From the Nominator

First Five, is an ongoing series of LinkedIn-first stories exploring the first five years after graduation, featuring young alumni of different faculties, programs, and campuses at the University of Toronto. The primary goal was to engage with our audience of young alumni and encourage them to stay connected with U of T as they transition from student to alumni and into the early-career phase of their lives. A secondary goal was to build engagement on LinkedIn. Given the number of our followers, this platform represented the biggest opportunity to reach the largest social media audience and engage them with highly relevant career-centric content. One of the primary goals of our alumni relations department is to connect and engage with recent graduates (defined as alumni who are five years or less post-graduation). Participating in the story, as well as inspiring others to connect and engage with U of T, is an act of volunteerism that helps deepen the connection between alumni and their alma mater. Once the initial idea for First Five was established, team members from advancement communications met with a representative from alumni relations to put together a list of potential candidates to be featured, in consultation with staff members from various faculties, programs, and campuses at U of T. We aimed to get alumni from a wide variety of different programs to feature, which would help us emphasize the diversity of possibilities open to students at U of T. From that list, we began to choose which alumni to feature.

From the Judges

The focus on career-centric content and diverse alumni experiences can inspire other institutions to adopt similar strategies to engage recent graduates. The positive comments and internal excitement indicate strong interest and potential for further development. The campaign was strategically planned, leveraging collaboration between advancement communications and alumni relations to identify diverse alumni candidates.