Alumni Associations
We currently do not have an alumni program in place. I think it might be a good idea to stay in touch with graduates and then aid in job placement. How do organizations go about starting one of these programs? How do we keep the students interested and wanting to participate?
Good questions Heather. An increasing number of schools are starting alumni associations. They are relatively easy to start since so much is already in place at most schools. Grads are motivated to stay in touch with the school if they have had a great experience and the school continues to offer them a lot of benefits as alumni. That is so easy to do. Check our website and contact us for more information. Susan (www.susanfschulz.com)
Susan,
The type of students that we have are the type that like to complaint. I am afraid that providing an alumni association will damage my good students. Any suggestions?
Hi Luis
That is certainly interesting situation. The first thought I have is why do your students complain? And what are you doing to address their complaints and to create a customer-service environment that is student focused so students are happy and successful. An Alumni Association has so many many benefits. One is you can ask grads how you can improve the student experience at your school. A happy grad will recommend and refer others to enroll in your school and provide so many other resources of great value. Contact us for additional information re alumni associations. Thanks, Susan
Contact us for information on how to set up an alumni association and overcome any barriers to making that happen. susan@susanfschulz.com
Hi Heather!
My Career Services team is in the process of setting up an Alumni Association. We are generating emails to gain support and have created a Facebook page for our school. Posting on facebook we have been able to showcase the events happenings and to get students and graduates more involved with the going ons in the school.
Michael,
Setting up an Alumni Association is a great idea. MaxKnowledge offers a course on all the details so you can get a head start. Alumni are a great resource. Happy grads are a great source for qualified enrollments. They can help in the classroom and impact retention. And of course they can tell you where the jobs are. Many are happy to come to your school to give presentations on how to get a job. They can also work with your students one on one for coaching and motivation. It helps the grad develop leadership and other skills. Keep us posted. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
I have recently taken on developing the career services and alumni relations depts at my college. These two areas go together so well. I had envisioned starting with career services and then adding the alumni dept but as i move forward, I see that getting buy-in and commitment from alumni as a real opportunity. it is making sense to me to work with alumni and their successes/issues in career placement as a starting point for the career services dept.
do you have any specific advice for getting the alumni to help me rev up these depts?
Elizabeth,
Great questions, Elizabeth. You are right, in our opinion. Career services and alumni communities do go hand-in-hand. What you might want to start with is offering career services especially for alumni. These are people who might have graduated a few months or 10 years ago. Each have specific needs. Perhaps the grad is out of work or wants to change careers, or learn to negotiate a raise or promotion. You can help. You can also ask grads to assist in career services. They can tell current students a lot about getting a job. The focus is on showing alumni they are wanted, needed, and appreciated. And give them lots of services and opportunities. You'll have alumni for life! To learn more about how to set up an alumni community you might want to enroll in the MaxK course, CS 105. And take a look at the recent Career Education Review publication with 58 pages of information on alumni communities. http://www.careereducationreview.net/alumni/
Dr. Susan Schulz
