Latest / Job Hopping with Fexingo: Tenure, Loyalty, and the Modern Career Resume / How Job Hoppers Can Leverage Alumni Networks
Transcript
- Lucas: So there's this stat from a LinkedIn study published last year that I keep coming back to—candidates who have a strong alumni connection at a company are three and a half times more likely to land an interview than those who don't. Luna: Three and a half times. That's not a marginal edge—that's a multiplier. Lucas: Exactly. And for job hoppers, who often worry their resume looks like a collection of short stints, this is actually good news. Because every job you've left is another alumni network you can tap into. Luna: Right—so instead of explaining away the short tenures, you're reframing them as access points. I love that. Lucas: And the key is to be systematic about it. Most people think of alumni networks purely in terms of their university—maybe they join the LinkedIn group, they go to a few events. But if you've had five jobs in ten years, you have five company alumni networks plus your undergrad and maybe graduate school. Luna: That's seven networks potentially. And each one has people who already know you—or at least know the context of the company you both worked at. Lucas: Right. And a warm referral from a former colleague is way more powerful than a cold application. The research from LinkedIn also showed that referrals are five times more likely to lead to a hire than a standard application. So if you can combine the alumni connection with a referral, you're stacking advantages. Luna: I have a concrete example here. A friend of mine—she had two-year stints at three different startups, then wanted to move into product management at a big tech company. She targeted Microsoft. Lucas: How'd she approach it? Luna: She went back to her second startup, where she'd worked with a senior engineer who had since moved to Microsoft as a program manager. They'd stayed loosely connected on LinkedIn. So she reached out, not asking for a job, but asking for twenty minutes to learn about his transition from startup to big company. Lucas: That's smart—informational interview framing, not a direct ask. Luna: Exactly. During that conversation, he mentioned his team was looking for a PM. She expressed interest, he offered to refer her. She got the interview and eventually the offer. Lucas: And the alumni connection was the door opener. Now, I think there's a common mistake people make with alumni outreach, especially when it's from a past employer. They send a generic message—'Hi, I see you work at X, I also worked there, can you help me get a job?' That almost never works. Luna: No, because it feels transactional. You have to add value or at least show genuine curiosity about their path. Lucas: Yeah. The better approach is to be specific. Mention a project you worked on together, or a shared connection, or something you admired about their work. Then ask a focused question about their current role or industry. Luna: And the beauty for job hoppers is that you have more shared touchpoints to draw from. You're not just saying 'we both went to State U,' you're saying 'we both survived the Q3 crunch at Startup X.' Lucas: That shared experience carries weight. It builds trust faster. And trust is what gets you the referral. Luna: You know, speaking of trust, it's funny—this show is ad-free and listener-supported, and we often hear from people who say a specific episode helped them make a career move. If that's you, and you want to keep us going, you can support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a small way to keep these conversations coming. Lucas: Yeah, and we really appreciate it. Alright—so let's talk about how to actually build and maintain these networks over time, not just when you need a job. Luna: Because the worst time to network is when you're desperate. Lucas: Exactly. So the proactive move is to keep in touch with former colleagues on a regular cadence. Maybe it's a quick check-in every quarter, sharing an article they'd find interesting or congratulating them on a promotion. Luna: And LinkedIn makes that easy with the 'congratulate' button, but a personal message goes further. Even a sentence like 'Saw you moved to Google—would love to catch up sometime' keeps the connection warm. Lucas: Exactly. Then when you do need to tap the network, it's not a cold outreach—it's a continuation of an existing relationship. Luna: I think another underused resource is the alumni group itself—like the official company alumni network on LinkedIn or a Slack community. Some companies have really active alumni groups where people post job openings and ask for recommendations. Lucas: Yeah, and those groups are often overlooked by job hoppers because they think 'I was only there for 18 months, I don't really belong.' But you do—you contributed, you earned the badge. Luna: And the people in those groups are usually more willing to help because they know the company context. It's a built-in trust signal. Lucas: So let me give a tactical framework. When you're targeting a specific company, the first step is to map your alumni overlap. Go to LinkedIn, search the company, filter by 'past company' and enter every place you've worked. See who shows up. Luna: You might be surprised. I did this for a friend recently—she had worked at four companies, and when she searched for people at a target firm, she found seven former colleagues across those four places. Lucas: Seven warm leads. That's huge. Then you prioritize: who had the closest working relationship with you? Who's in a role similar to what you want? Who's been at the target company longest? Luna: And then reach out with a personalized note referencing your shared time—maybe a specific project or inside joke. Lucas: Exactly. And don't ask for a job in the first message. Ask for advice, or an informational interview. The job conversation will come naturally if there's a fit. Luna: One more thing—university alumni networks. For job hoppers, your undergrad network might feel less relevant if you graduated a while ago, but it's still powerful. Many schools have industry-specific groups—like 'Harvard in Tech' or 'Michigan in Finance'—where members actively share opportunities. Lucas: And those groups often have higher response rates because there's a shared identity. I've seen data that university alumni are twice as likely to respond to a LinkedIn message than a random connection. Luna: So the takeaway: job hoppers aren't at a disadvantage when it comes to networking—they actually have more nodes in their network, if they're intentional about maintaining them. Lucas: Exactly. It's not about the length of tenure; it's about the breadth of relationships. And that breadth is a real asset. Luna: Alright, next episode we'll look at another angle—how job hoppers can use their varied experience to ace behavioral interviews. Lucas: Looking forward to it. Thanks for listening.