Intros through alumni networks

An alumni network is a warm path you didn't have to build. Shared history with a buyer, or with someone who knows them, turns a cold note into one they'll read.

But it only works if you treat it like a relationship and not a database.

Two kinds of alumni

The first is school. Undergrad, grad school, an executive program. The bond is real but loose. A shared school gets you a reply. It rarely gets you a meeting on its own.

The second is former employers. People who worked at the same firm you did, even years apart, share a language. They know how that company ran, who the good managers were and what the culture taught them. That bond is tighter, and it's often the better path.

Big consulting firms and large tech companies have huge alumni bases spread across every industry. If you came out of one, a lot of your target buyers did too.

Finding the path

Start with the account, not the network. Pick a target company where you have a reason to reach out. Then look at who's there.

Check the buyer first. Did they go to your school or work at a company you worked at? That's a direct alumni connection, and it's a softer cold note.

Then look one level out. Who at that company, or close to the buyer, shares a school or employer with you? A former colleague two years ahead of you at your old firm might now be a director reporting to your buyer. That person can make the intro.

LinkedIn's school and company filters do most of this work. The rest is memory. Ask yourself who you actually remember from each place, and who'd remember you. More on that mapping in mapping who you know at a target account.

The ask

Alumni intros fail when the ask is too big and too vague. "We both went to the same school, can you introduce me to your CIO?" puts the connector in an awkward spot.

Make it small and specific. Tell them what you noticed, why you think it matters to the buyer and what you'd like them to forward. Give them a note they can send without editing.

Say you spent five years at a large systems integrator, and a former colleague from that firm is now a VP at a regional bank where the new CIO is reworking the data strategy.

The ask to the former colleague is short. You saw the new CIO join and the data roles posted. You think the team might be stretched. Would they be comfortable forwarding a three-line note? And if it's not a good time, no problem at all.

That last line matters. Make it easy to say no, and people say yes more often.

Lead with the shared history, briefly

One line is enough. "We overlapped at the integrator, you were on the banking practice when I was in delivery." It reminds them who you are and why they'd help.

Don't lean on it. Nobody wants a long trip down memory lane before a favor. Name the connection, then get to the point.

And if it's school, say which part of it you share. Same program, same years, same professor. Something concrete beats "fellow alum."

Give back to the network

Alumni networks are generous when people put into them. Answer the cold notes you get from people who share your old employer. Make intros when someone asks. Show up to the reunion or the alumni event now and then.

You'll ask for intros through this network for years. It runs on goodwill, and goodwill runs out if you only ever take.

When to skip it

If the shared history is thin, don't stretch it. Attending the same giant state school 20 years apart isn't a connection. It's a coincidence. Using it as an opener feels forced.

And if the person you'd ask doesn't really know the buyer, don't make them pretend. A weak intro is worse than a strong cold note with a sharp hypothesis.

Use the alumni network where the bond is real. Ask small, make it easy to forward and give back more than you take.