STUDENT LIFECYCLE, ENGAGEMENT, AND SUPPORT Welcome Home...and Bring your Friends!: Engaging Alumni for Recruitment and Rankings

Presented by Sarah Wanger, Indiana University

Recorded by Jennifer Jones, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech

Alumni engagement can be a critical aspect of any university’s recruiting process. It is crucial for universities to establish and maintain a healthy relationship with their alumni, as such a relationship can bring numerous benefits to both parties. The process must engage the correct university stakeholders and must have the structure in place to support such engagement. However, there are various issues that universities face while engaging their alumni. Some of these issues include locating alumni in their current roles, the risk of using alumni only in a self-serving fashion without any benefit to the alumni, and keeping alumni engagement high with continued and ongoing support options. University-level stakeholders may also believe that engaging alumni is a simple process—you only need to invite them, use famous or successful alumni, or just start an ambassador program for alumni, but that is not always the case.

Despite the challenges associated with alumni engagement, it is crucial for universities to engage their alumni for several reasons. First, alumni can help with job sourcing for current students and recent graduates, which is a significant advantage for universities. Second, alumni can help with recruitment for prospective students, driving new enrollment for the university. Third, alumni lead generation is higher quality, as they have a vested interest in the university’s success. Fourth, alumni giving is necessary for university success and national rankings. Finally, alumni engagement facilitates continued program connections between current students, alumni, and the various professions.

Among the important steps in building a successful alumni recruitment and engagement process, universities need to evaluate what is in place currently, identify gaps, and gather data before making any changes.

This process includes creating alumni lists, preparing emails, using social media to connect with alumni, gathering employee data, and building relationships. Gathering ongoing feedback as each new initiative is put in place is also crucial, as it allows universities to adjust and adapt to their alumni’s needs. It is best if the process can be centralized but it is necessary to maintain transparency for all parties involved and to have customization of partnership models that include all university level stakeholders. Finally, it is important that individual team members be trained on the specific role they have in the university ecosystem.

The Kelley Direct Online MBA program provides an excellent example of successful alumni engagement. The program had a large pool of living Kelley alumni, and the program created a position specifically for outreach with goals. This included compiling the alumni database, cultivating relationships, gathering intel for next steps, providing value for alumni, and creating opportunities for engagement with alumni and current or prospective students.

In conclusion, to achieve successful alumni engagement, universities must offer value to their alumni, such as workshops, newsletters, homecoming events, alumni volunteer opportunities, alumni success stories, alumni mentoring opportunities, networking opportunities (in person and virtual), career services, and an alumni website. Universities must also communicate effectively with their alumni and offer a variety of options to engage them, as not all alumni will want to engage in the same way.

Ultimately, the added value provided to alumni will lead to better engagement from them as well as increased giving and improved university rankings. n