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One of the joys of social networking is reconnecting with people you barely knew 20 years ago but would like to know better now.
Like most people in my age bracket, I have held lots of positions. In my case, in publishing, I survived stints at CMP, Ziff-Davis, IDG and McGraw-Hill.
I’m occasionally invited to real-world reunions for one defunct magazine or another. These are strange gatherings because while there is often a friendly exchange of business cards, what happens down the road is usually nothing whatsoever.
Enter Web 2.0 and social networking. These days you can quickly form or join a social network made up of other former employees. Think of these cyber-gatherings as another form of an alumni network, even if your corporate exit may have been involuntary - without so much as a farewell lunch at T.G.I. Friday’s.
To find out what’s different, I joined After Ziff-Davis a social network started (on Ning.com) by Joe Panettieri. While the Ziff site is a nicely crafted, stand-alone social network there are countless, corporate-alumni discussion groups happening on places such as Yahoo! or Facebook, too. Many of these groups sport just a few members, some with fetching names such as “ACME employees who hate ACME.”
I compiled a list of all the things to do on an “ex-employee” social network. I’ll rate these activities as career enhancements on a scale of useless to useful. (Please weigh in if you see it the same way or differently.)
- Reconnecting with former colleagues. Gratifying and useful, I hope.
- Complaining about the sorry state of tech publishing. Gratifying but useless.
- Gossiping about people we used to work with who we thought were weird, wrong or worse. Gratifying but useless.
- Telling old war stories. Gratifying but useless.
- Looking for work from these social connections. Unexpected yet useful if it happens.
- Sharing a few laughs. Gratifying and useful.
Granted, sharing laughs with former co-workers isn’t definitive proof that you have moved on with your life, but it works for me. Would you feel compelled to join an “ex-employee” social network?
I belong to two alumni groups from previous companies, and have found them to be invaluable for updates, job opportunities, keeping up with friends and feeling connected to a very special group of people - in most cases I hired many of them into the companies where we worked together. These are people I would never want to lose touch with, and many aren’t into the professional or social networking scene. Many are scattered around the world now, too. How else could I stay in touch with these wonderful ex-coworkers and friends? Here’s to ex-employee alumni groups - I hope this is a trend that continues to grow!
-Sheree Ruland