Recently graduated students often lose their support network and structured interaction once they leave the university environment. This can make finding employment more difficult. Several solutions are proposed to help keep alumni connected, including encouraging the use of online professional networking sites like LinkedIn, creating networking events for graduates, and developing an app that aggregates various university social media to help alumni stay informed and in touch.

1. Problem Statement
Recently graduated studets loose the support network
of schoolmates once they are out of the university
environment because of the lack of physical proximity
and loss of structured interaction.
The problem is especially important when you consider
that grads that find jobs are unemployed grads best
contacts for landing a job.

2. obvious solutions
• Encourage grads to stay in touch
• Get grads to use online networking sites like linked in
• Create networking events that encourage grads to get
together
• Keep a registry of grads and their current employment
status that other grads can access.
• Make a point of telling students to stay in touch and to
network. Remind them that this network will serve them
through their career.
• Find ways to keep students interacting, find some way to
keep the structured interaction students get in school after
they graduate
• Give students seminars and classes on how to find work in
after college that included networking events.

3. Modified solutions
• Create events that are in different locations for
grads to attend (concerts all over the country ect)
• Create a online social media presence that
connects grads
• Make it fun for grads to contact each other
• Make it cool for grads to recommend each other.
Through some kind of social reward, money
reward, peer recognition
• Facilitate recent graduates to contact alumni that
have been out of school for 5 years or more

4. 5 year old solutions
• Make students become better friends while in college
so they stay in touch
• Ask grads that have a job to help out other less
fortunate grads.
• Give grads that help other grads a reward.
• Make sure that grads that can’t find a job don’t feel
bad about themselves
• grads that have a job should give others money
• Pay business a bonus for hiring your university's grads
• Reward recommending fellow graduates to your
employer by creating a game based online tracker

5. With out any money
• Use a facebook page to keep grads connected
• Encourage the use linked in before grads
graduate
• Use meet up to keep grads connected to each
other where ever they are
• When the development office sends out all that
promotional material include some thing about
keeping in touch with other grads
• Have a twitter presence that connects grads

6. Unlimited budget
• Throw mixers all over the country where grads are trying to find a job
• Build a website that keeps grads connected to the school and to each
other
• Have the alumni office keep in contact with recent grads by calling them
and asking how they are doing.
• Build an app that keeps grads in contact with each other
• Create structured meetings online or in person that give grads job hunting
training and bring back successful grads to mentor and encourage less
lucky graduates.
• Bring grads back to campus for events that will engage them, and keep
them in touch
• Build a social network that is only available to a particular university grads.
Connect this to the class schedule so that students who were in class
automatically have a connection.
• Build an APP that aggregates all the schools social media
presence, facebook, twiter, instagram, linked in, meetup, and package that
so grads get interesting news/ feed back from school and so that they can
contact each other.

7. Changing laws
• Mandate that internships be paid (this is
already a law but it is not enforced)
• Make college have a 5th year that is off
campus but includes a lot of structured
activities that keep grads in contact.
• Require business to hire people based on skills
not experience

8. The most practical idea
Get grads to use online networking sites like linked
in.
Schools should encourage and help students get
connected while they are still in school through the
use of linked in. The best thing to do would be to
offer free seminars (with free food, students always
show up for free food) on how best to build a
resume on line and offer free head shots.

9. The most disruptive idea
Create structured meetings online or in person that give
grads job hunting training and bring back successful grads
to mentor and encourage less lucky graduates.
This would be post graduation job hunting seminars. They
could be online or in person. They would give grads skills
to write resumes and cover letters as well as give them a
familiar setting to stay in touch with one another. They
would also highlight peer success stories and hopefully
connect those in need of help with those that have the
power to help them.

10. My favorite idea
Build an APP that aggregates all the schools social media
presence, facebook, twiter, instagram, linked in, meetup, into a package
that grads get interesting news/ feed back from school and so that they
can contact each other.
The idea here would be to create a single place were graduates could
stay connected with the university and each other. Their networks could
be based on classes, dorms, clubs ect that they were a part of so that
when they graduated they are automatically connected to people they
are acquainted with but not necessary good friends with. The app would
not create a network on its own but just compile other social networks
that the students may be a part of. Students would obviously opt in and
connect what ever social media they want. The university for its part
would encourage the use of this app by sending info about jobs via the
app and arrange/encourage mixers in various places where grads can
create new connections.