Corporate Alumni Engagement
Corporate Alumni Engagement survey asked large organizations and their former employees what drives engagement and value in an Alumni Network
The Corporate Alumni Engagement study was undertaken to research the various stakeholders that engage in a companies Alumni network and the value drivers/needs that generated engagement and value for both the former employee and the organization.
What Is Corporate Alumni Engagement?
Alumni Engagement is the measurement of how your organization engages its Alumni to meet their business or program objectives. It is more than just web hits, email opens and size of the Alumni community as it relates directly to the organization’s ability to drive Alumni to take specific actions.
Some organizations look at Alumni Engagement off-platform on social media sites, others track it based on reading content, others on job or business development programs while many companies are starting to explore engagement as a measurement of Alumni who connect with each other or connect into a community program such as an ERG, Volunteering or Mentoring.
Examples of different Corporate Alumni Engagement measurements:
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Social Amplification: The number of Alumni who post, share or amplify an organizations content on various social media platforms.
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Recruiting: The number of Alumni who actively explore and interact with the career board, job opportunities or project-based work.
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Conversion Marketing: The number of Alumni who click into or take the action requested via email or other messaging platforms.
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Re-Engagement: The extent that Alumni of different sectors of the organization return to the Alumni site and undertake an action.
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Alumni Community: The ability of the organization’s Alumni platform to connect Alumni to each other and to opportunities not directly between the company and the Alumni.
Corporate Alumni Engagement Findings
The study recognized that Alumni platforms often have 5 different generations of stakeholders (from early career to retiree) and each has a different segment of Alumni with their own set of values they are seeking by engaging with their former employer.
The State of Corporate Alumni was the first data-driven deep dive into the value drivers and expectations of a meaningful corporate alumni program.
8 Steps To Better Engage Alumni
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Delivering Alumni Value
Alumni value “Alumni to Alumni” business opportunities including the ability to find specific knowledge, sales opportunities and networking.
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New Recruits
A major contributing factor to the development of an Alumni Program is to highlight to new recruits the organization’s career-long support of their employees.
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Mobile vs Desktop
A majority of new users signup/access the platform for the first time via desktop (at work) but re-engage via mobile devices (after work)
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What They Don’t Need
Alumni said they saw very little value in generic resume builders, a long list of job openings or generic firm news they can find on google.
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What They Do Need
Alumni overwhelmingly placed value in continued education and opportunities to access knowledge, insights, and skills.
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Boomerang Hires
Alumni are not looking for a job feed and to have to “submit a resume” and instead are looking to be recruiting and a white glove program to return to the organization.
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Community & Volunteering Opportunities
Alumni are keen to stay involved in Affinity/ERG groups such as sustainability, diversity or other community-led efforts such as volunteering.
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What They Miss
Alumni recognized that they miss the deep knowledge, insights, and access to resources they had at their disposal at the organization.
The results of the study enabled customers to view insights and analytics relevant to the “career arc” stage of their Alumni user and develop differing experiences for each. It also provided customers with a clear understanding of where to focus their strategy and priorities around Alumni engagement.
