Elevate Round Up

2. How do you set up an alumni hiring programme for success?

Where do you start with an alumni hiring project?

Step 1: Use your exit interviews to identify good leavers

“The first objective is to identify the differences between a good leaver and a bad leaver because you don’t want to go out and re-hire people who the business actually didn’t have that much of a problem losing in the first place.” – David Brammer

You can’t begin this programme of work without first ensuring that your exit interview data gives you valuable insights about who the organization would benefit from having back and building out a potential talent pool accordingly.

Step 2: Create a dedicated team who’s job it is to network the group of good leavers that you’ve identified

This is not the right place for your transactional recruiters. This needs to be a team of people who really understands what the business is doing and how it operates, because they will need to be able to operate with the agency to have open and honest conversations with your leavers about what’s possible.

This team should be contacting your alumni talent pool about 3 months after they’ve started their next role. This is typically the probationary period at which people will have a conversation where they figure out if it’s working out or not, so it’s the optimum time to have a conversation about the potential of returning.

Step 3: Have other strategies for engaging your good leavers

If someone left you because your salaries aren’t high enough, then they’re probably not going to re-join your business if your salary ranges haven’t changed. But, you can still leverage your good leavers by asking for referrals and incentivizing these with vouchers.