Professional networking is an intentional relationship build to stay connected with the other people in order to achieve professional goals. People engage in professional networking to let others know about their work and achievements for better career opportunities. “Networks deliver three unique advantages: private information, access to diverse skill sets, and power. Nowadays a large number of organizations are aware of the importance of keeping touch with their former employees
Many companies offer alumni programs which provide virtual training, LinkedIn and Facebook networking groups, training sessions on resume writing and digital interviewing. ” The top three drivers of the alumni program are brand advocacy, business development and talent acquisition”. Employees tend to adapt to the new emerging technologies by updating their skill sets from time to time. The alumni programs help to nurture the employee’s skills and an ex-employee can be recruited by the same company but for a different role. The past employees prefer to rejoin the organization if they are offered a different role based on their new or updated skill set and expertise. The onboarding time of rejoining employees can be reduced as they are already familiar with the company culture and business.
Professional networking can be integrated with the ideas of the mosaic of education. ‘Mosaic refers to nonlinear but rich pictures filled in by small pieces”. As discussed above, employees tend to change their skill sets frequently and switch from one job profile to another. The mosaic form of education provides learning opportunities for the required skills. The mosaic form of education supports cloud-based learning to address the changing needs of the professionals. “The cloud lets the material be always accessible.”4. Instead of one or two years degree program if short courses are offered related to a particular skill, it would be easy for a student/employee to access the course and acquire that skill. Rather than working on long course materials, faculties can focus on a specific module which is their area of expertise and teach that module more effectively through cloud-based learning. The students/employees can be assessed more effectively if the educator works in coordination with the organizations which are in the same profession and would probably hire the skilled candidates in the future.’ Educators need to work in partnership with organizations to provide relevant education”.
Hence, if the cloud-based education is offered in the alumni programs conducted by organizations, it would be beneficial for their ex-employees. They would enroll for the modules they wish to learn, the syllabus for the modules can be set by educators and the organization together. The assessment at the end of the module would be done by the educator as well as the organization. The grades acquired by the employees would hold a really good value from the organization perspective. The ex-employees can be rehired by the organization after they complete the required modules from the pool of courses available in the alumni program.
