Why is Graduate Recruitment so important?

Companies and corporations spend a lot of money each year on recruiting new talent because they understand that graduates inject a certain amount of fresh blood and offer new insights into company policies and practices having just received an education in some of the top institutions in the country. It is also an opportunity to mould an energetic, eager to learn, highly charged intellect into a valuable asset to the business. They are, after all, the future managers and directors of the company.

So what are the key skills that recruiters are looking for in a graduate?

• Motivation and enthusiasm
• Ability to work well in a team
• Excellent communication
• Flexibility and adaptability
• Proactive initiative
• Desire to learn and grow

With the economy still in recovery after a massive recession, businesses have had to pull back on their purse strings and budgets, particularly those for graduate recruitment have been cut severely. Another consequence of the recession has been a job market flooded with redundancies and graduates unable to find work. In speaking to agencies, a resounding trend seems to be that recruiters now face a problem of quality versus quantity when it comes to their pool of candidates. Not only have clients cut their spend, they are now demanding more value and return on their investment. So the question is how do recruiters overcome these issues in a flagging economy?

Measurability, now more than ever, seems the key to any marketing or recruitment campaign and digital appears to offer that sought after return on investment. Campaigns need to be highly targeted, whether it’s placing a banner ad on a youth oriented website or sending out emails to a database of registered students. Youth Media takes it a step further and offers targeted email campaigns sent through heads of department to student academic email addresses, adding a personal touch and ensuring it comes from a trusted source to encourage more opens and higher click through than other forms of e-marketing. Click here to find out more.

How do brands reach today’s youth?

Advertisers and marketers alike know full well how the constant innovation and evolution of technology has complicated the planning process, especially when it comes to that elusive Generation Y. David Benady published a really interesting article about the trends involved with reaching the ‘Cyber Generation’ (Youth marketing: four trends in reaching the CyberGens). Below is a summary of four key points he makes:

1. Hyper-Fragmentation
While young people today may well be able to tailor their environments on their own terms, this has also resulted in a state of ‘hyper-fragmentation’ where they now crave a sense of belonging and are constantly on the lookout for communities in which to anchor themselves (social networks ring a bell?) With the usual strongholds of religion, politics and family dynamics eroding, brands can provide a sense of community and there are high returns if the reward is the right fit.

2. Open Source Society
The youth genuinely feel in control of their media, which means that there is no longer a passive acceptance. In fact, a demand for more open structures from organisations has developed in its place. The implication for brands is that they now need to be completely transparent and allow young people to feel ownership of the brand. Rather than adopting a know it all attitude, brands need to take a more passive stance and offer rewards for engaging.

3. Rewired: Generation Now
The web has created a culture of convenience where people now have access to information at their fingertips, which has its pros and cons. A quick search doesn’t require much hard work, so the youth are impressed by brands that do their ethical work for them. Also, the less commitment a brand demands the better. Initiating interaction is the key to engagement.

4. Celebrity Me
Social networks have created a ‘celebrity me’ syndrome where young people are obsessed with knowing what people are doing, where they’ve been and with whom. Brands need to tap into this resource and enhance this ‘celebrity’ status. We’ve all heard of the power of word of mouth – now imagine that combined with cyber space. When you think that young people on social networks often have over 200 friends and they can spread the word much faster than a brand, you get an idea of how valuable peer-to-peer communication really is.

Youth Media are experts in the provision of communication solutions targeted at the heart of the student market. Our YouthWire platform sits on the desktop of student PCs in areas of study and offers a prime opportunity to bring your brand to the fore of their attention. Why not have us design an app to sit on the platform and encourage that all important interaction? For more info, click here.

Top Youth Marketing Trends

1. Remember that attention will be your biggest cost
2. Never assume that the youth wake up thinking about your brand
3. What is the social currency of your product?
4. Marketing isn’t something you do to youth, it’s something you do with them
5. What is a brand if it’s not about serving its customers?
6. Awareness means nothing – you’re aware of Aston Martin, but when was the last time you went out and bought one?
7. Word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool
8. If the brain only processes 5% of what it perceives then how is your brand worthy?
9. Being good is no longer enough, now it’s all about relevance
10. The two primary motivations driving youth are the need to belong and to be significant
11. Good youth marketing is focused on share of the customer, not share of the market
12. Focus on creating a legacy, not just a campaign
13. They don't care what you know, unless they know that you care
14. Building grass roots results in forming grass routes
15. Customer service is your best youth marketing strategy
16. Prove that you are worthy
17. Customers don't need educating, we do
18. Insight is king
19. We are moving from an era of looking for consumers for our products to looking for products for our consumers
20. Sell your values
21. Everything trivial has a social value
22. Being a youth icon means nothing unless you are able to maintain your relevance - look at Harley Davidson, now effectively a dying brand appealing to an older and older audience
23. If you want attention, give something first

Youth Media has spent a decade investing in the creation of innovative and relevant communication solutions for brands looking to target the youth market. Part of that process has involved a thorough understanding of what it means to be a young consumer. If you are looking for effective student marketing solutions, click here to find out more.

Information courtesy of '50 Youth Marketing Trends for 2009' Graham Brown mobileyouth.org

What drives the youth of today?

Anyone with a foothold in the advertising world will know that a successful campaign has to be based on a profound understanding of the target market. This isn’t always an easy task, especially when you consider how quickly things change and evolve in such a highly dynamic society. Trends are in one day and out the next, especially when it comes to today’s youth who seem to consume information at an incredible rate.

So what is it that young people really care about? Is it checking out the next social scene, investing in the latest Smartphone, or dissecting the latest popular soap on TV? A study called ‘Young Adults Revealed’ suggests that the two things young people care about the most are getting a good career (46%) and their education (45%). Perhaps this points to the fact that the 16-24 year demographic is a lot more pragmatic than we give them credit. They are also disproportionately heavy users of digital media and lead the rest when it comes to their media consumption habits, all this seemingly in a search for real, meaningful human interaction (‘How Teens Use Media’).

Young people have plenty of dreams and fears, perhaps even more pronounced than older audiences and advertising has the ability to either reflect, soothe or build on these personal motivations. According to the ‘Young Adults Revealed’ report, for young people material security is what matters most and this is a reaction against the worrying situation of the job market, especially having just experienced a recession. In fact, the situation now would place the youth of today closer to the experience of their grandparents post-war than their own parents.

What do young people value most in their lives? While assumptions might suggest that it’s friends first, in actual fact it’s family that comes foremost and partners second, according to a ‘Circuits of Cool’ study carried out by MTV. When it comes to how young people spend their time, it turns out that contrary to belief, they aren’t just a bunch of coach potatoes. In fact, they love to socialise, many play sport, go the cinema or gigs, as well as the inevitable pub or club on the weekend. It might surprise you to know that 49% of young people in the survey like to read books while they’re chilling at home.

However, when it comes to the friendships forged by young people, it seems that we are entering an entirely new era of networking. There tends to be a much wider variety of relationships being formed, with a hierarchy of close, trusted friends at one extreme to more internet-based friends met at random on social networking sites. Young people have grown up with technology, they’re comfortable with it and they consume it more than any other demographic. News, health and finance don’t interest them so much as sport, technology and music do. If you’re interested in reaching the student market, click here to find out more about the media solutions available at Youth Media.