The start of the school year can be nostalgic for most of us. September can be a fresh start on your kids’ educational journey for the months ahead. Since you’re probably no longer in school, what about your own former classmates?
It’s a great time to kick up your LinkedIn connections by linking up with your alumni network, if you haven’t done so already.
What’s in it for you or your classmates?
You know how important a good network is. You just never know when you might need it. It’s easy to make connections—beginning right now—with both recent and longtime alumni.
There are a gazillion reasons to active your alumni network. I activate my alum network regularly when gearing up for a business trip to a new destination.
There are thousands of alumni around who are working in a variety of fields who can help with all this:
- Recommend an intern for a specific project
- Gather behind-the-scenes insight when transitioning your career
- Assist your daughter or son to land a phone interview after graduation
- Offer tips when relocation to a new city
- Co-author a white paper
- Recommend a cool vacation destination
- Be a charitable supporter for the ALS Bucket Challenge
- Add to your network and get to 500+ connections
Finding your alma mater
Just follow the steps on the top toolbar, “Connections” and use the drop-down menu to select “Find Alumni.” The functionality of the Alumni page offers a number of filters and voila! you can start a new connection, add to the alumni discussion or simply learn where your classmates landed. At a glance, this is what the alum page looks like:
I started my alumnae conversation with a favorite memory about the Beach Party in Chicago organized by a classmate when it was 20 degrees outside and snowing.
