Alumni Network
The Alumni Network page keeps a directory of everyone who has completed offboarding, shows who joined your alumni network, and tracks people you might rehire. It's available on every plan.
Alumni email only goes to people who joined the alumni network, at the personal email they gave when joining. The work email is never used: offboarding shuts it down. Every alumni email has a link to leave the network.
Alumni profiles
A profile is created when an offboarding is completed, however it was completed (the offboarding page, a bulk action, the public API or an automation). It's filled in from the offboarding: name, work email, department, role, exit date and rehire eligibility. Creating a profile sends nothing.
Joining the alumni network
Departing employees join from the self-service portal: they enter a personal email (required) and, if they want, their LinkedIn profile URL, and agree to be contacted about your alumni network at that email. They can leave again from the portal, or with the link in any alumni email. HR can't add someone to the network on their behalf.
When someone who joined completes their offboarding (or joins after it's completed), PurpletGo sends them one welcome email at their personal address, under your organisation's branding, with a link to leave the network. It isn't sent when:
- your organisation has turned alumni welcome emails off, or
- the departure's separation type is on your skip list (termination by default).
Change both under Settings on the Alumni Network page (Super Admin, Admin and HR).
Leaving the alumni network
People leave with the link in any alumni email, or from the self-service portal. If someone asks you directly (for example by email), open their profile, choose Edit, then Record that they left. In every case:
- they get no more alumni email, and the directory shows Left network with the date
- Mailchimp unsubscribes them from your alumni list; HubSpot sets their
alumni_statustoalumni_opted_out; Salesforce marks the contact Email Opt Out - it's recorded in the audit log
Syncing to Mailchimp, HubSpot or Salesforce
If one of these is connected under Integrations, members of the alumni network are synced with their personal email: Mailchimp adds them to your alumni list, HubSpot and Salesforce create or update a contact. People who didn't join, or left, are never sent.
If a person's data is later erased (Data & Privacy), they're deleted from your Mailchimp alumni list. HubSpot and Salesforce contacts are kept (they may hold your own CRM data) with the alumni marker cleared and email opted out; delete them there if they only existed for the alumni programme.
When someone who joined shared their LinkedIn URL, your Super Admins, Admins and HR get one email with a link to the profile and a suggested message when their offboarding completes. Send it again with the send icon on their card (at most once an hour). LinkedIn's API can't send connection requests, so this is a reminder for your team to act on.
Boomerang candidates
Track former employees who might come back:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| No tracking | No active rehire consideration |
| Interested | They've expressed interest in returning |
| In Process | Actively in the rehire pipeline |
| Rehired | Successfully rehired |
Set the status, notes and rehire eligibility with Edit on an alumni card. Rehire eligibility is one value: changing it on the alumni card also changes it on the offboarding. The Boomerang Hires tab groups candidates by status. Every change is recorded in the audit log with the old and new values.
Finding alumni
Search by name, work or personal email, department or role, and filter to Joined the network, Rehire eligible or Left the network. The directory shows 50 people at a time with Previous / Next; the counts at the top cover everyone.
Permissions
Viewing needs alumni_view (Super Admin, Admin, HR and Manager by default); editing profiles, sending emails and recording opt-outs needs alumni_manage. Users limited to some departments (for example managers) only see alumni whose offboarding was in those departments.