What does it mean to be an alumni today?

Currently I’m in the process of entering my first major alumni experience of my life. Having just finished my active involvement in AIESEC finished in July after 6 incredible years that built me into becoming a better person, took me around the world and provided a platform for me to give everything I had to something I believed in.

Along this journey I worked directly with hundreds of alumni as well as friends that I met in AIESEC who became alumni before I did. Throughout this I’ve made some observations of alumni behaviour as well as had some reflections on how organizations interact with their alumni and what drives alumni behaviour. This is by no means backed up by any research, but is through my own experience.

What is the purpose of an alumni? Depending on the organization, a different approach is often taken:

Universities

My friends often joke the first item they receive at graduation is their diploma, which transitions them to alumni status, and the second item is a donation envelope.

Alumni are a very important part of universities creating the best possible experience for students, which is why universities invest so heavily in developing sophisticated alumni management system, which focuses primarily on soliciting donations, obtaining mentors as well as guest lecturers. Often successful alumni are recognized to enhance the brand of the university.

In many cases the university years expose young people to so much opportunity, people and learning. It’s your first time away from home in many cases, and leads to the rest of your life, both professionally and personally. I believe most universities wouldn’t credit the entire success of their alumni to their university experience, but it undoubtedly plays a role. A great university experience combined with a strong upbringing, strong values, hard work and good decision-making leads people to become successful alumni.

So why do alumni go back to provide such support?

From my perspective I believe this is due to a few reasons:

• Universities that are strong in alumni relations continue to provide value to their alumni even after university through thought leadership, networking and other means
• If solicited properly, it can illicit very positive emotions about their time back in university and lead them to want to contribute
• It can also lead to the alumni’s sense of duty and obligation to society

In my experience as well, the alumni experience from a university perspective is even stronger in the USA. I believe this is because often people there will fuse their own identity with that of the university. It’s one example where the USA, while highly individualistic, has collectivist components. Perhaps it’s due to the stronger emphasis put on college sports in the USA such as football and basketball among others.

Companies

A new trend I’ve observed is companies such as IBM, EY and P&G amongst others starting their own alumni programs. They have realized that employees will shift many times throughout their career, and thus it should be expected that many employees will not stick around for 15-20+ years. Thus by keeping in contact and providing value (in a similar way that the universities do) for these alumni, they hope that this network may provide qualified candidates down the road for new roles (and thus are people who already have some familiarity with the company) as well as from a business development / procurement prospective, this new network of people who (hopefully) have a positive association with the company and it’s people.

I believe this is a very good new step by these companies. If I left a company in a few years to pursue something different, I would want to be kept in touch with in case something down the line matches my interests at that time.

AIESEC

One of the age-old questions that always been posed in our organization is how could we best leverage alumni relations?

The key in that is the word relations, as working with alumni is based on relationships. This is a big challenge for an organization that turns over every role each year.

AIESEC has done many good things with alumni while I was active, working with them to provide mentorship opportunities to current members of AIESEC, to provide leads / perspective in our business development activities, providing financial support for the organisation in some cases, and to gain their expertise, as everything we were doing is learning by doing.

In the end I find it difficult to imagine it can ever get to the level of a sophisticated system like a university, but it has been and can be professional and a very positive experience for the alumni.

Very targeted requests need to be made in order to obtain the most effective outcomes, though.

Within AIESEC I’ve seen that within this there are several groupings of alumni, which are often categorized by how intense their experience was, and how much time they have available to help:

1) The Epic Alumni – The alumni that will always help, they will be there for the organization through thick and thin. They are driven by their intense belief in the organization’s mission and the life-changing experience they went through while a part of AIESEC. They usually have spent several years in the organization.

2) The Helpful Alumni – For them AIESEC was important in their development, and their primary motivation is to give back when asked, and to rekindle old memories of their time in the organization. They will be less likely to proactively offer help, but when asked they will be there to support if they are able to

3) The Passive Alumni – For them AIESEC may or may not have been important in their development, and they may also have many other professional / personal commitments. They may or may not prioritize supporting.

I believe it is something unique to AIESEC to have so many alumni in the “Epic” and “Helpful” categories, which is because of transformative inner and outer experiences that AIESEC gives.

What drives the behaviour of an alumni?

Overall there are several common themes that I see that drive an alumni of any organization to go back and support:

• They continue to believe in the mission of the organization
• Getting involved again invokes positive memories and emotions
• It’s important within their set of values to give back
• There is typically something they get out of helping. For example alumni that come back to mentor often describe their relationship with the mentee as gratifying as the mentee would. This is because it is also a new experience for them, and they can see the impact of their work with this person directly.

That being said in most cases I think that alumni do not go through a conscious process of defining what type of alumni they want to be. It’s often a more passive approach that is driven case-by-case depending on the request, what their specific motivation is and what other priorities they have present at the time.

The ones that have gone through this I’ve seen look at what they can best offer and focus on that. One alumni I know focuses his efforts on coaching and training, so whenever asked he will be there to do so, but he will not provide financial support for example. Thus the alumni side of his priorities in life is clearly defined.

What reflections do I have myself?

I am forever indebted to the many alumni that supported me and AIESEC along my journey, I hope I can do the same as I enter this new stage. One story I recall vividly.

Back in 2009, I was a vice-president of my university’s AIESEC chapter, and I was going through a spell of demotivation and frustration. I had lost sight of why I was in AIESEC, and what I was trying to achieve. I went to an alumni event, where at the beginning I met Fode Beaudet, who had had a very strong AIESEC experience, leading him all the way to AIESEC’s global team. We introduced briefly and then the event commenced. Roughly 5 hours later we met again, and he remembered my name. We then got into an incredible conversation where he told me about his AIESEC journey, how powerful it was and why the organization matters. It was a small conversation but the care he showed and the passion he demonstrated kept me going, and the rest is now history.

In the context of AIESEC, I believe that I will go through different stages of my alumni journey when it comes to giving back.

Right now everything is so fresh, so I would be careful not to get too involved right away, or else I would get into the danger of getting too involved. In many cases I’ve seen alumni who get so involved that they subconsciously believe they are back in the organization, and will work to create the AIESEC they’ve always wished for. I wouldn’t want that, I’ve had my time in the organization to influence, enact and lead the change I wanted to see. I will focus my involvement as an alumni over the next few years to provide support wherever asked, whether that is chairing conferences, mentorship, running training sessions etc. Later in life perhaps that will shift to sitting on a volunteer board, or providing referrals / leads. My motivation will continue to stem from the intense belief I have in what the organization is trying to bring to the world, and for it making me into the person I am today. Nothing will ever take that away.

My hope is that alumni of AIESEC continue to live the values that we did in our active days, fight for the world we’ve always dreamed of and give back just as many have given back to us.