Practice knowledge base
Alumni Program
The Alumni Program maintains contact with former employees and helps quickly integrate familiar expertise into projects, temporary assignments, or open roles.
Documentation sections
What it is
This is an organizational process for engaging with former employees who departed amicably and could be valuable to the company again. The company maintains a clear communication channel, monitors interest in returning, and offers suitable formats: project work, temporary assignments, consultations, or permanent roles. This practice is most effective when departures are properly documented and a contact database owner is designated.
When it helps
- The company loses expertise when high-performing employees depart and struggles to find replacements in the external market.
- Former employees maintain good contact with the company, but there is no formal process to convert this contact into job opportunities.
- Temporary expert assistance is needed for a project where rapid understanding of the company's context is crucial.
- Open roles require rare experience that former employees already possess.
- Exit interviews indicate that some departing employees are open to considering a return later.
How to start
- 1 Designate a program owner within the HR or People team and assign responsibility for updating the list of former employees.
- 2 Compile a contact database exclusively for individuals with whom the company wishes to maintain professional relationships.
- 3 Define the formats for re-engagement: project work, temporary assignments, consultations, open roles, or referrals.
- 4 Conduct an initial interest check via a brief, personalized message, avoiding pressure or mass mailings.
- 5 Review open roles and projects where a former employee could be valuable with minimal onboarding.
Expected effect
The company gains an additional source of candidates and expertise, leveraging existing knowledge of products, processes, and people. Managers can more easily address urgent tasks, as some contacts require minimal onboarding to the context.
Common pitfalls
- Contacting all former employees indiscriminately, without considering the quality of their departure or reasons for leaving.
- Reducing the program to merely a contact database without an owner, regular updates, or clear engagement scenarios.
- Pressuring individuals to return instead of offering a specific role, project, or defined task.
- Ignoring the reasons for past departures; if these have not changed, re-hiring may quickly lead to the same issues.
- Violating contact privacy or using personal data without explicit consent.
Further reading
- Book: Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, Chris Yeh, The Alliance
- Report: LinkedIn, Global Talent Trends, sections on internal and alumni candidates
- Book: Laszlo Bock, Work Rules!, People Operations practices
FAQ
Who should own the Alumni Program?
Typically, the owner is within the HR or People team, but decisions regarding specific offers are made in collaboration with department heads. It is crucial that one person is responsible for contact accuracy and engagement protocols.
Can we start without a dedicated platform?
Yes. To begin, a well-maintained contact list, agreed-upon data storage rules, and a clear process (who contacts the former employee, with what offer, and how the response is recorded) are sufficient.
How can we determine if the practice is effective?
Look beyond just re-hires. Project engagements, consultations, candidate referrals, and the speed of task completion where a former employee already understands the context are also valuable indicators.
What if an employee left due to company issues?
Do not automatically offer re-engagement. First, verify if the reason for their departure has changed: manager, role, workload, career path, or working conditions. Without this verification, the program risks repeating past conflicts.