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Sidebar: Plugged In

So how do you get a bunch of former staffers to keep working for you? Cem Sertoglu, CEO of SelectMinds, works with clients such as Accenture, Agilent, and Ernst & Young to answer that question.

Make it personal. People leave for very different reasons and with different levels of experience, so craft different messages. "The network has to be a compelling channel for everybody who participates in it," Sertoglu says.

Not just for job postings. One of the biggest mistakes a company can make is to treat its alumni network solely as a rehiring tool. "Such an agenda will immediately devalue the network in the eyes of alumni." What truly drives successful alumni programs, he says, is the belief that keeping in touch is the right thing to do.

Balance the global and local cultures. Companies with multiple locations need to strike a balance between the presence of the corporate entity and the personality of individual offices. Incorporate local components in the design interface and include office-specific content for targeted groups.

The human stuff matters. People care about how they are represented. Once alumni register, usually their first move is to look up their own record, then their closest friend's record, and then their biggest rival's record. "Naturally, we're curious about how we measure up to former colleagues," says Sertoglu. "It's a kind of progress report."