winning the war for talent

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Get Connected. Get Ahead.

Winning the War for talentThe new model for online recruitment sources qualified candidates

more effectively by tapping exclusive online communities.

©2008 Affinity Circles affinitycircles.com

table of Contents

abstract

Section i: the Market Landscape – how Social Media is Changing the Way talent is Sourced

The War for Talent is Raging1.

Online Job Boards Become Obsolete2.

Open Social Networks Hold False Promise3.

Section ii: the Power Of exclusivity – Creating More Value for Sponsors and advertisers

Exclusive Social Networks Yield Results for Associations4.

Case in Point: Gator Nation Network connects alumni

Exclusive Social Networks Provide Competitive Edge to Employers5.

5.1. Established presence brands preferred employers

5.2 Advanced targeting engages qualified passive candidates

5.3. Talent pipeline improves recruitment ROI

Section iii: affinity Circles – the Leading Provider Of exclusive Social Networks

Success Factors Converge in Affinity Circles6.

6.1 The Affinity Circles Difference: An exclusive technology platform

inCircle Recruiting Offers Proven Solution7.

Case in Point: Juniper Networks targets IT alumni

Case in Point: Lam Research builds talent pipeline

About Affinity Circles8.

Testimonials

Table 1. Most Valued Sources of New Hires

Table 2. Young Alumni Drive Member Engagement

Figure 1. Percent of Job Seekers Expressing Comfort with Submitting Personal Information

Figure 2. The Essential Difference: The inCircle Ecosystem

©2008 Affinity Circles

©2008 Affinity Circles 1

abstract

Talent is the secret weapon in a knowledge-based economy, where strategic success depends upon

creativity and innovation. To stay competitive in today’s job market, employers are increasingly investing in new sourcing techniques to recruit qualified professionals. One innovative recruitment model connects employers with qualified passive candidates through online alumni communities where participation is exclusive, privacy is protected and identities are authenticated.

Colleges and universities can facilitate the profes-sional advancement of their graduates by providing a trusted online environment where employers can engage alumni in dialog about career opportunities. These sanctioned interactions allow employers to es-tablish trusted relationships that would not otherwise be possible.

For employers, recruitment advertising in the ex-clusive online communities of alumni associations builds brand awareness and creates a talent pipeline of qualified, interested candidates. This shortens the recruiting cycle, reduces advertising costs, and in-creases the quality of their hires.

For alumni associations, recruitment from within the exclusive online community reinforces the endur-ing value of the academic brand, fosters continued alumni engagement, and promotes participation in development campaigns.

1. the War for talent is ragingIn today’s increasingly competitive global marketplace, recruiting and retaining top talent is a strategic imper-ative. Forty-three percent of global executives recently surveyed report that talent sourcing is a moderate to severe challenge, making it a top risk factor in achiev-ing high performance for their organizations.1

Two well-documented trends are making it increasing-ly difficult to find and attract quality candidates. First, the workforce is aging, and there are not enough pro-fessionals to replace retiring baby boomers. The U.S.

Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the U.S. work-force will grow by only 3 percent from 2000 to 2020 as a result of the retiring baby boom generation.2

In addition, there is a shortage of students entering professional fields such as engineering, technology and medicine. In the 21st century labor market, the U.S. Dept of Education predicts that 60 percent of jobs will require skills possessed by only 20 percent of the workforce.3

The combination of these trends creates an intensely competitive labor market, where the most sought-after candidates have more choices, leading to lower recruiting yields for employers.

2. Online Job Boards Become Obsolete

Online job boards such as Monster.com and Career-Builder.com have attempted to solve this problem by aggregating job postings and job seekers. But rather than delivering better results for employers, these communities flood the applicant pool with active job seekers who are frequently under qualified for profes-sional positions.

According to recruitment industry expert Peter Weddle, there are more than 50,000 job boards and career portals in operation on the Internet.4 The proliferation of job boards has created confusion and frustration among job seekers and diminishing returns for employers.5 As a result, employers waste valuable resources at a time when their staffing needs are most dire.

In a recent recruiting survey conducted by The Adler Group, 89 percent of respondents indicated that they are not seeing enough strong candidates for important positions, and 63 percent reported that the quality and quantity of responses from the major job boards is either a huge problem (20 percent) or growing problem (43 percent).6 In 2006, employers reported spending more than one-third of their re-cruiting budgets on general job boards, even though

The War for Talent is Raging / Online Job Boards Become Obsolete


the quality of applicants provided by the boards was only 22 percent favorable.7

Clearly, posting job requisitions in job-search com-munities does not produce new hires at a rate suf-ficient to meet the demand for talent. This model for online recruitment advertising is no longer viable. Industry expert Lou Adler seemed to be speaking for many when he asked, “Is the transactional corporate recruiting model doomed?”8 Too often, the transac-tion between employer and applicant is not complet-ed because applicants’ credentials are insufficient, or candidates withdraw in favor of opportunities where social networks play a role.

To compete effectively in the talent war, employers are now going beyond job boards to find more pro-ductive pools of talent.

3. Open Social Networks hold False Promise

Open social networks allow employers to take ad-vantage of existing relationships and make more meaningful connections with candidates than are possible on job boards. Market leaders LinkedIn and Facebook bring together large communities of indi-viduals connected to one another by either profes-sional or personal relationships. These relationships can be used by employers as channels to promote job opportunities. But despite their size, open social networks fail to deliver on their promise of a better recruiting experience on three dimensions:

First they provide no authentication of the opportu-nities being presented within the community, the em-ployers offering the opportunities, or the candidates being targeted. With no pre-qualification or screening, community members may not be the professionals they claim to be, and their academic credentials may be real or fabricated. The Wall St. Journal recently re-ported that “disputes about the veracity of academic credentials have become common.”9 The fact that there is no way to tell if someone is accurately repre-senting themselves creates a credibility gap that can repel the best employers and candidates.

Second, open networks provide at best rudimentary privacy settings that do not allow users to establish different levels of trust for different types of connec-tions. Their marginal utility fails to protect highly de-sirable members from being aggressively contacted by other members. Likewise, recruiters can easily abuse the ability to contact anyone in the network in order to headhunt or obtain personal references

without a potential candidate’s knowledge or per-mission.10 In addition, the confidentiality of passive candidates who accept a professional inquiry is easily violated, since it is impossible for them to express interest without exposing their identity and contact information. Thus, one positive response can easily lead to an endless series of additional solicitations.

Finally, open network connections and communica-tions tend to be initiated by those members who are seeking assistance. With most interactions being driv-en by “have not’s,” the ensuing nuisance-factor causes the best job candidates to resist actively participating. Instead, these professionals rely on more exclusive networks such as their alumni associations, where they have a shared affinity and established credibil-ity. The CenterNetworks blog post, “Are The Most LinkedIn Really LinkedOut?” said it best: “In an age when online social networks get all the attention, the best social networks are still very much exclusive to the real world.”11

The open network model is fatally flawed because it does not provide authenticity, protect privacy or leverage shared affinity. Without these key success factors, network users lack the motivation to assist

Open Social Networks Hold False Promise

The open network model is fatally flawed, because it does not provide the trusted environment necessary for community members to effectively help one another.


one another for the greater good of the community, and both job candidates and employers fail to realize the full potential of the connections being made.

4. exclusive Social Networks Yield results For associations

Alumni associations and other professional organiza-tions can protect the privacy of their members by estab-lishing private social networks. Because they are sanc-tioned by trusted organizations, these exclusive online communities succeed where open networks fail.

To ensure authenticity and privacy, the sponsoring organization authenticates the identity and creden-tials of all members; the “members only” environ-ment, in turn, increases privacy — a pre-requisite for many individuals who have resources to share. As a result, the higher degree of trust and affinity among members increases their willingness to help one an-other. As the associate director for the Adelphi Col-lege career center noted, “An online networking site to connect alumni will go a long way in matching students with those who are predisposed to help and even hire them.”12

Associations have traditionally offered niche job boards where members who are actively seeking employment can look for opportunities. The addition of an exclu-sive online community where members can network both socially and professionally adds a new dimension to the organization’s service offering, while providing a valuable source of qualified, interested candidates for employers. Because members can search for other members who work for a prospective employer, the online alumni network also generates employee refer-rals for job opportunities. These contacts offer insights into industry trends, what’s going on at the company, and how the hiring process works.13

With a membership base that spans a cross section of industries, professions and geographic regions, alumni associations are uniquely positioned to pro-vide the three most valued sources of new hires for employers — employee referrals, social networking

and niche job boards.14 For the association, every new hire represents a satisfied alum who has advanced his or her professional career with the help of the online alumni community.

Table 1: Most Valued Sources of New Hires. Source: 2007 Recruiting Trends Survey15

Source of Hire Source Value Index

Employee Referrals 3.56

Social Networking 1.58

Niche Job Boards 0.82

Commercial Resume Database 0.80

General Job Boards 0.59

Newspapers 0.57

Career Fairs 0.56

Search Firms 0.53

(Source Value Index = Percent of Hires / Percent of Spend)

The greater the value members derive from an orga-nization-branded network, the more likely they are to not only stay active in the organization but also give back — in the form of sharing resources, making re-ferrals, participating in events and making donations.

“We found that the more connected someone is as an alumni and the more they participate, the better it is for giving back to the university,” said David Roloff, director of membership and marketing for the Uni-versity of Missouri (Mizzou) Alumni Association.16

Active members of MizzouNet, one of 140 online alumni communities hosted by Affinity Circles, have formed more than 300 special interest groups and scheduled 240 alumni events.17 At Beloit College, 75 percent of alumni who registered with Beloit’s inCir-cle community are donors to the alumni association; and 30 percent of all alumni donors are frequently engaged through the online communityhosted by Affinity Circles.18

Young alumni — those who have graduated within the past five years — tend to drive member engage-ment because of their prior exposure to online social

Exclusive Social Networks Yield Results For Associations


networking. Indeed, as Newsday reports, “The Fa-cebook generation expects to be part of a commu-nity that hangs together even after diploma day has come and gone.”19 Research shows that more than 60 percent of young alumni never use online alumni association directories; but 53 percent prefer online networks to keep in touch, and 83 percent would use an online career center.20

Engaged members also tend to maintain more up-to-date profiles, providing the association with cur-rent member contact information and demograph-ics when this data is automatically synchronized between the community and the member database. Accurate member demographics, in turn, make the alumni network more attractive to corporate recruit-ers as a means to announce relevant job opportuni-ties through recruitment advertising, employee net-working and special events.

With nearly 70 percent of young alumni posting re-sumes on the Internet, alumni associations must offer superior online networking and job search capabilities to engage recent graduates and remain relevant. Those who do reap the rewards of a vibrant, interactive alum-ni community that is an attractive resource for employ-ers. Aerotek Inc. recruiter Soraya van Dillen uses the online alumni network for her alma mater, Santa Clara University, to find the right job candidates.

“I’m very aware of the caliber of students and gradu-ates they produce,” van Dillen said. “Not a single

candidate from Santa Clara has ever failed me. My first step is to go back there.”21

5. exclusive Social Networks Provide Competitive edge to employersWhen employers participate in the official social net-works of alumni associations and other professional organizations, they connect with members whose aca-demic credentials and professional accreditations are authentic. Their recruitment yields improve, because community members are comfortable responding to professional opportunities or referring colleagues.

The connections made in an exclusive online com-munity benefit the entire community. Research shows that connections between people who share an alma mater, professional trade or other special interest are more valuable than purely social connec-tions.25 These relationships function as a filter, pro-viding participants with pre-qualified and, therefore, credible information. Fully 86 percent of workers age 20-29, and 87 percent of their older colleagues, report that they are more likely to listen to information and recommendations if they are presented by someone they know and trust.26

Exclusive social networks foster an environment of trust where members look out for each other. In

“Social Networks and the Importance of Trust,” Nev-ille Hobson — one of the leading early adopters and

Table 2: Young Alumni Drive Member Engagement in Official Online Communities of Alumni Associations

Activity by Young Alumni (graduated in past 5 years)

Total Number Average Participation Rate

Registrations 136,000 11% of young alumni

Profile Updates 1.8 million 16,360 per community

Messages Sent to Fellow Alumni 3.1 million 28,180 per community

Affinity Groups Formed 20,000 180 per community

Social Events Scheduled with Fellow Alumni 5,000 45 per community

Source: 12-month activity statistics for 110 online alumni communities hosted on the Affinity Circles technology platform, April 2007-March 2008.

Exclusive Social Networks Provide Competitive Edge To Employers


influencers in social media communication for busi-

ness — says trust in social networking sites such as Fa-

cebook is diminishing, because membership in these

open communities is seen as a commodity. He pre-

dicts that there will be a rise in niche networks in 2008,

and the ones that succeed will be the ones you trust.27

Niche networks such as the official online communi-

ties of alumni associations provide employers with

three competitive advantages in the war for talent:

An established presence. The company is an

active participant in trusted communities where

professionals interact, so there is awareness of the

brand as a preferred employer.

Advanced targeting tools. Up-to-date, ac-curate and in-depth member profiles enable the employer to use the sophisticated sourcing tech-niques necessary to identify and engage qualified candidates.

A Talent Pipeline. Employers build long-term relationship with candidates who are interested in learning more about professional opportunities without compromising the candidate’s privacy.

5.1 established presence brands preferred employers

Setting up an online profile in exclusive online com-munities generates employment brand awareness among members, who are a highly desirable demo-graphic. Equally important, a presence in these com-munities exposes employers to a deep pool of passive candidates. Employers can leverage their company brands to make recruitment announcements more appealing than their less well-known competitors.

In the trusted, secure environment of exclusive on-line communities, job seekers — particularly passive candidates — are more comfortable sharing their per-sonal information such as current employer, job title and work history.28

Savvy employers are taking advantage of this shift in candidate preferences by establishing a presence in the exclusive communities sponsored by alumni associations and professional organizations. In a recent survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), employers report-ed that professional associations and trade groups represented the most fertile ground for discovering passive job seekers, and 58 percent of respondents plan to increase their investment in this area over the next 12 months.30

5.2 advanced targeting engages qualified passive candidates

Even with an established presence, the challenge remains to source talent within the online commu-nity. According to recruiting industry expert John

4.1 Case in Point: Gator nation network Connects alumni

The University of Florida’s Gator Nation Network (GNN) has registered more than 30,000 students, alumni, faculty and staff since its launch in 2005, mak-ing it the second largest school networking site in the United States.21Hosted on the Affinity Circles technol-ogy platform, the exclusive alumni community delivers professional networking content unlike that offered by the popular social networking sites.

According to Katie Seay, director of membership and marketing for the university’s alumni association, the GNN brand is entirely professional, making it more at-tractive to potential employers.22 With more than 10 percent of all alumni on record as registered members, GNN enables young and old alumni alike to search for jobs and form industry-specific interest groups that contribute to professional advancement.

To date, the GNN alumni community has:

Registered 11 percent of email-addressable alumni•

Engaged 15 percent of young alumni•

Made 148,000 personal connections among alumni•

Formed 620 affinity groups•

Updated 80,000 alumni postal and email addresses•

By offering a university-branded online community, the alumni association has not only strengthened its value but also enhanced the quality and quantity of alumni contact data, enabling it to improve communication and participation.



Sullivan, many recruiting organizations continue to identify “the ability to find candidates” as their No. 1 difficulty.31 To address this challenge, Sullivan recom-mends a sophisticated talent sourcing technique he calls “narrowcast sourcing” or “narrowcasting.”

Narrowcasting is a method of sourcing candidates from narrowly defined population groups that exhibit attributes similar to those that map to success in spe-cific jobs. The intent is to find someone who thinks and acts like those who are most successful in the job.

There are two steps to narrowcast sourcing:

Identify where talent resides. Sourcing activities focus on the online communities whose members share interests and values similar to those profes-sionals who are most successful in the job. Identify communities where talented professionals reside by looking where current employees network.

Target recruitment ads by select criteria. Define a set of parameters that are indicative of success in a job, such as educational background or profession-al affiliation, and target community members with those attributes. Such targeted ads can increase

candidate click-through rates by 30-300 per-cent.32

Narrowcasting can be most effectively applied in affinity-based organizations, where profes-sionals with common interests actively congre-gate and network, such as alumni associations and professional organizations. Using shared affinities to target candidates also helps reduce the risk of a bad cultural fit with a company — a problem experienced by 85 percent of human resource managers surveyed by OfficeTeam.33

To narrowcast effectively, employers must be able to specify candidate attributes such as college degree, major and class year; geo-graphic location including city, state, country and region; as well as current and previous industries, job functions and employers.

5.3. talent pipeline improves recruitment rOi

A recent SHRM survey indicated that 39 percent of employers reported difficulty in managing the vol-ume of direct-response resumes they received in the past 12 months.34 Now that the hiring pace is pick-ing up — 64 percent of recruiters recently surveyed anticipate that hiring activity will increase in the coming year35 — employers can’t afford to be flooded by resumes from applicants trolling job boards and open social networks.

Instead, employers need to recruit from a pipeline of qualified, interested candidates for increased efficien-cy and effectiveness. The advantages are three-fold:

Reduced time-to-hire. Recruiting from a talent pipeline results in reduced time-to-hire, the most frequently cited measure of the efficiency in recruit-ing.36 Candidates in the pipeline can be tapped as soon as specific requisitions are opened.

Lower recruiting costs. Applications sourced through exclusive online communities cost less to process and have a higher yield than applications sourced through direct response advertising.37


30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

55%

60%

65%

70%

ProfessionalAssociations

NicheJob Boards

GeneralJob Boards

Active

Passive

Figure 1. Percent of Job Seekers expressing Comfort with Submitting Personal information

Source: JOBcentral 2005 Job Seeker Survey29


Higher quality applications. Candidates in the pipe-line come from a known and trusted source, rather than open channels such as general job boards, news-papers and commercial resume databases.

Exclusive online communities ultimately produce a higher number of trusted referrals from employees who are also members of the community. As report-ed by the DirectEmployers Association, this is the No. 1 most valuable source of hires.38

6. Success Factors Converge in affinity Circles

The three critical success factors for sourcing talent in exclusive online communities are established pres-ence, advanced targeting tools and the ability to fill a talent pipeline. These three factors converge in the controlled environment of closed communities where membership is exclusive and privacy is protected.

Affinity Circles is uniquely positioned to help pre-ferred employers source quality passive candidates by helping them tap into the exclusive online com-munities of highly educated professionals.

Affinity Circles provides the platform for online com-munities sponsored by more than 140 organizations, including alumni associations such as Dartmouth College and Stanford University, and professional organizations such as the Asia America MultiTech-nology Association and the State Bar of Texas.

Membership in these communities is by invitation only, and the identities of individual members are authenticated by the sponsoring organizations. Com-munity members control the content of their on-line profiles and who can access each profile field containing personal information. When users view their community connections, they can filter contact lists by region, occupation or industry; and they can search for contacts using criteria such as current and previous employer or job function.

When employers establish presence in Affinity Cir-cles communities, they leverage the brands of the

6.1 the affinity CirCles DifferenCe: an exclusive technology Platform

for authentication and Privacy Protection

Membership database integration. Affinity Circles •partners with sponsoring organizations through ex-clusive multi-year contracts. The hosted platform inte-grates with the organization’s membership database, enabling authentication of each community member’s identity and credentials.

Advanced privacy settings. Members can easily con-•trol what information they make public within the com-munity, based on the degree of connection between themselves and every individual member.

Branded community. In the closed community offi-•cially sanctioned by the sponsoring organization, mem-bers enjoy the benefit of “members only” exclusivity, en-couraging the exchange of highly valued opportunities.

to ensure receptivity to employers

Permission-based marketing. Affinity Circles partners •with the sponsoring organization to actively promote the community to all members. Those who choose to join the community are electing to network with their peers and receive opportunities from preferred employers.

Candidate confidentiality. Members who are inter-•ested in learning more about professional opportunities can express interest in a preferred employer without revealing their identity or personal contact information.

Automated Filtering. Once members express inter-•est in an employer, pre-set filters trigger messages that notify members who are under-qualified, and provide advice on how to increase the marketability.

for targeting Qualified Candidates

Targeted recruitment campaigns. Employers can use •narrowcasting techniques to target candidates whose credentials have been verified by the sponsoring orga-nization, a trusted third-party. Selection criteria can in-clude a combination of variables, including educational background and work experience.

Personalized messaging. When community mem-•bers log in, they see targeted messages from employers on a personalized home page. They can see why they were targeted, and they can choose to make contact or to explore the opportunity while remaining anonymous.

Success Factors Converge in Affinity Circles


sponsoring organizations to build credibility with qualified candidates. In addition, community mem-bers see their inside connections to employers through employees who act as trusted ambassadors in the com-munity, a position from which where they can make candidate referrals and endorse job opportunities.

Affinity Circles accelerates the talent sourcing pro-cess by building an ecosystem that connects organi-zations, members, and employers through exclusive technologies that enable the exchange of professional opportunities.

In an affinity circle, employers have permission to reach out to passive candidates. Community mem-bers gain the advantage of first exposure to job op-portunities, without putting their current positions at risk by exposing private information prematurely. Sponsoring organizations add value for their mem-bers by providing a platform for these private inter-actions. In the war for talent, Affinity Circles delivers victory for all three constituents.

7. inCircle recruiting Offers Proven Solution

Affinity Circles’ product, inCircle Recruiting, offers employers the only solution for talent sourcing in exclusive online communities. in-Circle Recruiting is an application that enables companies to run simultaneous recruitment campaigns in the leading online professional communities, collectively representing more than 15 million verified alumni and profes-sionals.

inCircle Recruiting’s targeted, online ads drive candidates to the employer’s branded profile, where they can explore career opportuni-ties and express interest in being contacted. These ads generate click-through rates of up to 20 percent — significantly higher response rates than traditional recruitment media such as job listings and banner ads.

inCircle Recruiting Offers Proven Solution

7.1 Case in Point: Juniper networks targets it alumni

As a leading provider of high-performance network infrastructure for business, Juniper Networks (www.juniper.net) was looking for ways to brand itself as a preferred employer to experienced technical profes-sionals with a specific educational background.

Over a five-week period, inCircle Recruiting helped Juniper zero-in on candidates with computer science and electrical engineering majors from top universities. The campaign also exposed Juniper to employees of specific companies that they have had success hiring from in the past.

The targeted online recruitment campaign produced immediate results:

515 targeted candidates visited Juniper’s employer profile.

87 targeted candidates expressed interest in Juniper.

“inCircle Recruiting helps us target and engage the pool of candidates that we care about most,” said Da-mon Berkhaug, Senior Director, Global Staffing, Juni-per Networks.

Figure 2. the essential Difference: the inCircle ecosystem

inCircle is an exclusive online community where valuable opportunities are exchanged between organizations, members and employers.

ORgANIzATIONSUniversity institutions

and professional associations with high admissions standards

and strong affinities

MeMbeRSAlumni with high

achievement standards, a common sense of survival,

desire to contribute

eMPlOYeRSThe most competitive, and desirable employers who

play to win in The War For Talent


Two pricing models — subscription-based and pay-for-performance — give employers the option of running unlimited recruitment advertising campaigns for a flat fee, or paying only when a candidate grants permission to be contacted. Both models offer unlimited outreach to a high-yield talent pool, making inCircle Recruit-ing the logical choice over traditional direct response advertising and impression-based pricing schemes.

The McKinsey & Co. report on “The War for Tal-ent” predicts that “the most important corporate re-source over the next 20 years will be talent,” and the most astute and agile companies will devise “more imaginative hiring practices.”39 inCircle Recruiting is a unique solution that creates a pipeline of qualified, interested candidates who can be tapped as soon as job requisitions open.

Online recruitment advertising through inCircle Recruiting reduces time to hire, increases recruiting yields and delivers higher quality hires. Organiza-tions that enable this innovative sourcing technique add value for members, who can attribute their pro-fessional advancement, in part, to their exclusive on-line communities.

7.2 Case in Point: lam research Builds talent Pipeline

Lam Research Corporation (www.lamrc.com), a sup-plier of wafer fabrication equipment and services to the worldwide semiconductor industry, was seeking to more effectively increase employment brand aware-ness among a targeted audience of passive and active candidates.

Lam used inCircle Recruiting to specify target candi-dates based on educational background and profes-sional qualifications. Next they ran a campaign of tar-geted announcements to drive desirable candidates to a branded employer profile within the Affinity Circle networks.

After one month, 745 targeted candidates had visited Lam’s employer profile 843 times.

“inCircle Recruiting helps us build a talent pipeline of high-quality candidates whom we may not have access to anywhere else,” said Mark Retzer, College Relations Manager, Lam Research. “The targeted campaigns help us get our brand message in front of the right can-didates, passive and active. The social network helps those candidates connect with our current employees and encourages internal referrals.”

inCircle Recruiting Offers Proven Solution


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“Our desire to attract the most qualified profes-sionals is a strategic priority, regardless of current

economic conditions. Engaging candidates within exclusive inCircle communities they trust helps us make connections that might not have been possible through any other recruiting venue.”

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Affinity Circles is the leading provider of exclusive social networks for alumni and professional organizations seeking to promote career advancement opportunities among their members. Today, more than 140 organizations utilize the inCircle community platform to connect over 15 million members with preferred employers in a trusted, exclusive environment.

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