Reputation is no quick fix

Johannesburg - Looking for new blood? Fix your own reputation first, says Jason Levin, MD of HDI Youth Marketeers.

Young job-seekers are strongly influenced by a potential employer's corporate image. But Levin warns there is no quick fix. A reputation is not created through a single talk, a slick brochure or grandiose advertising campaign. It has to be built consistently over a period of time, especially by face to face interactions.

A study carried out by the agency on youth trends, the Generation Next Study, shows some 62.3% of youth will choose a company based on reputation because they want to feel safe. They want to know how they will impact on the company from the outset. They are not prepared to just be another cog in the machine, only to be "cut back" - as their parents were - when the need arises.

The study also reveals that most new jobseekers want to be their own bosses, before being woken up to the fact that being your own boss is more difficult than imagined. Being an employee is the way most of them go, but this does not mean their aspirations are any lower. Big salaries are of the essence for 45.9% of the 2 200 respondents.

Greg Potterton, the strategic director of youth trend-spotting and insights agency Instant Grass, says the ability to communicate there is room for self-navigation is key. He asks, "can you provide an opportunity to have a portfolio career, driving revenue from a few different income streams?"

It is no longer just a case of them exchanging their time for a salary, but rather their skills. Preferably this should allow students the opportunity to gain income in various ways as long as they can deliver the goods. Levin adds that the relevant messaging must get students excited and offer them a way to be involved in the process.

When it comes to engaging students, the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation believes it can show marketing specialists a thing or two about cracking the university market. The foundation is aimed at rewarding scholarships to first year students and recruiting them to the entrepreneurial development programme.

Melody Arendse, marketing and alumni officer, points out that their interactive approach saw a 267% increase in attendance of their presentations. "We recognise that communicating to students requires creativity. They need to identify with what you're saying and feel they're a part of it."

To drive home the point of the opportunities presented by the fellowship, they dramatised the possible lifestyle that came with being an entrepreneur. Students were welcomed by bodyguards to a Hollywood-style setting with a red carpet with the question, "Can you get used to this?".

- Fin24.com