“There is no passion to be found in playing small — in settling for a life that is less than you are capable of living.”
This quote by Nelson Mandela is the thought of every alumni who has completed education and now is either looking for a job or in a job. During college, every student works for a bright future, every student wishes for a good career after completing their education.
But, the actual story is a little different and a lot of young alumni aren't satisfied with the end result of their education.
The Gallup-Purdue Index 2015 Report says that only 38% of the young alumni are satisfied and consider their education worth the cost.
Here is where the alumni network and the alumni association can come into play and help fellow alumni in getting a better job or a fresh job for the alumni who are looking for a job. The alumni association can work towards providing career services to the alumni and this has a lot of benefits both for the alumni and for the association.
In this article we shall discuss the need and importance of offering career services to the alumni by the alumni association.
Importance & Benefits of offering career services to alumni
As the Gallup-Purdue report suggest, a majority of the alumni are not satisfied with the end outcome of their education, thus, they are looking for a job change or a fresh job. If they alumni association is able to keep the alumni network active in such a way that a lot of jobs are created, the impact of the alumni network is going to be great.
There could be a lot of benefits of offering career services to the alumni by the association;
The foremost benefit is, it creates a very good impact on the alumni since helping someone in getting a job makes the person very grateful. This would start a chain reaction wherein the person who secured the job would later help more people in a similar way and it would go on.
The Gallup-Purdue Index 2015 Report states that the alumni are 1.2 times more loyal to the association and the network if they have a job or an internship.
The same report also states that alumni are 1.9 times more loyal to the association and the network if they have a mentor to guide them through their career path.
The alumni who benefit from the association's career services not only help in creating more jobs later but also they give generous donations to the association which is a big benefit for the association.
The benefited alumni engage more within the network too and if more and more people benefit in such a way, this image of the association and of the network is boosted significantly.
The above points clearly reflect the importance of offering career services by the association to the alumni.
Now, the next question that comes to mind is, if the benefits of this are so good, association must have been doing it, but so is not the case with majority of the associations. Let's take a loot at why should more focus be laid on career services by the alumni associations.
Why an alumni association should offer career services to the alumni?
If the alumni benefits greatly from the alumni network specially on the professional front, it brings a sense of gratefulness in them and they are bound to reciprocate the same to the network.
A VAESE case study by Alumni Access put forward the following statistical information:
24% alumni associations don't offer their alumni any career benefit related services. A big section offers minimal career services to their alumni.
Only 12.4% alumni associations have implemented the integration of alumni relations and campus career services.
Integrating career services is the top goal for just 1% alumni associations world wide.
44% associations feel that career services are the most underutilized mode of alumni engagement.
The above points from the VAESE case study suggest that even though offering career services is a very important and beneficial thing, only a very minor percentage of the associations are currently focusing on it.
Apart from this, an another study revealed the following:
86% of the alumni are looking for a better job.
73% of the alumni want to make more money.
77% of the alumni want a mentor or some sort of professional training.
These highlight that there is a need for career services among the alumni and the current service being offered are meager.
After a lot of surveys around career services being offered by the associations, 36% associations have seriously considered offering more alumni career services within the existing organizational structure. If an alumni finally ends up with a good job, the sole purpose of them joining the institute becomes successful. The positive impact of this is immense.
The chances of giving back and engaging increase multi-fold when the alumni has gained a better job due to the alumni network. This discussion clearly points towards a goal that all alumni associations world wide must consider from now itself!
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