Rise in your profession: Tips on how to utilize an alumni network

Why do you need to network with the alumni? Unlike the personal front, where the family is a readymade set of relationships, the professional front does not offer a starting point.

To move up professionally, you need to build a support system of friends and allies among like-minded people. Your network of alma mater friends and the alumni from companies with a strong culture provide a pool of people seeking to connect and help.

However, this is not available on tap and you will need to build it. Here's how.

Don't take alumni for granted

Invest in relationships. Harsh Sapru, a sales manager, applied for an advertised role with a leading Indian FMCG firm. When he found that a regional manager was an alumnus from his MBA school, he sent him an e-mail, requesting to be short-listed to the interview based on their common background.

The manager forwarded the e-mail to the HR, which promptly moved Sapru's resume to the trash folder. Sapru had taken the alum for granted and had called for an unreasonable favour from a stranger. This irritated the alum, who had Sapru removed from the selection. The right way to work with alumni is to build relationships early in life.

Don't cold call them when you are serving your notice period. Start by committing three hours a week to relationship building.

Call up alumni in your immediate circle and speak to them with no other agenda but to connect. Or, fix up a dinner with a group of alumni friends and count that time against the three hours. Thereafter, widen your network and reach out to people through social media like Linkedin and Facebook.

Drop in a line and make that odd call to speak and share common stories or interests. Over a year, you would have invested more than 150 hours and built a strong web of ties.

Be visible

People will know who you are. After graduating from school, Delhi-based Gaurav Verma became the unofficial connecting point for batchmates.

From compiling and sharing contact details and job/education updates to organising well-attended school reunions in his city, he seemed to be always there for everyone. In his late thirties, when Verma decided to become an entrepreneur, he reached out to his network for investors, distributors and customers.

They responded immediately and his venture took off. Being visible is not too challenging. Try attending all alum meets and events, visit your alma mater to greet your teachers and professors, and walk into your old hostel to host an interactive business session for students.

Similarly, get involved in discussions on social network groups and become an organiser. Create Facebook discussion groups over common interests and organise meet-ups where you invite speakers of interest.

First give, then receive

Offer to help people without any transaction involved. For instance, you could lead your firm's recruitment drive to your engineering college, or coach unsuccessful students on clearing aptitude tests, group discussions and interviews, even offer unpaid internship to students to help them gain experience.

Adopt a giving attitude in your alum network and it will build goodwill that will pay you back with interest. Offer to host alumni for the night when they are passing thro ugh your city.

Connect fledgling alum entrepreneurs to potential customers. Donate money to your alma mater for scho larships to needy students. Meet alumni who request advice and share references when asked.

Help out students with applications for higher studies. The opportunities for giving back to your network are endless, and the returns huge.

Research on alumni

Know your alumni well. When connecting with them and building a network, it pays to conduct detailed research. Moving to a new location? Find and reach out in the area to the alum who share similar interests, including hobbies, friends, industry, etc.

Similarly, to grow within your industry or profession, use your social networks to find and connect with alums who are working in the same sector. Then share information, help and form connections. Don't forget to maintain an Excel sheet for your research.

Seek advice, not jobs

During your job search phase, ask for references or advice only. If you are not close friends with the concerned alum, you do not have the space to ask for a job vacancy or offer on the strength of a nonexistent relationship.

Walking up to an alum and requesting a job makes him feel cornered and helpless. Recognise that an individual in the corporate world cannot hire without due process.

A better way to approach is to share that you are looking for a job and then ask for advice on the industry/firm/role, or for references you can talk to for advice. Now the alumni can easily share inputs and walk away satisfied from the interaction.

Avoid cold calls where possible and seek to meet face to face through mutual contacts or alumni/industry functions. You may then leverage the advice to find a suitable opportunity.

Posted in: Communication,Computer Tips,Connectivity