Graduates tap online alumni networks for job leads, lost friends

COLUMBIA, Mo. --When recruiter Soraya van Dillen was looking to fill a retail industry job in northern California, she could have put a help-wanted ad in the local newspaper, or posted the vacancy on an industry Web site.

Instead, the graduate of Santa Clara University went back to her alma mater. Within days, she had found the right match through a Web site limited to Santa Clara students and alumni.

"I'm very aware of the caliber of students and graduates they produce," said van Dillen, who works for Aerotek Inc. in San Jose. "Not a single candidate from Santa Clara has ever failed me. My first step is to go back there."

More than 50 colleges nationwide, from Dartmouth and Northwestern to Florida, Santa Clara and Missouri, have tapped into the "trusted social networks" offered by Affinity Circles of Mountain View, Calif.

Started by a group of Stanford undergraduates four years ago, the company targets alumni clubs, fraternities and other campus groups whose members often scatter after graduation.

In addition to job leads, the online networks offer users much of what traditional alumni clubs have cultivated for years -- from groups of like-minded sports fans ready to cheer their teams in far-flung cities to industry-specific networking opportunities.

David Roloff, director of membership and marketing for the University of Missouri Alumni Association, calls his university's network, known as MizzouNet, "a grown-up version of Facebook."

That wildly popular online network for college undergraduates is more likely to feature digital photos of keg stands than tips for success in the job market.

Unlike Facebook and MySpace, the online network favored by high-school and junior-high teens, access to the Affinity Circles alumni-based networks is limited to users from the sponsoring university, primarily alumni but current students, too.

"It's just for the Mizzou family," said Roloff, who calls the online network "a closed community."

MizzouNet has enrolled more than 4,000 users since its debut in August, earning the distinction as Affinity Circles' fastest-growing group.

The Missouri site features interest groups for venture capitalists, engineers and journalism school graduates. There are regional groups for alumni in Chicago, St. Louis and Washington, D.C.

There's even a support group for much-criticized Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel, with 62 members who identify themselves as fans "devoted to supporting the good work being done on behalf of our university" by Pinkel and his staff.

At the University of Florida, more than 20,000 users have signed on to Gator Nation Network since the site was unveiled last year.

Alumni officials in Gainesville say the site is more about work than play.

"The primary purpose of Gator Nation Network is professional networking. The social aspect is secondary," said Katie Seay, membership and marketing director for the Florida alumni association.

For older graduates with established careers, the alumni Web sites enable long-lost classmates to catch up with each other.

One University of Missouri alumnae who graduated nearly three decades ago and now lives in Mississippi tracked down a beloved sorority sister, Roloff said.

Cultivating friendships, new and old, is a hallmark of Affinity Circles' mission, said Steve Loughlin, the company's president and chief executive officer.

Loughlin, a 25-year-old Portland native, has been enlisted by the Portland Trailblazers to develop a social network site for the pro basketball team.

The Committee of 100, an association for Chinese-American business professionals, is also on board.

"We believe there's a huge market for organizations that want to reach their members all the time, not just at reunions and trade shows," he said.

Loughlin started the company with fellow members of Stanford's track team as a means to stay in contact with friends who moved away from Palo Alto. The group quickly enlisted the Stanford alumni association as a paid client, and a business was soon born.

Affinity Circles itself is a case study in the value of cultivating job candidates from one's alma mater -- 10 of its 25 employees are Stanford graduates, said Loughlin.

The success of online alumni networks could be seen as a challenge, if not a threat, to traditional alumni clubs.

But Roloff said he sees the online alliance as an opportunity to promote even closer ties among the University of Missouri and its graduates.

"The more people connect to each other," he said, "the more people want to get together."

------

On the Net:

http://www.affinitycircles.com/