep it short (you can visit that blog for additional detail). The Career Center is a forum where employers can post equity compensation jobs, and job seekers can post their resume details. If you’re an employer with an opening, or an individual looking for a job in the industry, visiting the Career Center is a must.
These are just a few of the great resources available to you, all the time, as an NASPP member. Be sure you are maximizing your membership – we’re here to help you navigate equity compensation’s many facets! Not a member? Join or renew today.
-Jennifer
Tags: compliance-o-meter, global stock plans portal, NASPP member, portal, Question of the Week, resource, webcast