With all the dust around onboarding and induction into MBA colleges having slowly settled down, it is the season for committee selection processes, which are in no way less equal to the company placement processes. With already a month having passed, the senior committee of the placement savvy campuses by this time would have successfully elected their Junior Placements team choosing the creme de la creme of the talents who had walked in, trying to impress upon with their skillset in a very brief duration.
So, the question of 'What next?' might slowly creep into the heads of all PlaceComm aspirants, who by very slender margin would have missed the opportunity of ending in the highly regarded and sought after designation in any premier management institute. Of course, there is an array of other committees, societies and different avenues for engagement for one to exhibit talents or put skills to testing. But nothing matches the feel of being a part of a professional placement committee in a management college.
The placement committee boasts of various propositions like its own self-regulatory professional code of conduct, best of the talents to rub shoulders with, nurturing a team culture in a highly volatile and pressurised environment, interaction with some of the key stakeholders of recruitment domain of the industry, networking across campuses and organisations etc. So, the question "Is it all over for a highly talented student enthusiastic to take up additional responsibilities, when there is no green signal from the PlaceComm?"
The answer would be the open doors of Alumni Committee, which could be the best way to enter into an equally challenging and exciting opportunity as that of PlaceComm. AlComm, also known as Alumni Connect Committee or Alumni Relations Team according to the naming convention of different campuses, brings almost every other proposition offered by a PlaceComm except for the less rigorous work schedule and code of conduct, and lighter stakes compared to the campus placement percentage.
There are other committees which are no less important in terms of opportunities and exposure, but Alumni Committee as a single entity packs together different KSPs of the remaining committees. It gives a taste of a variety of management skills namely Event management at the time of hosting the Alumni Get-together, Project management while conducting Alumni engagement initiatives, Relationship management through yearlong communication across channels with the Alumni etc.
All it takes to become a part of an Alumni Relations Team, as illustrated in the graphic, are basically the essential behavioural competencies required for any management professional. One who aspires to be a member of the team, should be a highly focused individual with the clear thought process. Communication skills basically underlined by the patience to listen, are inevitable in terms of the key skills required. Integrity plays a vital role in an ideal candidature for Alumni Committee as one would be dealing with the database of some of the high-profile Alumni, and at no point should try using it towards individual motives.
Once you're sure of very sure of displaying the above-mentioned personality traits, you can leverage your other skills and talents like that of photography and multimedia used in making infographics like the one above, creating jazzy presentations to convince sponsors for Get-together events, creative writing abilities to be used in the Alumni newsletters, loquacious and lively nature to host the engagement events like City Meets, social media stalking skills to maintain the Alumni Database ever updated, team management skills to switch roles between leader and player whenever required within the team etc.
Once you get into the Alumni Relations Committee/ Team, there is a world of opportunities for you to take up already existing initiatives and enhance them to newer dimensions or to create exciting new initiatives all on your own, putting in your head with all the thinking hats or to simply facilitate an essential need of the committee to maintain a close and strong connect with the Alumni. So, it's the right time for you to consider becoming an AlCommer, as you would be fondly called by your classmates just like that of a PlaceCommer.