Learn why organizations should invest in a corporate alumni program, how to build one and explore the 10 best corporate alumni networks operating today.
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Employees are not looking to stay at one company forever. They're looking for opportunities that will support them in their careers and future endeavors.
That’s where a corporate alumni network shines. It allows your company or business to leverage lifelong relationships and make an investment in employee growth and development. If an organization shows they value their alumni, they are more likely to value employees and offer more opportunities.
For many organizations, how they build and manage their Alumni is now part of a company's total workforce strategy.
In this post, we’ll look at some examples of alumni networks that have succeeded by continuing to drive career services for ex-employees and offer advice on building your own network.
The definition of 'Alumni' is “anyone who has had an affiliation of some form with an organization".
The term organization has been expanded to include corporates, non-profit and educational organizations. "Affiliation" includes anyone from part-time, full-time, seasonal or freelance workers.
In corporate organizations, alumni are typically former employees but can also be stakeholders, suppliers, and external partners.
Building an alumni program allows you to maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with former employees who may someday provide significant value again, giving you an excuse to remain in contact.
Once your alumni community is up and running, you have a huge audience of potential customers, professionals for trusted referrals and business opportunities, and a large talent pool that can generate boomerang hires.
While the primary reason organizations develop alumni programs is frequently recruiting-related, investing in corporate alumni programs offers many other benefits, including:
To gain a more complete understanding, read Sadhana Bhide's excellent introduction on how organizations can benefit from alumni networks.
Several factors were considered when compiling our list of the 10 best alumni networks. The volume of recruits returning to the organization is a great reflection of the culture, but that alone does not give the full picture.
We took into account the number of new business opportunities generated, the mentorship and collaborative programs or learning opportunities offered and how engaged the alumni community is.
We spoke to several individual alumni and employees of various organizations who participate in our annual surveys to identify the key strategies used to drive alumni engagement. For more insights, check out our whitepaper The Business Case for an Alumni Program.
19,800 Employees | World's leading providers of investment, advisory and risk management solutions
The BlackRock Alumni Network, also known as #OneBlackRock, is a unique opportunity for former and current BlackRock employees to connect.
The platform promotes the value of connecting with others in your profession and networking and learning opportunities between the BlackRock generations. As an organization, BlackRock advocates a community of smart, ambitious and diverse people. Their alumni network unites past and present employees, so knowledge can be passed down and shared between alumni and employees.
You can learn more about how they started their network in this video.
370,000+ Employees | The second largest professional services network globally and a Big Four accounting firm.
The PwC alumni community, also known as #YourNetworkForLife, promotes building and maintaining lifelong connections throughout your career. With 52 alumni networks connecting people around the globe, PwC alumni are a diverse group of talented individuals that create friendships, relationships and opportunities.
A highlight of the PwC network is its alumni stories, which engage alumni by publishing stories of what alumni have accomplished after their time at PwC.
45,000+ Employees | Global management consulting firm, advisor to governments and leading businesses.
The McKinsey Alumni Center is built to support McKinsey Alumni in their future careers, growth and development. Their alumni platform is part of the business model: if you work at McKinsey you will be a part of their firm for life, even after you have moved on. They feature as one of the best alumni networks due to the high investment in their alumni, which they use as a selling point when hiring.
Their alumni network offers a multitude of events, learning opportunities and business opportunities through referrals. Events can include dinners, retreats, talks by industry experts and more. They run series such as 'Alumni Voices' where alumni can speak out about their current business or area of interest and make sure to mention alumni successes.
~400,000 Employees | One of the largest professional services in the world and a Big Four accounting firm.
The EY alumni network has over 1,000,000 members and spans 156 countries and their respective languages. In their own words, "EY’s alumni network is poised to connect you to more of the people you need to know." This shows that the foundation of their network is building connections and relationships within their community. Their alumni have gone on to work in government and academia or do great things in business or entrepreneurship, and they encourage the connections made from EY to continue for life.
Their alumni network is also a source of professional resources and industry insights that EY is happy to provide to their alumni to support them in their future careers and keep them in the loop on industry knowledge.
3000+ Employees | International Law Firm founded in London with over 30 offices in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
The Bird & Bird Alumni program has just celebrated 5 years of its thriving network. What stands out the most about this program is how it has successfully built a close and engaged alumni community that is spread across the globe. With alumni in 33 countries and initiatives and events carried out to engage Bird & Bird alumni in all of them, not only are they seeing extreme success through referrals and new business, but its employer brand and company reputation are flourishing from the good word of past employees.
What Bird & Bird program leaders found was that the more events and activities they ran for alumni, the more support alumni offered to the firm as well as former colleagues. Alumni are reaching out to them, stating how supported they felt in their careers after leaving 'the bird's nest', and one such alumna talked about previous colleagues referring new business to her when she was getting her own law practice off the ground. We recently hosted the Bird & Bird alumni team for a webinar.
66,000+ Employees | Global British retailer bringing quality food, clothing and homeware to millions of customers.
The Marks and Spencer Alumni network, known as the M&S Family, is built on the foundation that working at M&S brings you into a community for life. Every employee has an impact on the brand and its reputation and the alumni network is for M&S to say thank you for the time their employees dedicated to the company.
If you worked at M&S in the past they want you to stay in touch, keep purchasing from their stores, and never forget the fond memories you had working there. They do this through offering alumni great benefits and awards on the M&S Mobile App "Sparks", contributing to their former employees' futures through rehiring drives on their alumni platform to fill seasonal roles, and through career fairs, learning or networking events and webinars. Read more about the M&S network.
14,000+ Employees | Partner and creator of luxury retail experiences in the Middle East with 8 owned brands and over 300 international brands.
The Chalhoub Group Alumni Program is open to employees who have spent two years or longer working under the Chalhoub Group or one of its partnering brands. The luxury retailer has made it a priority to keep former employees engaged and has rolled out a stream of benefits for its alumni after they join the platform.
Not only do their alumni get to stay in touch and connect with a massive global network, but they also unlock discounts of up to 25% off at Chalhoub stores, get full access to the Digital Library on the Chalhoub University platform, take part in 'The Greenhouse, ' a knowledge-sharing spot for start-ups, and receive updates on personalized career opportunities.
19,500 Employees | The world's largest professional digital network.
LinkedIn co-founder and Chairman Reid Hoffman co-authored The Alliance, a book about how the expected lifespan of relationships between employees and employers will decrease significantly. As part of a new model of thinking, LinkedIn decided to invest in its alumni and get to work building relationships that are destined to last a lifetime.
This shift in thought meant that LinkedIn did not ask employees to commit to them for a lifetime but instead asked how they could support getting them where they wanted to go. The understanding of LinkedIn and how much they can help their alumni – and how much they know their alumni can help them – are the foundations of a strong, healthy alumni community. An example of this is seen in their events, where they give alumni from all over the world the chance to network and build meaningful relationships.
81,000 Employees | New York's largest healthcare provider with clinical care, community health, education, research and entrepreneurship.
The Northwell Health Alumni Network is one we're very excited about. Reaching 1,000 sign-ups in record time, this newly launched platform created an engaged and empowered network for its former employees. Starting with a launch event that included the most important Northwell figures, including the CEO and CHRO, showed that Northwell Health really does care about the success of its former employees.
Their platform offers fantastic advice and support for people throughout all stages of their careers, a highly engaged community of healthcare professionals, and a long list of alumni events and meetups. In return Northwell Health has seen high engagement in boomerang hires and job interests.
17,000+ Employees | Leading developer, publisher, and distributor of video games worldwide, namely Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush.
The Activision Blizzard King Alumni Network puts every other network to shame with its thrilling narrative, authentic voice and fun, engaged community.
Naming their alumni 'heroes' in theme with the gaming narrative, they keep their alumni engaged through their fun storytelling techniques and events. Visit their alumni network to take a peek at their compelling sign-up video (and make sure to take notes).
We’ve discussed why alumni networks are now a vital component of workforce strategy and explored some examples of successful networks that deliver value to both the company and its members.
That leaves one important question – how do you build your own network?
The most effective way is to use dedicated alumni management software like EnterpriseAlumni. Our platform offers many standout features, including:
If you want to explore our Alumni Platform in more detail, head here.
There are many reasons to invest in an alumni network. It provides you with lifelong relationships with former employees, improved talent acquisition, the ability to generate boomerang hires, and, most importantly, a chance to show employees, present and past, that you care about their professional development and career progression.
When creating the kind of network that compares with these top examples, we'll leave you with a couple of tips:
For more tips on how to run a successful alumni platform, check out our full guide. You can read our blog, which offers insights on building a successful corporate alumni.
