The Commons

It’s about time we had an economic meltdown!  Gosh, what a great time to be an alumni officer.  What could be better than a flood of alumni sweating out the toughest job market since the Great Depression and eagerly looking to you for salvation?  Of course we didn’t want an economic meltdown, but it sure has caused one of the hottest new trends in higher education, alumni who have been laid off or on the verge and heading to the old alma mater for comfort, counsel, networking and anything else they can get to ease their unexpected plight.

Of course, it’s a good news/bad news scenario for most alumni offices and career service professionals.  On the one hand, what an opportunity—they’re actually CALLING YOU, NEEDING YOU.  On the other hand, this phenomenon is so new that, well, nobody planned for it.  A lot of alumni offices have been caught off guard with their newfound popularity and are working hard to retool to accommodate stressed out mid-career professionals with complex needs.  Alumni offices are responding in ways that look more like professional search firms, short-term loan shops, speed networking experts and social workers.

Not to be insensitive to the source of this new demand for contact and support, but from a branding perspective, there has never been a greater opportunity for Alumni organizations to prove their value and develop deep bonds with their constituents that will last well beyond the current economic crisis.  The key to doing this will be for institutions to use this opportunity to reinvent themselves to operate in this complex new era, to redefine the alumni function in ways that genuinely serve the needs of alumni in ways that can’t be met elsewhere.  If alumni organizations can do this, this could be the beginning of a beautiful new friendship that will benefit academic institutions for many years to come, well after the dust has settled on this current opportunity of crisis.

- Tim Westerbeck, Managing Director & Principal

Tags: alumni, economic downturn, higher education, resources, trends