Pathways to success: Leveraging linkedIn data to map university alumni outcomes

The era of big data, accelerated by the pandemic, has led to vast amounts of data generated through social media, which can be monetized and used to gain valuable insights for marketers, employers, job seekers, and organizations. Higher education institutions are also leveraging this data to understand their prospective students, current students, and alumni, and to build engagement. This paper explores how universities can use social media data, particularly LinkedIn, to analyze alumni career trends, internships, and operational data needs. It examines how students align their academic and professional studies with career interests and how universities can support their vocational goals. Using publicly available LinkedIn data from three different universities, the paper offers insights into internship and career options, graduate school, and alumni networking, emphasizing the importance of stronger connections between universities, employers, and alumni. The paper also highlights the positive relationship between internship duration and alumni career progression, underscoring the value of internships and experiential learning. As alumni increasingly move nationwide, especially with the rise of remote work, universities may need to adjust their recruiting and partnership strategies and should consider using LinkedIn as a tool for assessing outcomes.