As I do a lot of networking, it’s amazing to be reminded of the power of alumni connections. It’s also fall and that means college football which fills huge stadiums all over the country with people dressed in matching sweatshirts, all cheering against their rivals. It seems that as the world gets busier and more fragmented, we appreciate connections to the past even more. Many people from my alma mater, Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, have “ring” stories. You see, the college has a very distinctive class ring and a very high percentage of grads actually order the ring and wear it. I’m not going to lie, I dug mine out and dusted it off recently so I could see if it would bring me good luck or make some connections. There are legendary stories of alums all over the world running into and getting help from each other. I didn’t have my life saved in the ER by an alum or anything but I know an ER doc so it could happen. I’ve had a couple of good examples in the area of networking which started with me reaching out to alums and I heard back from them right away and had great conversations and they were very helpful. I made an assumption that the reason people help each other in that situation is that they are paying it back – someone probably helped them the same way. But who knows, maybe there is a real connection that people feel. I heard from a friend recently that it’s that way with sorority sisters as well. My friend’s daughter is at a big university and she is pledging or rushing, not sure what they call it, for a big sorority on campus. I can’t think about that without thinking about Animal House and wondering if they are going to have a toga party and wind up on double secret probation. But, similarly, my friend sought out people she knew to find a connection to that particular sorority and she did. A couple of e-mails later, this complete stranger was writing a letter of recommendation for a freshman that she never met just because she was a friend of a friend. There are varying statistics out there about the job search and what percentage of people get a job because of a connection – the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which seems pretty reputable, says that 70% of all jobs are found through networking. In my search online, the first post I found was for Yale, they actually have the Yale Career Network, a job board, and their own web site called STAY at www.yale.edu/stay/ for networking. So, why does anyone submit their resume to a company online anyway? That whole process seems like a huge waste of time right? I think LinkedIn has done a brilliant thing by allowing you to search alumni and sort by the year they graduated and what industry they work in and where they live. That’s an incredible resource and should be leveraged to it’s fullest extent by colleges and universities as the great demographic shift makes the market even more competitive for incoming freshman. I guess Yale gets it, what about your college or university? So, put on your old alumni sweatshirt or ring or whatever and cheer for your team – and if someone on your team needs a little help, do what you can.