Recruiting new candidates is expensive.
The job board fees, sourcing platform subscriptions, onboarding costs, and the risk of a bad cultural fit. It drains your budget and burns out your team.
That’s why top recruiters are turning to alumni hiring.
Recruiting a former employee, on the other hand, means little to no such costs.
Simply match their skillsets with your hiring needs.
Let’s see how!
What is the alumni talent pool?
An alumni talent pool is a curated database of former employees who’ve previously worked at your client’s organization.
But it’s not just the ex-full-time staff.
This pool can include a wide range of professionals, like :
- Freelancers who’ve completed short-term projects in different departments.
- Independent contractors who’ve offered specialized expertise in various projects.
- Interns who made a strong impression during their tenure.
- Trainees who have been integral parts of different ventures.
All of them are familiar with your client’s company and your recruitment agency’s brand.
They have shown interest before, and in many cases, have proven themselves in action.
This means there’s no need to reintroduce them to the company or your hiring process.
How to hire from the alumni talent pool in 3 quick steps?
Step 1. Build a database of alumni candidates
Before you can re-engage former employees, you need to know:
- Who are they?
- Where did they go?
- How to source them?
Many recruiters overlook this step and rely on their memory or LinkedIn searches.
But that leads to gaps, duplicates, or missed opportunities.
A centralized database of corporate alumni network gives you a major head start when roles open up that match the evolved skill sets of ex-professionals.
Here are two simple ways in which you can build a talent pool of alumni candidates:
a. Collaborate with clients’ HR teams
Start by requesting offboarding data from your client’s HR or People Success team.
Segment your database based on job roles and departments, and use filters like:
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Rehire potential
Professionals and ex-employees who left on good terms have stronger chances of returning to the company.
Use offboarding notes, performance reviews, and manager feedback to flag them early. Collect exit interview notes, previous employment records, team emails, and interview feedback.
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Career trajectory
You cannot just connect with a “Your previous company is hiring for a new role” message and expect the alumni to apply.
Instead, track their career moves post-departure through LinkedIn pages, alumni surveys, or check-ins with mutual contacts.
Find out whether they have fixed their skills gaps, moved to a competitor, joined a startup, or shifted roles. Create custom filters from this data to identify leads who may be good fits for the open roles.
Bonus tip: Collaborate with the HR of your client’s company and run virtual alumni check-ins or “Where are they now” initiatives.
A simple recruitment newsletter with monthly check-ins is a great way to capture warm leads who’ve upskilled and might be ready to return.
b. Utilize a CRM to preserve their contacts
Once you’ve gathered the data, don’t let it sit in a spreadsheet.
Build a robust recruitment CRM with filters like last role, reason for exit, skills gained post-departure, and rehire readiness score.
You can utilize it to make your recruiting easier by:
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Creating a dedicated “Alumni Talent Pool”
To source boomerang employees, create databases with custom tags like exit reason, rehire readiness, or post-exit upskillings.
This database, powered by a Best AI-powered search for talent rediscovery, saves a lot of time while screening the alumni and makes the hiring process even faster!
Don’t want to juggle between different softwares and create an advanced database from scratch?
Then switch to Recruit CRM. It is an all-in-one CRM+ATS tool for recruiters that can solve all your recruitment woes.
You can use it to create custom alumni management databases, write personalized outreach messages, set up automated reminders, build a dedicated screening system, and more!
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Tracking alumni referrals and past relationships
You can tag and add notes directly in the candidate directory to re-engage former employees. This will help you identify potential leads.
Once you’ve tracked them down, utilize Recruit CRM to start personalized outreach for workforce reactivation.
No, you don’t need to be a technological expert to handle all these. Recruit CRM has everything under a single interface!
And their customer service is available 24*7 to help you create talent requisition systems tailored to your hiring needs!
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Setting up automated reminders and email nudges
Level up your email marketing and send quarterly check-ins with newsletters to the alumni network. This ensures that the alumni stay in your pipeline without slipping through the cracks.
Step 2. Elevate the outreach to engage the alumni
Alumni already know your client’s brand, culture, and leadership style.
So a standard “We’re hiring, thought of you” LinkedIn Inmail won’t land.
You must make the outreach feel intentional, respectful of their career journey, and tailored to their possible next step.
Focus on showing them what is different now and why they should return.
Here are two quick strategies that you can follow:
a. Creating incentivized referrals
Many alumni remain in touch with ex-colleagues or former teammates. Tap into this network before reaching out to them directly.
Create a referral program for the existing employees and professionals of your client’s company and offer incentives like gift cards, early access to job openings, or exclusive perks.
This not only helps you identify warm leads faster but also builds a sense of trust.
Because alumni are far more likely to re-engage when a familiar face from their past vouches for the opportunity.
Incentivized referrals typically cut hiring time by an average of 10 days.
b. Organizing alumni networking events
Alumni networking events are great for showing how the company has evolved since they left.
It can be a virtual coffee chat with the new diversity leadership, a product demo showcasing what’s changed, or a behind-the-scenes tour of revamped team structures. Make sure that these events focus on reflecting :
- Current work culture and candidate retention programs of your client’s company.
- New projects that different teams are working on.
- Fresh professionals and leaders, and their experience working in the company.
- The change in the internal team structure of different departments.
These will rebuild trust and familiarity in a low-pressure environment.
Step 3. Revamp the job roles to attract alumni talent
Before contacting the ex-professionals, talk with your client’s HR or hiring manager. Dig into what’s changed since the alumni left.
Understand how the job role can be upgraded not just in title, but in scope, flexibility, and long-term career value.
Here are three high-impact ways to revamp the job roles and make them appealing to alumni:
a. Understand why they left the job
Alumni aren’t looking to return to the same job they left. Before reaching out, step back and understand what truly caused their departure.
Most recruiters stop at, “They left for a better opportunity.” But that’s a surface-level perspective.
Analyse the exit interview notes, Glassdoor reviews, or arrange a quick, informal conversation with the alumni.
Ask them, “What would have made you stay back then?” to get clarity on the reason that had motivated their exit, like:
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A lack of growth paths
It’s not just about promotions; many employees leave because they weren’t given ownership or exposure to new projects.
If their previous job role made them feel as if they were stuck on a treadmill with no clear next step, then you need to approach them with a more defined career trajectory and support systems to facilitate their growth.
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A manager mismatch
Top performers often switch jobs due to managers blocking their momentum.
Before approaching the alumni, find out whether there was a clash in working culture, micromanagement, or lack of feedback from the team leader that prompted their leave.
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Burnout from unrealistic expectations
Achieving unrealistic KPIs quickly doesn’t always mean that the team is exceptional.
Sometimes, high outputs with minimal support can indicate a toxic work culture. This is one of the leading causes of burnout and internal conflicts between teams, which leads employees to walk off.
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Zero location flexibility
If someone left during the post-2020 shift, chances are high that rigid schedules or outdated location policies played a significant role.
Today, professionals expect the freedom to work remotely, especially if their role doesn’t involve manual mechanical inputs.
Approaching them with a “We’re still figuring it out” clause won’t cut it. Instead, be clear on the location flexibility.
Consult with the HR of your client’s company and advocate for redesigning the job role to provide location flexibility, like remote hiring or a hybrid work culture.
b. Offer a competitive package
Solving the problems of their previous job role isn’t enough.
You need to understand that the alumni now have :
- Gained more experience in the industry.
- Upskilled or have even transitioned into a different job role.
- Possibly earned higher salaries in other companies.
Instead of reusing old compensation structures, you must level up the salary and perks.
Start by coordinating with the HR and finance team to benchmark the new package against the market and their new experience level. This will make your offer more lucrative and draw in boomerang employees.
Frequently asked questions
1. Does the hiring process differ when recruiting from the alumni candidate pool?
Yes, hiring from the alumni pool tends to be faster and more relationship-driven.
The candidate screening process can be shorter since these professionals are already familiar with the company’s culture and expectations.
Recruiters often skip early-stage culture fit checks and focus more on updated skills and motivations.
However, treating them like any other candidate is essential to avoid unconscious bias and ensure alignment with the current role.
2. How to maintain a strong relationship with the alumni talent pool?
To maintain a strong relationship with your alumni talent pool, don’t only reach out when you need to fill a role. Instead, nurture the connection consistently.
Treat them like part of an extended team, and stay in touch through newsletters, career updates, or personalized check-ins about new roles that match their growth.
Engage them on LinkedIn or alumni-specific communities where they feel seen and valued.
3. How to deal with an alumnus who has left the organization on a negative note?
If you’re reconnecting with an alumnus who left on a negative note, maybe due to a bad exit, conflict, or underperformance, start by being clear but respectful.
Acknowledge the miscommunication and poor previous candidate experience, but do not dwell only on that. Focus the conversation on where they are now and what they’re looking for next.
Keep the tone professional and future-focused, showing that you’re open to rebuilding trust if they are willing. If they have strong updated skills and interest, involve hiring managers early to ensure alignment. Be on the lookout for red flags early on to avoid further misalignment.
