Work
Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Retention through momentum
Creating new professional engineers is central to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ mission, and for its members, earning that status is the membership benefit they value most. The future of the Institution, and the wider industry, relies on rapidly putting new members on the path to professional registration.
Our work made that path easier for members to follow, increasing the numbers embarking on the journey that cements their relationship with the Institution.
The challenge
For engineers, professional registration is a significant career milestone, the culmination of years of study and development in the field. It’s the mark of an engineer; confirmation that they meet exacting standards set out by the Engineering Council.
But its not an easy path to follow. Fortunate engineers have a workplace mentor, but for most, navigating the pressures and distractions of the early years of their career means longer-term development often takes a back seat.
How could the Institution support these engineers to embark on their professional registration journey, achieve status sooner, and therefore become lifelong members?
The work
We began by reshaping the membership proposition to fresh graduates. The Institution offered a wide range of benefits to its paying members – so wide that it required a detailed booklet to navigate. We reorganised those benefits to create a more streamlined and tangible offer, built around a new, structured fast-track towards professional registration; the Developing Engineers Programme.
Working closely with the Institution team, we developed a suite of comprehensive resources to populate the programme on a dedicated section of the website, augmenting existing services with new written and video guidance produced by us.
With that foundation in place, we then built a content marketing recruitment and retention campaign. One that created both an initial commitment, and then sustained action over a period of time; a moment, then momentum.
For the former, we focused on graduation. Celebrating that moment of achievement, we encouraged engineers to view it as a stepping stone on their longer professional journey, one that begins immediately. We sent every graduate a personalised letter of congratulations from the Institution, alongside a ‘getting started’ guide to the Developing Engineers Programme.
For the latter, we identified other likely milestones for developing engineers throughout the year, and deployed timely guidance and reminders via email and social media to keep them progressing.
Across all materials, we put real members front and centre. From case studies to front covers, we showed developing engineers examples of their ‘near future’ selves, to encourage and inspire.
The impact
The launch of the Developing Engineers Programme brought structure to the process, and a welcome focus to the membership proposition. For the first time, all developing engineers now have a structured pathway to professional status, regardless of whether their employer offers a supported scheme, enabling them to take a proactive approach to their professional development.
For the Institution, that means its mission is being accomplished, with a secure pipeline of talent to meet industry needs. And it means a secure pipeline of paying members is assured too, so that the Institution can continue its vital work. In fact, our work with the Institution over the period of the launch and promotion of the Developing Engineers Programme contributed to a sustained net growth in paying members year-on-year.
