While the benefits of being part of a robust alumni network are taken for granted by those who have graduated from a college or university, few even consider the possibilities that corporate alumni programs could have for them as members of a workforce. This makes Rebecca Paluch’s blog post, “Corporate Alumni Programs for the New Normal,” all the more exciting and illuminating. Paluch does an excellent job at breaking down the basic advantages of alumni networks for employers, also discussing how recent developments, particularly in our COVID-19 landscape, have led us all to reflect more deeply about ways in which we can establish a new normal in which we work harder to stay connected.

As Paluch points out, our traditional employment model is rapidly disintegrating. One reason for this is the generational upheaval caused by factors such as the “acceleration in the retirement of boomers” and the “decreasing tenure of younger generations in the workforce.” Increasing development in areas such as automation and artificial intelligence and the prominence of social media sites that evaluate employers, such as Glassdoor and LinkedIn, are also reasons for this transition. And of course, all of this has been accelerated in the era of COVID-19, which has seen increased instability in the job market and an enormous increase in jobs performed from the home.

Corporate alumni programs can increase job security for a former employee by presenting and preserving networking opportunities.