Why workplaces should have an alumni network

Almost every college and university in the world has an alumni network for their graduates to stay connected to the school and to each other. Why haven’t businesses followed this concept?

No matter how great you are, how independent you are or how confident you are, you do not reach success without people. Put the ego aside and think about all of the wonderful employees who have made your business a success, including the ones who have left to pursue new careers and opportunities.

Remember, not every employee leaves because he/she is fired or because he/she hates the company. Many people leave organizations because of personal reasons, professional opportunities elsewhere that they just can’t pass up or other priorities. Often times, they leave with mixed emotions, knowing how much they love the organization and its people.

So, why are we just letting these people go and not staying in touch with them? Business isn’t just about revenue anymore. It’s about relationships.

Developing an alumni network for your workplace is one of the best ways to build relationships. Everything gets reviewed online these days. Employee satisfaction is no exception. With sites like Glassdoor, your current and previous employees are rating their satisfaction with working at your organization.

Maintaining and engaging a strong alumni network allows you and your business to improve in areas of need and continue doing the things you do well. Alumni feedback is just as important as the feedback you receive from current employees. It allows you to see trends in employment and employee satisfaction.

Engaging alumni also keeps them in your recruiting pool. For example, if a phenomenal employee left for a better opportunity, you can keep engaging them so that when an opportunity becomes available at your organization, they’ll know right away and might just consider coming back. You save time and money in recruiting, hiring, orienting and training because they’ve already worked for your organization, know the people and understand the culture.

There are also other ways to keep good employees around besides keeping them employed. Alumni can also be customers, business partners, donors, board members or volunteers. Forgetting about your employees who have left your organization is too common of a mistake that organizations make.

I wrote a recent post called Leverage relationships to reach success to encourage jobseekers to build real relationships with people in order to find new opportunities. It works both ways. Organizations need to leverage relationships with alumni to reach or maintain success.

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Leverage relationships to reach success

You hear it all the time now – build relationships, develop a strong network and connect with other professionals online – but what are you supposed to do with all of these new connections? Leverage these relationships to reach success.

What people fail to tell you is that it’s not just about building relationships but it’s about really getting to know the people in your professional networks and maintaining those relationships. Only then can you take advantage of that network to help you grow and develop your career. This is easier said than done. It requires a lot of time and effort.

Understand the People in Your Network

Get to know the people you’ve connected with – beyond their name, job title and place of work. Find out what their strengths and obstacles are so you can leverage their strengths and perhaps, help them overcome their struggles (it’s a two-way street).

Professional development is much more than figuring out what the next job in your career will be. If you know the strengths of each of your connections, you’ll be able to easily reach out to the right people at the right time, and it’s often when you least expect that you will need them. You may want to leverage their expertise for a project you’re working on or when you’re trying to find a specific resource or learning opportunity.

Maintain Your Relationships

In order to be successful, you need to turn the connections you make into a network of long-term relationships. This requires continuously reaching out to people, learning about what they’re working on and keeping them posted on what you’re working on. This can be as simple as a quick LinkedIn message once in a while for some connections or it can be a regular phone call or coffee break for your closer relationships.

Strong relationships are easier to keep up with but if you have a difficult time maintaining some of your other relationships, try scheduling them into your calendar. Place a reminder for every four months or so to take five minutes out of your day and write them a message. How awkward would it be to ask for something, even advice, from someone you’ve lost touch with? They may not even remember you.

Take Advantage of Your Connections

Taking advantage of your connections does not indicate a one-way relationship where you take and never give. You’ll also benefit from helping others. It all goes back to the first point about understanding the people in your network.

When you are working on a project you need guidance on or when you really are ready to make that next step in your career, you’ll know exactly who to reach out to for what because you’ve taken the time to get to know the people you’ve met and develop a true relationship with them.

Perhaps, you’re not even looking for a job for yourself but rather, you’re in a fortunate position and are looking to hire a strong team of professionals. Leverage the relationships you’ve already built to find the best talent. It might not be them but other people they know.

If you stop thinking of your connections as people just to “have” in your network and start building relationships with them and staying connected with them, you’ll be able to better leverage them to reach success in your current career or future career.

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10 tips to succeed in the workplace as a new professional

Whether you’re entering the workforce for the first time or just making a career change, it can be challenging to be a new professional. What’s even more difficult is being new to a very tenured team – a team that has already spent years or decades creating their culture, developing common ways of doing things and building a shared understanding between members. It can feel awkward, uncomfortable and lonely.

It doesn’t have to be though. There are several things you can try as a new professional – whether you’re new to the field, to the world of work or to a team/company.

  1. Set realistic expectations. You cannot go into a new job and expect that everyone on the team should automatically show you respect simply based on your qualifications. This is a mistake that new leaders, particularly, make all to often.
  2. Invest your time in building relationships. Internal networking is so important for everyone to do but especially new professionals. Go beyond your team or department and make sure you are building relationships with other employees and departments, your customers, leaders in the organization, vendors and all other stakeholders. You never know when other opportunities in the organization will open up. If people know you and your skills and abilities, they’ll be sure to reach out to you when they have an opening that’s a good fit.
  3. Be brave, share your ideas. Holding back for fear of rejection may be counter-productive. Don’t shove your ideas down your coworkers’ throats but be sure to offer them up for discussion. Often times, people are shy when they first start a job but if you don’t share your ideas, you might be missing out on a great opportunity. Also, if your idea is the perfect solution and you don’t share it, you could be hurting your team. Do this in you own way but know that it is more than okay to share your ideas even if you are new.
  4. Exemplify a “can-do” attitude. Don’t take everything on! Just try to be a problem solver whenever you can. This can be a breath of fresh air for teams that have been stuck in a negative, non-collaborative and disengaged culture for a long time. If there’s something that they feel has been impossible to do, you should see if there’s a way. Be creative.
  5. Avoid the drama. It’s stressful enough to be the new one and to have to learn the culture, processes and assignments that exist at an organization. Don’t get involved in its baggage too. Avoid anything that insists on bringing you or others down.
  6. If you’re going to suck up, suck up to everyone. You should treat everyone kindly and with respect, not just your boss. If you only do good things when your boss is around, your coworkers will get annoyed pretty quickly.
  7. Be a helpful team member. When your team members are struggling, have a lot on their plate or just need a hand, make sure to offer your assistance. Show that you are a team player. Others will follow suit.
  8. Solve problems. Find out what people dislike about a current process, technology or idea and think about a way to make it better for them. You’re likely to think of things that they did not think of and vice versa. If you know of a way to make someone’s life easier or better at work, do it.
  9. Recognize others. You don’t need to be a formal leader to do this. People appreciate recognition no matter who it’s from. If you notice a great skill in one of your coworkers, complement them on it. If someone helps you out, make sure to show your appreciation. If your coworker accomplished a great feat, celebrate him/her.
  10. Know when it’s time to leave. A common mistake that many new professionals make is sticking around in a job or at an organization that they know is not a good fit. Whether it’s a lack of ethics, a lack of support or a lack of professional development, know when it’s time to leave and do it. Don’t get stuck in a job or company that you’ll hate for years to come. You don’t have to settle. I don’t mean leave after your first week. You have to use your best judgment but the point is: don’t expect that time will cure everything. If it’s time to move on, then move on.

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