No matter how many times you tell your students how to be successful in high school, college and beyond, sometimes it takes hearing from a third party to make the advice really sink in. A great way to help your current students as they are planning their futures is to call upon your former students to give their perspective on making the most of high school, surviving college, choosing the right career (and being successful at it). Hearing from someone who has recently been through what they're going through (or about to go through) can help students gain some perspective on what they're doing now and what they plan to do in the future.

Before you pull out that alumni directory and start contacting former students, there are a few things you should keep in mind. First, be selective about which alumni you contact. Rather than sending out blanket emails asking for volunteers to come speak to students or become mentors, think about which alumni would be best-suited to your needs and only contact those people. Also, before you call or email a former student to solicit their help, make sure you know exactly what you need from them. Remember that alumni are busy folks; they may be attending college away from home, only returning to visit for the holidays or on summer breaks or they may have careers that make it difficult to take time off. So, if they are going to give up their time to help you out, you need to make sure that you know exactly what you need them to do and make sure it fits within their time constraints.

You should also make sure that you are utilizing alumni in a way that plays to their strengths. If you speak to a former student and know that he or she is uncomfortable speaking in front of large crowds, don't ask that alumnus to be the guest speaker at an assembly for the entire school. If you know a former student has an athletic background, it might be best not to ask them to speak about being a successful athlete to a room full of non-athletes who have no interest in ever pursuing a sport.

College senior Martha Griffith, of the University of Alabama, offers this advice as you are considering contacting alumni for help: "At my college we have a system that not only keeps contact information about alumni, but also relevant activities and majors/areas of study for all graduates. This allows [the school] to tailor information and solicitation based on the interests of the alumni when he or she was in college. I would suggest high schools do the same. Take a genuine interest in what your graduates did while in high school and what they are doing now. Don't ask [an alumnus] to speak about how his or her experiences, beginning in high school, helped them get a job if they are still in law school. Instead, ask the alumnus to speak about how, beginning in high school, he or she started down the path to attending graduate school."

So, what are some ways that you can effectively utilize your former students? Here are a few ideas:

• Alumni can give their own unique perspective to current students about their experiences in high school, college or in their career. Just knowing that someone else graduated your school and made it out there in the big, bad world can give your students renewed confidence in themselves and their abilities.
• If you have an alumnus who attends a particular college, university or trade school that one or more of your students are interested in, he or she can talk to these students and give them information about the school they probably won't find in the glossy brochures or on the school's website.
• If you have students who are interested in a particular career field, bringing in an alumnus in that field to talk to those students can give them insight into what the career entails and the kinds of things they'll have to do if they want to pursue that career.
• Alumni can help your students learn the value of networking early. By connecting with alumni who go to a particular school or work in a particular career field, students still in high school can make great connections now that can help them as they are ready to apply to colleges or look for job opportunities.
• Alumni can make great mentors for your students. For example, if you have a student who is struggling in some way and you are in contact with a former student who had the same issues, connecting the two can really help your current student as he or she is working through his/her problem.

Once you figure out what you need alumni assistance with, and you know who you want to contact, there are a few other things to keep in mind.

• Don't abuse alumni contact info. Make sure you have a legitimate reason for contacting them and always get their permission before you give an alumnus's contact info to anyone. If an alumnus's contact info is posted in a directory, on a Facebook page or on an alumni website, don't take that as an open invitation to start sending them unsolicited emails, phone calls, etc.
• Don't spam alumni. If you don't get a response from the alumni you contact, don't keep badgering them.
• If an alumnus agrees to donate his or her time to you once or twice, don't make them your go-to person when you need alumni help (unless they tell you it's okay). Branch out and try working with other former students.
• Don't ask too much of an alumnus. If you ask them to help you out with one thing, don't assume they'll say yes to additional requests you may have.

Alumni can be a great resource to you and your students, if properly utilized. But, even if you don't plan on asking an alumnus for help, it's still a good idea to try and keep in touch with them. "By taking an interest in what alumni are doing even now," says Martha Griffith, "you can build relationships now that can benefit the school and its students for years to come."