What organizations are saying this? Were these small companies? Large?
Both? Do they already have a records manager on staff that is giving
them this impression? Is their RM staff "real" records managers or just
someone who they have assigned those duties to (an admin assistant or
mail room clerk, maybe)? Or do they not have an RM (or a weak one) and
their IT departments are saying this. Do they even have an IT department
or do they just have a couple of network administrators?

Obviously, WE know we can do this. I think it comes back to the idea
that "Records Management" is not widely accepted as a Profession the way
attorneys, doctors, and accountants are. So the thinking goes, because
it's not a "profession" anyone can do the job. Companies that believe
that are likely to hire the cheapest person they can find to "file
papers" or assign the duties to a low level clerk-type position.

Now we're back to making sure colleges and universities have a Records
Management degree (built on ARMA's competencies?), and strengthening the
cache of the CRM designation.

You got a legal problem, you go to a lawyer; a broken bone, a doctor.
How did these professions get this reputation? Mainly because they are
recognized in higher education as having a specialized skills set, and
then they have a licensing component to ensure that practitioners have
demonstrated a minimum level of competency.

And of course it helps that virtually everyone has heard of the AMA and
the ABA ... How many have heard of ARMA or the ICRM?


Nolene Sherman | Director of Records Management | Standard Pacific Homes
| 949.789.1668 | [log in to unmask]


-----Original Message-----

On the other hand, I was very disappointed in the number of
organizations I talked with that we looking for someone to lead the
electronic RM effort.  Several stated that they had actively looked for
someone, only to be told that there was no interest by RM (we handle
paper) or RM was not qualified (they are the folks in the basement).

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