To succeed in recruiting development officers, colleges and universities must use more aggressive methods to reach alumni, people with ties to the campus, and local business people; expand their selection criteria, perhaps including candidates with little or no experience; streamline the hiring process; and train new professionals. (MSE)

Three chief alumni relations officers discuss their views on the importance of hiring graduates of the college or university as alumni relations staffers. Opinions ranged from the belief that it is helpful when alumni and staff share an alma mater, to alumni status is not particularly important, to an attempt to mix both in the alumni relations…

The same care must go into recruiting volunteers as paid personnel. Once the right volunteers have been recruited, there needs to be a systematic approach to retaining and rewarding them. A guide to obtaining, training, and maintaining, the best alumni volunteers is presented. (MLW)