LinkedIn is a great platform for networking with fellow college alumni. As of 2022, LinkedIn has over 850 million members worldwide, with 260 million monthly active users. This makes it the largest professional networking site globally. With so many users, LinkedIn offers ample opportunities to connect with former classmates, join relevant groups, and leverage your shared college affiliation. However, networking alumni effectively takes strategy and effort. You need to optimize your profile, make use of advanced search filters, actively participate in college groups, and purposefully grow your network.
Why Network with College Alumni?
There are several benefits to connecting with alumni from your college on LinkedIn:
- Access to career opportunities – Fellow grads may be hiring managers, recruiters, or know of openings at their company.
- Advice and mentorship – Alumni can provide guidance on career paths and industries based on personal experience.
- Valuable connections – Expand your professional network beyond just former classmates.
- Shared identity – The college bond creates an instant connection and familiarity.
- Give back – More experienced alumni can pay it forward and help recent graduates.
- Stay connected – Maintain ties to your alma mater and keep up with fellow grads.
- Industry insights – Connect with alumni working in your desired field.
- Learn best practices – Follow how successful alumni market themselves and network.
The combination of alumni who are willing to help recent graduates and the abundance of members on LinkedIn make it a prime platform for college networking. Investing time to build these relationships can pay dividends throughout your career.
Optimize Your Profile
The first step is ensuring your LinkedIn profile is optimized to connect with fellow alumni. Be sure to include:
- A professional headshot photo
- Your college name, degree(s), and graduation years prominently featured
- Any campus involvement, clubs, athletics, or academics highlighted
- A customized LinkedIn URL for easy sharing
- A detailed overview summary that describes your experience and goals
Remember that classmates will be looking for any common experiences or shared connections. The more complete your profile, the easier it will be for them to relate to you and feel comfortable reaching out.
Sample Profile About Section Highlighting College Experience:
Recent graduate of State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and concentration in Marketing.
Elected Vice President of the Business School Student Council and participated in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. Proudly served as mascot “Rocky the Bulldog” at varsity basketball games for 3 seasons.
Completed marketing internships each summer during college at XYZ Company and 123 Corporation. Recipient of State College’s “Future Alumni” scholarship award.
Passionate about social media marketing and hoping to secure a full-time position in the field upon graduation. Excited to connect with fellow State University alumni!
Leverage the Alumni Advanced Search
One of LinkedIn’s most useful features is the advanced search function. This allows you to filter potential connections by specific criteria like university name, time period, location, companies, skills, and more.
To access the alumni search:
- Click on the “Advanced” link at the top of your main LinkedIn search bar
- Select “Alumni” under “Relationship”
- Enter your university name and adjust any other filters as desired such as time period or location
- Click “Search”
You can then browse the profiles of fellow alumni that match your parameters or save the search to be notified when new matches appear. The alumni advanced search is a quick way to identify grads from your university either in your geographic area or at target employers.
Sample Alumni Search Criteria:
- Relationship: Alumni
- School: State University
- Companies: XYZ Corp., 123 Inc.
- Location: Chicago Metro Area
- Graduation Year: 2010-2020
- Industry: Marketing
Join College Alumni Groups
Most colleges have school-specific LinkedIn groups you can join to connect with alumni. After becoming a member, you can interact through discussions, event listings, job boards, and more. Alumni groups offer an easy way to reach graduates from your university all in one place.
To find groups for your college:
- Go to the “Interests” section on your LinkedIn feed
- In the “Groups” tab, enter your university name in the search bar
- Browse results and preview groups to join ones that align with your goals
- Click “Ask to join” on your desired groups and answer any membership questions
Once accepted, be an active participant by commenting on discussions, sharing advice, and leveraging the job boards. College alumni groups provide a hub to expand your network both online and potentially through in-person meetups.
Examples of Active Alumni Group Participation:
- Congratulating new members and recent graduates
- Posting job openings at your company
- Asking career development questions of senior members
- Sharing articles and resources relevant to the group
- Commenting thoughtfully on other posts and discussions
- Recommending fellow alumni for open positions
Connect with Alumni at Target Companies
Viewing alumni who work at companies that interest you provides two networking opportunities – connecting directly with the alumni as well as gaining insights about their employer from a fellow graduate’s perspective.
To identify alumni at target companies:
- Enter the company name into the main LinkedIn search bar
- Use the filters on the left side to select “People” and narrow by “Alma Mater”
- Peruse the list of alumni who work at the company
- Review their profiles take note of any shared experiences
- Connect with select alumni and reference your college or interests in common
Beyond just sending connection requests, engage with alumni by asking thoughtful questions about their career path and experience at the company. This networking will help provide an inside look at the employer culture and any open opportunities.
Example Outreach Message to Alumni at Target Company:
Hi Sarah,
I see that we both graduated from State College – Go Bulldogs! I am very interested in XYZ Company and hoping to learn more about the marketing team and any internship opportunities. Would you have 15 minutes to chat about your experience working there as an alum? I would greatly appreciate any career insights you can share!
Look forward to connecting,
John
Attend University Networking Events
Most colleges and alumni associations host in-person networking events, conferences, and activities. These provide the opportunity to connect face-to-face with fellow graduates in your geographic area.
- Check your university’s alumni website for an events calendar
- Create a LinkedIn Event to publicize local alumni networking mixers
- Post on college alumni LinkedIn groups about upcoming events
- Bring copies of your resume or business cards to event
- Follow up with any connections made via LinkedIn messaging
When attending events, look to make meaningful professional connections beyond just exchanging contact info. Discuss career experiences, seek advisors and mentors, and share how you can help fellow alumni.
Best Practices for Attending Alumni Networking Events:
- Arrive early to engage alumni before any scheduled programming
- Have potential discussion topics and questions in mind
- Collect business cards and take notes on conversations for follow up
- Introduce alumni you meet to each other to expand connections
- Suggest linking up individually if you make a strong connection
- Provide recommendations and referrals when possible
Leveraging in-person interactions, along with your LinkedIn messaging, creates more meaningful professional relationships with alumni.
Request Informational Interviews
Informational interviews allow you to pick the brain of alumni who are established in their field and learn directly from their career journey. These are brief conversations to gather actionable advice, insights about an industry or company, and discuss career development questions.
Best practices for informational interviews include:
- Research the alum and personalize your outreach message
- Be clear on your goals and questions for the discussion
- Offer options for meeting format – phone, video chat, or in person
- Come prepared and keep the meeting to no more than 30 minutes
- Express your appreciation and ask how you can help them in return
- Follow up with a LinkedIn message recapping your key takeaways
- Maintain the professional relationship and provide future career updates
Informational interviews allow alumni to mentor graduates just starting out while expanding their own network. When requesting one, be respectful of the person’s time and offer flexibility.
Sample Message Requesting Informational Interview:
Dear Jane,
My name is Sarah and I also graduated from State College in 2015 with a marketing degree. I came across your profile and am very impressed by your career path at XYZ Company.
I would love to schedule a brief informational interview to learn more about your experience in the marketing field. Are you available for a 20-30 minute phone call in the next few weeks? I’m happy to connect at whatever date/time works best for you.
Thank you for considering! I look forward to your advice and guidance around breaking into marketing as a fellow State College alum.
Best,
Sarah
Offer Career Assistance to Alumni
An important component of networking is making sure it’s mutually beneficial. Think about how you can pay it forward and help fellow graduates with their career journey just as they advised you.
Ways to help alumni include:
- Recommending former classmates for open positions at your company
- Sharing recent job postings that may interest alumni
- Providing feedback on their resume, LinkedIn profile, or interview skills
- Offering to make introductions to colleagues in their field of interest
- Endorsing their LinkedIn Skills based on your experience working together
- Writing a LinkedIn recommendation highlighting their qualifications
- Partnering on projects, presentations, or volunteer efforts
Pay attention to when your fellow alumni promote new accomplishments or share career updates. Find opportunities to provide support and encouragement as a fellow graduate.
Sample Message Offering Career Assistance:
John,
Congratulations on landing the marketing manager role at ABC Company! That will be such a great opportunity to strengthen your digital marketing skills.
Please keep me in mind if you come across any internship or entry-level job openings on your team. I would appreciate the chance to interview at ABC Company given my social media and analytics background.
Also, feel free to send my way any resume or LinkedIn advice based on your experience hiring marketing professionals. I’m actively networking and applying for full-time roles now.
Continued success! Go Bulldogs!
Sarah
Expand Your Network Strategically
When connecting with fellow alumni, avoid just accepting every request or invitation received. Be strategic in growing your college network on LinkedIn. Consider:
- Is this person established in my desired career field?
- Do we have relevant experience or interests in common beyond college?
- Have they been responsive and professional in interactions thus far?
- Are they open to providing career advice and networking?
- Is it a genuine, two-way connection that will be mutually beneficial?
Quality is more important than quantity when building your alumni network. Focus on graduates who will add long-term value to your career journey versus quick connections. Also avoid over-networking classmates from your graduating class only. Widen your reach to include both recent grads and more experienced alumni.
Tips for Expanding Your Alumni Network:
- Connect with alumni in your chosen industry, company, or location.
- Join multiple university groups – alumni association, career networking, etc.
- Follow up after events to solidify new connections.
- Personalize invitation messages referencing shared experiences.
- Target alumni in roles you aspire to, not just your peers.
- Connect offline over coffee, not just online.
Applying this relationship-focused approach will lead to a diverse professional network of fellow graduates throughout your career.
Keep Your Network Organized
Once you’ve made multiple university connections, it becomes important to organize your growing network.
Helpful ways to stay organized include:
- Create a LinkedIn list or label for your alumni connections.
- Tag alumni by graduation year, major, or other attributes.
- Note how you met alumni and relevant details.
- Save searches related to your college or target companies.
- Update relationship management CRM systems.
- Segment alumni by current industry or location.
- Flag VIPs and set reminders for regular touchpoints.
Organizing your network makes it easy to identify relevant alumni based on current needs, reconnect at strategic times, and customize your outreach accordingly.
Example Alumni Custom LinkedIn Labels:
- State College – Career Advisor
- State College – Marketing Major
- State College – Business School
- State College – Computer Science
- State College – Entrepreneur
Systemizing your university connections enables more targeted, successful networking as your needs evolve over time.
Conclusion
Effectively leveraging LinkedIn for college alumni networking requires strategy and effort, but can pay huge dividends for your career advancement. Optimizing your identity and search filters gives fellow graduates a way to find you. Joining alumni groups and attending events creates engagement opportunities. Offering career help builds reciprocal relationships. And organizing your network keeps valuable contacts at your fingertips. Apply these best practices to maximize networking among the over 850 million members of the LinkedIn community. The connections made will provide job leads, mentors, advice, and more throughout your professional journey.