Recruiting today is hard; it's hard to know where to turn, what to do, or what side is up. There are so many complexities to attracting and hiring people in a candidate-centric economy that our recruiters and sourcers are frazzled.
It's time to lend them a hand and get by with a little help from our alumni friends.
Alumni talent are the friends sourcers need
Joe Cocker said it best, it's easier to "get by with a little help from my friends." And that's exactly how we feel about alumni talent.
Alumni are people who used to work for your organization. Perhaps they were contingent, contract workers who were never employed full time, or perhaps they left to pursue a new industry or job type or took time off from work altogether, or they may have even left because they weren't aligned to corporate goals or the management team.
But as we all know, things change quickly and it's possible that your old colleagues might have an interest in getting the band back together (nostalgia is something we all are yearning for these days.)
Lean into alumni talent pools to build teams
Alumni recruitment marketing programs are the keys to filling open roles and accelerating candidate connections.
According to Enterprise Alumni, the following are global alumni stats worth noting:
- 72% of past employees would return to the company
- 24% of leavers regret their job change
- Alumni & Alumni Referral programs fill 20% of your external hires annually
- Returners have a 44% higher retention rate over three years
- Alumni rehire is the #1 source of quality hires
(All stats from Enterprise Alumni; read more on alumni program benefits here.)
How to kickstart alumni talent marketing pools
Establishing alumni talent programs within your organization is vital to employee retention and returnship programs. To get started, you will need to connect with your HR org to determine how to best set this up for current and past employees. An employee resource group (ERG) focused on talent retention can help. In regards to talent pipelining, alumni talent pools must be built.
Work with your recruiters to create an alumni landing page or a set of landing pages encouraging past employees to join your alumni talent pool or apply to specific jobs. Once these are set up, create specific messaging for alumni talent. The content can be leveraged on the landing page, in email campaigns, and in promotional materials.
You may want to provide updates on:
- The current company org chart
- Advancements to products, services and new releases
- Any news on acquisitions and mergers
- Top customer additions and case studies
- Enhancements to employee benefits and perks
- New ERGs or employee programs
- Department-specific changes
- Inclusion of award wins and analyst relations
Once you've crafted these targeted messages, you can also create action items to share jobs and make employee referrals.
