When you hear the words "alumni outreach," you probably think of your alma mater. They hope you do, anyway: most undergraduate institutions send out a stream of publications heavy enough to break any mail carrier’s back, and they’ve probably got banks of students hunched over phones in a small room on campus, calling alumni day and night.
But alumni outreach isn’t just for colleges anymore. A small but growing number of businesses are now also conducting their own such programs. They conduct alumni happy hours across the country. They publish alumni newsletters. They distribute alumni directories. Why? For a lot of the same reasons institutions of higher learning do, in addition to some reasons unique to the business world.
Brand Ambassadorship. Every departing employee your company sends out into the world becomes a potential ambassador for your company and for your brand. Who knows your business better than someone who has actually seen it from the inside? Keep your alumni happy, and you’ll have a fleet of unpaid people spreading goodwill throughout the community. Because people take personal testimonials much more seriously than they take advertising, what your ambassadors say about your business can go a long way toward shaping perceptions.
Business Referral. It’s not just goodwill that your alumni can spread throughout the business community—they can also spread your business. In a professional environment, you can expect roughly half of your former employees to wind up in a position to influence business development decisions at another company. They may hire your firm directly, or comments they make concerning your company may affect the decisions made by others.
Recruiting. It is well known that colleges reach out to their alumni to help with recruiting—to conduct interviews, to identify local students who might be strong candidates for enrollment. But not all businesses realize that they, too, often have a strong recruiting base among their alumni. With intimate knowledge of the way a place does business, who better than a former employee to help identify potential new hires? If your former marketing director, say, recommends someone she knows to work in your marketing department, odds are that’s a candidate worth talking to. Further, “boomerangs,” or former employees who return to your company, can hit the ground running; they don’t require a long training process to get them up to speed. And you can avoid the lengthy and arduous search for a candidate: you already know everything you need to about these particular candidates. Rehires can be great for your bottom line.
So how do companies reach out to alumni? Paul, Weiss is a large U.S. law firm that’s a leader in alumni outreach. They publish an annual, 4-color magazine, Alumni News, that keeps alumni abreast of each other’s whereabouts and achievements. Anything from marriages to children to new jobs is covered—with the more notable and interesting alumni developments receiving full editorial treatment, complete with custom photography and sharply written articles. Aside from keeping alumni connected, Alumni News serves as a nice brag book for the firm, as well.
Paul, Weiss also keeps alumni in touch by printing and distributing a series of alumni directories. And with alumni happy hours and other events across the country, Paul, Weiss continually fosters a spirit of collegiality among its former employees. Some of those employees return to Paul, Weiss. Others move on to other things, often to refer business back to their former employer. And the firm itself winds up with a great human resource, a vast network of accomplished, well credentialed people who spread the word about the company and help ensure its continued success.
