Alumni Blog

Finding the Return on Relationship in Corporate Alumni Networks

I’m sure you know what return on investment is and that it’s very important in business, but did you know that return on relationship, or ROR, is also important? We did a poll during our webinar Discovering the ROI of Corporate Alumni Networks and found out that 67% of the participants had never hea... More

Why Your Corporate Alumni Need Alumni Software

Alumni networks have become a hot topic as individuals are no longer staying with an organization for life. Implementing an alumni network is giving organizations that opportunity to maintain lifelong relationships with these former employees and reap the many benefits associated with doing so. As a... More

Hidden Benefits of Your Corporate Alumni Network

When considering an alumni network for your organization, you have probably heard about many of the obvious benefits. These can include boomerang employees, alumni ambassadors, and even new clients, but these aren’t the only benefits available to you. As your former leaders and trailblazers become ... More

The Importance of Communication for your Alumni Network

At some point, every organization has an employee that leaves. Many believe that these former employees aren’t beneficial anymore, but that is not the case if you have a corporate alumni network. These networks retain the advantages of your alumni and keep them connected. However, in order to gain t... More

How to Increase Engagement in Your Alumni Network

Investing in a corporate alumni program brings many benefits to an organization. These benefits can include alumni acting as brand ambassadors, candidates for new and returning employment, and potential sales opportunities. To receive these benefits, your alumni network, participants must be engaged... More

4 Benefits of Maintaining Alumni Relationships

Why are corporate alumni relationships important if the alumni no longer work for your organization? Alumni can deliver assets to your organization long after they leave. Maintaining engaged alumni relationships gives both the organization and the alumni a chance to receive benefits. Here are 4 b... More

Building an Alumni Network that Works for your Alumni

Historically, organizations have looked at exiting employees as a loss. They watched as the time, money, and resources invested in that employee just simply walked out of the door and both parties moved on. But what if you didn’t have to completely lose that employee? Many organizations are taking a... More

How a Corporate Alumni Network Can Save Your Organization Time and Money

Did you know that it costs half as much to rehire former employees as opposed to recruiting new ones? Your alumni network has access to top leaders and mentors, and they can bring some big benefits to your organization. Whether these former employees want to share their experience about your comp... More

The Benefits of Knowledge Sharing Through Your Corporate Alumni Network

As you’ve read in previous articles, mentoring is a great knowledge sharing source for your employees, but so is your corporate alumni network. There are many benefits to keeping an actively connected alumni network, such as gaining access to more skilled workers and raising brand awareness. However... More

Tips for Building an Engaged Alumni Network

Corporate alumni networks have been around for years, but recently, there has been renewed interest in harnessing their power. According to the Society of Human Resource Management, over 20% of employees transition job roles every year, and this number will continue to rise. No wonder so many comp... More

Attracting Millennials to your Corporate Alumni Network

Millennials are the elusive generation that everyone seems to be chasing. They are shaping the workplaces of tomorrow and demanding more from the organizations that they join. Their values have made an extreme impact on company culture and looking deeper into the value that you can provide them. W... More

Building a Relationship with Your Alumni

There was a time when leaving a job meant that people were gone and for the most part, forgotten. Former employees would remain former employees and the organization would move on without them. While that may seem like the only way things could ever be, luckily that is not always the case. Corpora... More

4 Benefits of Hiring from Your Corporate Alumni Network

One of the great benefits of implementing an alumni network for your organization is the increased possibility of re-hiring employees. These re-hires, also called boomerang employees, may have left your organization, but because they chose to be part of your alumni network, they are usually still ... More

Using Your Alumni to Increase Brand Awareness

When thinking about an alumni network, some organizations can’t see the big picture. Sure, these individuals left, but that doesn’t mean they don’t still want to be associated with you and it definitely doesn’t mean you can’t still benefit from them. Some benefits that organizations are seeing fro... More

The Importance of Offboarding for your Alumni Network

Organizations put a lot of time and money into hiring and training an employee, so when they leave, it is usually seen as a bad thing. Luckily, many organizations are starting to figure out how to continue to benefit from their previous employees through implementing an alumni network. We’ve ment... More

Benefits of Providing Mentoring for Your Alumni Network

Many times, we talk about mentoring and alumni networks as two separate programs for your organization, and most of the time they are. But have you ever considered the benefits of bringing these two amazing programs together? That’s right, we are talking about connecting your alumni with your curr... More

The Importance of Content Curation for Your Alumni Network

Getting fresh ideas for the content that you are providing to your Alumni Network can often seem challenging and with the already demanding schedules of trainers and alumni administrators, there may simply not be enough time. It’s important to use the content you are providing to keep your alumni ... More

5 Tips for Implementing a Successful Corporate Alumni Network

Organizations are looking for success with any program that they implement, but they often wonder how success can be captured for a program that is centered around individuals that are no longer a part of the organization. Well, that’s simple, don’t let them say goodbye. Here are 5 tips on how to... More

4 Tips to Make Your Corporate Alumni Program Successful

It’s safe for us to assume that you aren’t just looking to implement a Corporate Alumni Program for your organization and hope that it does well. We know that simply having a program isn’t enough because what you really want is for it to be successful. Implementing a Corporate Alumni Program can... More

Best Practices for Managing Your Corporate Alumni Network

Organizations today have an incredible opportunity to harness the power of their alumni to create brand ambassadors, develop their business, and enhance their culture. Lifelong relationships with alumni can open many new doors for organizations that were previously inaccessible to them, or that th... More

4 Reasons to Invest in an Alumni Network for Your Organization

Having a life-long job is becoming a thing of the past. People are becoming more conscious of their career development needs and moving to new organizations that they feel will help them move forward on their career path. While many organizations are seeing more employees leaving, it’s important t... More

6 Tips for Increasing Corporate Alumni Engagement

With the success of several well-known boomerangs, former employees that are rehired by an organization, and the use of social media networks like LinkedIn, corporate alumni programs are becoming more popular every year. But just because your organization has an alumni network doesn’t mean that it... More

Who does Alumni Software Benefit?

When an employee leaves, most organizations have an “out of sight, out of mind” approach. They believe that because a good employee chooses to leave that they are no longer a concern. But should these organizations rethink their approach to past employees? Alumni Software gives organizations the... More

New Hires Vs. Hiring Alumni: 4 Ways to Cut Costs

Hiring a new employee has become increasingly expensive for an organization. Not only are they spending more money, but they are also spending more time and resources. When looking at the option of hiring a new employee or hiring someone from your alumni network, also called a boomerang employee, ... More

Challenges With Small Alumni Programs

In the past, we've examined challenges large alumni programs face, so in retrospect; we bring you some challenges that smaller alumni programs may face. The number one challenge for small alumni programs are resources. To get tangible results, direct involvement with alumni would be more important ... More

4 Tips to Leveraging Technology to Engage Your Alumni

Picture this: It's 1980 and you are organizing a party for your best friend. It's the big 4-0. Where do you begin? Telephone calls, printed invitations - with custom stationary, gathering names, addresses, and telephone numbers, RSVP cards... the list goes on. Flash forward to present day and cre... More

Challenges For Large Alumni Programs

Alumni program challenges for any organization will differ depending on the size of the alumni program that is to be launched. It’s essential to firstly understand these challenges before the alumni program commences. In addition, adhering to the below solutions provided will result in positive fe... More

How To Build Your Corporate Alumni Network

Building an alumni network from the ground up can be difficult. Luckily, we have plenty of experience helping a diverse range of organizations do this. Here are a few items you should consider when building acorporate alumni network. Decide on the population pool early: What kind... More

Why Invest in a Corporate Alumni Program

“Nothing influences people more than a recommendation from a trusted friend. A trusted referral is the Holy Grail of advertising.” These are the words that Mark Zuckerberg told an excited, but skeptical crowd the day he launched Facebook ads. Years later, Mr. Zuckerberg sits atop th... More

5 Tips to Leveraging Technology to Engage Your Alumni

Picture this: It's 1980 and you are organizing a party for your best friend. It's the big 4-0. Where do you begin? Telephone calls, printed invitations - with custom stationary, gathering names, addresses, and telephone numbers, RSVP cards... the list goes on. Flash forward to present day and cre... More

The Hidden Job Market in Your Corporate Alumni Part II

In a time when the majority of career opportunities are not announced on jobs boards and sites, there is a way to pierce through the uncertainty that is inherent in a job search. Corporate Alumni Networks, when used properly, can export a portion of the knowledge floating aroun... More

Effective Alumni Networking in a Job Search

Looking to change careers, but all you’ve got is an alumni contact list full of people in your current industry? If you’re going to look for a job within your corporate alumni network , it’s best to approach the right people . If you share an alumni at ABC incorporated, then you shou... More

The Hidden Job Market in Your Corporate Alumni

In a time when the majority of career opportunities are not announced on jobs boards and sites, there is a way to pierce through the uncertainty that is inherent in a job search [Click to Tweet]. Corporate Alumni Networks, when used properly, can export a portion of ... More

Increase Your ROI by Maintaining Alumni Relationships

While corporate alumni programs are still a relatively new concept for organizational strategies, they carry the potential for significant ROI from increased business development opportunities, strengthened company and employer brand, and reduced recruitment expenses. Corporate alumni pro... More

Corporate Alumni and the Boomerang Effect

If you love something, let it go. And if it comes back to you, then it was meant to be … a part of your corporate alumni network. The idea behind an Alumni Network is simple enough. Employees leave and employers woo them back, or at least keep up with them. But have you ever examined the phenom... More

Alumni as Brand Ambassadors

Corporations are the new alma maters: companies are retaining and managing their connections with ex-employees (corporate alumni) in a trend dubbed “corporate social networking” (CSN). Corporate branding has become more indicative of competitive market advantage than product branding. Alumni admira... More

The Hidden Job Market in Your Alumni

Corporate Alumni Programs Need a Hook Yourcorporate alumni programis a long-term strategy. Just as you can’t expect to build it overnight, you need to plan to bring your alumni to your program not just once, but over and over and over again. The simple fact of it is that alu... More

Is Your Alumni a Two Way Street

When was the last time you went to a networking event, or a gallery opening, and you stood in front of 10, 100, or even 1,000 attendees and told them all about the great things you have done in the past 30 days? Sounds ridiculous, right? I am sure this has never... More

How to Build Your Corporate Alumni Network

Building an alumni network from the ground up can be difficult. Luckily, we have plenty of experience helping a diverse range of organizations do this. Here are a few items you should consider when building acorporate alumni network. Decide on the population pool early: What kind of cri... More

Power of Alumni Networks

It’s unfair to believe that your employees will want to stay with you forever. Nobody plans to work in the same office for 30 years. It just sort of happens. Or it used to. [ Click to Tweet] It is currently estimated that Millennials will hold 12-15 jobs in their lifetim... More

Tips to Engage Your Alumni with Technology

Organizations who realize the benefits to retaining connections with their corporate alumni talent face a major roadblock to engagement: Finding an efficient and sustainable process. Technology, when implemented properly, can alleviate this formidable administrative strain of engaging your alumni.... More

Promote Your Brand Through Your Alumni

When you think of Billy Mays, you immediately picture him in his crisp blue polo shouting to promote OxyClean™ to get any stain out no matter what! He is a great example of an organization promoting their brand. Unfortunately, he isn't taking anymore promotional gigs. But fear not, there is a ... More

The Rise of Corporate Alumni Programs

What do LinkedIn, YouTube, Yelp and Tesla have in common [ Tweet This]? These top ranking businesses are examples of innovation and massive financial success formed from an alumni network. All of them were founded by the alumni of a single company: PayPal. The "Paypal Mafia", as the... More

Alumni Relations In the Financial Services Sector

The end of an employee’s tenure at a company doesn’t always mean the end of that firm’s relationship with said employee. Alumni programs make it possible to keep a mutually beneficial relationship going on after the cord has been cut. Due to the specific skills needed to thrive in the Financia... More

Alumni programs across all industry sectors

Recently several major trends including – the “war for talent,” changing attitudes towards work, employee employer relationships, and the adoption of cloud-based technologies – have encouraged companies across all industry sectors, to proceed with major initiatives to gather their intangible assets ... More

3 ways alumni programs improve organizational productivity

Alumni programs are an effective solution for companies wanting to stay connected with former employees. However, these programs can also serve as a valuable tool for helping organizations improve productivity among their current employees. Alumni programs can help a company better achieve its goal... More

Alumni relations for business development

One of the main benefits of establishing a strong alumni program is the potential of new revenue derived from referrals by alumni to new business. Previous employees are in an ideal position to refer you to new clients, especially if they move on to employment in an industry that uses solutions offe... More

Using alumni data to improve program engagement

To make a corporate alumni program active and engaging, it is important to understand the needs of both current and future alumni. The best way to gain this understanding is through the analysis of alumni program data: these numbers offer empirical evidence about the behavior and interests of alumni... More

Next Level Alumni Management: Growing an Existing Alumni Program

The full benefits of corporate alumni programs are only realized by companies that have highly effective alumni networks in place. Many organizations struggle in the growth period between the beginning of their alumni program and its development into an engaging channel that helps them achieve busin... More

Managing the Cultural Fit Challenge with Corporate Alumni Recruitment

Today's corporate recruiters face many challenges. As employees become increasingly mobile, top talent is becoming harder to both attract and retain. Recruiting candidates that are a good cultural fit is another critical challenge for recruiters. Katherine Klein at the University of Pennsylvania's ... More

Employee Referrals: The Hidden Benefit of Alumni Relations

An engaged alumni network provides cost effective access to top-caliber talent and serves as a channel for business development, but there is another benefit of alumni relations that is not often talked about: referrals from former employees. In a recent study conducted by iCIMS, it was reported th... More

The role of Mentoring and Alumni relations in a career progression plan

Today's employees are increasingly focused on their personal career progression, both inside their current organization and beyond it. This represents a significant shift from previous generations of workers, where the ideal career track was to stay at one company and work one's way "up the lad... More

Three risks of managing corporate alumni on social media

Many organizations are tempted to establish and manage their alumni community on a social media network like LinkedIn. This is a dangerous foundation. The "Rented Land" Problem On a recent episode of his podcast, content marketing thought leader Joe Pulizzi talked about the flaws of buil... More

Alumni Relations Have Become a Cultural Magnet for High Potentials

The current generation of high potential employees doesn't expect to stay at a position forever. When evaluating a prospective role or employer, workers are already thinking about how the skills and experience they will gain there will help them later in their careers. The most desirable corporate ... More

Corporate Alumni Management Best Practices Checklist

Many companies that understand the benefits of alumni programs are past the planning and implementation phase: they are focusing on developing their program to engage with their alumni. To achieve high levels of engagement with corporate alumni, it is necessary to integrate the alumni management so... More

How to Increase Alumni Engagement With Segmentation

For corporate alumni programs to be successful, they must offer relevant content and opportunities to all alumni participants. The huge amount of correspondence that people receive through email and social media makes this a necessity for an engaging alumni program. An effectively segmented alumni ... More

How Corporate Alumni Goals Vary by Industry

Today's corporate alumni programs are more than just directories of names that receive an email newsletter every so often. The best alumni programs consist of well-cultivated networks of former employees and are tied to specific, measurable goals. The benefits of implementing an Alumni program can b... More

3 Sources of ROI and Keys to Successful Alumni Programs

Many financial services companies today are facing a big challenge with their alumni programs: convincing management that it is a worthwhile investment. What management needs is a clear cost/benefit analysis, and a highly engaged network of corporate alumni represents three major sources of revenue... More

Winning the War for Talent with Alumni Engagement

Hiring managers today continue to face major challenges when it comes to filling open positions. CIO reported recently that almost 70% of technology executives believe there is a shortage in both the quality and quantity of skilled technology workers available. Success in this war hinges on two goa... More

Corporate Alumni ROI Relies on Hi-Potential Alumni

The benefits of hiring corporate alumni are well-known: they already understand the organization's culture and work style, and in their time away from the company have most likely gained valuable skills that make them better at their job. Hiring alumni often calls for a less expensive onboarding pro... More

When High Potential Employees Leave

By Phillip Roark, CEO of Insala High Potential Employees Don't Stop Being High Potential When They Leave When a high potential employee decides to leave your firm, they don’t stop being high potential. Increasingly, leading firms are recognizing that an employee leaving an organization shouldn’t... More

Corporate Alumni Networks: Three Perspectives, One Vision

By Phillip Roark, CEO of Insala Three Organizational Perspectives… For leading companies, corporate alumni networks represent a unique opportunity to unite three different perspectives in one world-class vision. Let me explain. An average company thinks like this: you either work here, or you don... More

Stages of Corporate Alumni Programs

Corporate alumni programs vary in terms of multiple things, not least of which include size, organization type, administrative control, and membership type. What really sets apart one corporate alumni program from another, however, are the program’s objectives and the organization’s intent to follow... More

Why Your Alumni Software May Be Doomed to Fail

A corporate alumni program without objectives embedded throughout it is like a building without foundations or a supporting structure: doomed to collapse. Your alumni software is no exception to this rule. It more than anything else must be defined by your objectives, as it’s not only the gateway t... More

How to Engage Your Alumni and Win Their Business

Your Corporate Alumni Program's Best Practices We’ve noted in a previous article ("What Your Corporate Alumni Program Has to Do With Employee Engagement") that engagement of your alumni ultimately rests on engagement of your current employees. In fact, if you know you have an employee eng... More

What Your Corporate Alumni Program Has to Do With Employee Engagement

Employee Engagement and Alumni Engagement Ultimately, the success of any organization comes down to one thing: the engagement of its people. For most companies, “people” primarily means “employees.” That’s why “employee engagement” is such a big buzzword in the training and development space, and... More

Corporate Alumni and the ROI on Outplacement

The problem with outplacement is that you receive little or no return on investment. It almost seems like a win-lose situation: your former employees receive help moving on from your organization, and you lose both your employee and your investment in outplacement. It’s time to reconceptualize out... More

Increase Your ROI by Maintaining Alumni Relationships

While corporate alumni programs are still a relatively new concept for organizational strategies, they carry the potential for significant ROI from increased business development opportunities, strengthened company and employer brand, and reduced recruitment expenses. Corporate alumni programs ... More