How do I find high school alumni on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a great platform for connecting with old classmates and friends from high school. With over 722 million users worldwide, there’s a good chance many of your fellow alumni are on LinkedIn too. Finding and connecting with high school alumni on LinkedIn can be a great way to reconnect with old friends, expand your professional network, and learn about career paths of fellow graduates.

In this article, we’ll provide tips on the best ways to find and connect with high school alumni on LinkedIn.

Search for Your High School

The easiest way to find high school alumni on LinkedIn is to search for your high school directly. Here are the steps:

1. Go to LinkedIn and log into your account.
2. Click on the search bar at the top of the page.
3. Type in the full name of your high school. For example “Springfield High School”.
4. Hit enter. This will pull up a list of people who have indicated they attended your high school.

LinkedIn will show you a list of alumni who are on the platform and have added your high school to their profile. You can connect with these alumni directly by sending them a connection request.

The downside to this approach is that it will only surface alumni who have explicitly added your high school to their LinkedIn profile. Many people overlook updating their high school info, so this approach may cause you to miss a lot of potential connections.

Search for Individual Classmates

If you’re looking to find specific classmates from high school, you can search for them individually on LinkedIn. Here’s how:

1. Go to the LinkedIn search bar and type in their full name.
2. If too many results come up, add the name of your high school or graduation year to narrow it down.
3. Browse through the results to see if you can find their profile.
4. If you find your classmate, send them a connection request!

The more information you can add to your search such as graduation year, majors, colleges attended, or current city, the better chance you have of surfacing the right person.

You can also try searching classmates by their usernames if you happen to recall them.

Leverage LinkedIn’s “People You May Know” Feature

LinkedIn will recommend users you may know based on your profile, networks, organization memberships, and more. High school classmates will often come up through this feature.

To use this to find alumni:

1. Go to your LinkedIn feed.
2. Look along the right rail where “People You May Know” is listed.
3. Browse through the recommendations.
4. If you see any familiar faces from high school, connect with them!

You can also click on “See All” within the “People You May Know” section to surface more recommendations.

Join Your High School’s LinkedIn Alumni Page

Many high schools have official alumni pages on LinkedIn you can join. Here’s how to find them:

1. Search for your high school’s name followed by “alumni”. For example “[Your High School’s Name] alumni”.
2. Browse the results to see if an official alumni page exists. There may be multiple unofficial groups as well.
3. Once you find the official page, click “Follow” or “Join” to become a member.
4. You can now interact with fellow alumni members by posting on the page, commenting, and connecting.

Joining your high school’s alumni page makes it easy to connect with lots of alumni all in one place.

Leverage Shared Connections

Chances are you already have LinkedIn connections who went to high school with you. You can tap into your existing connections to surface and connect with more alumni.

Here’s how:

1. Go to your list of LinkedIn connections.
2. Browse through the list looking for connections you already know went to your high school.
3. View their profile and check their list of connections.
4. If you see other classmates you know, you can connect with them directly since you share a connection.

Another option is to search for one known high school classmate, go to their profile, and browse their connections for familiar faces.

Leveraging shared connections is a great way to expand your alumni network exponentially.

Join Location-Based Alumni Groups

LinkedIn has groups dedicated to alumni from specific cities, regions, and neighborhoods. If you’re active in local high school alumni meetups and events, joining relevant local groups can help you connect with even more alumni.

Here’s how to find them:

1. Search LinkedIn groups using your city or region name followed by “alumni”. For example “Boston Alumni”.
2. Browse the group results and look for ones related to high school alumni or general alumni in your locality.
3. Join any relevant groups you find.
4. Interact with group members by commenting, posting, and connecting.

You can also search for groups specific to your high school mascot or name along with location keywords.

Joining hyperlocal alumni groups can help you connect with alumni who reside in the same city or neighborhood as you.

Attend In-Person High School Reunions & Network

Attending high school class reunions is a time-tested way to reconnect with old friends and classmates. If you collect LinkedIn connections at the reunion, you can easily stay in touch long after the event.

Here are some tips for collecting LinkedIn connections at high school reunions:

• Bring business cards with your LinkedIn URL to share.
• Capture LinkedIn connections on your phone as you mingle.
• Connect via the LinkedIn mobile app by scanning nametags.
• Send LinkedIn connection requests to new connections after the reunion.
• Join your class reunion’s LinkedIn group if one exists.

Attending offline alumni events complements your online networking efforts nicely.

How to Send High School Connection Requests

Once you’ve tracked down your fellow high school alumni on LinkedIn, it’s time to connect! Here are some tips for reaching out:

• Personalize the connection request by mentioning your shared high school in the note.
• Jog their memory by mentioning teachers, classes, or activities you shared.
• Keep the request friendly and casual to rekindle the relationship.
• Remind them where they might know you from if it’s not immediately apparent.
• Follow up after connecting to keep the conversation going.

Sending a thoughtful, personalized connection request goes a long way to refreshing old bonds with high school friends.

A sample message could be:

“Hi Jane! This is John Smith from Anytown High School, class of 2000. I hope you’re doing well! I really enjoyed being in Mrs. Jones’s homeroom class together senior year. Looking forward to reconnecting on LinkedIn!”

Maximize Your High School Connections

Once you’ve connected with high school alumni on LinkedIn, make the most of those relationships with these tips:

• Engage with their posts and content to stay top of mind.
• Drop them a message congratulating new jobs or promotions.
• Share interesting news or articles you think would interest them.
• Recommend them as a connection to others when relevant.
• Collaborate professionally where possible on projects or initiatives.
• Meet up in person when appropriate to further strengthen bonds.

The more you engage with your high school connections, the more value you’ll get from those relationships on LinkedIn.

Next Steps

Here are some final tips for keeping your high school alumni search going:

• Check back periodically for new faces and reconnect with more classmates.
• Attend and network at future high school reunions.
• Join new alumni and location-based groups over time.
• Leverage updated search tools offered by LinkedIn.
• Promote your own alumni groups and networks.

Reconnecting with the people who knew you when you were young can be deeply rewarding. We hope these tips help you locate and engage your fellow high school alumni on LinkedIn. The connections you formed in those early years can truly last a lifetime when cultivated.