Editor’s note: Maisie Furneaux is a research associate at marketing research firm Flex MR, U.K. This is an edited version of a post that originally appeared here under the title, “Why employing a market research graduate is an investment.”
Why would you hire someone with a lack of on-the-job experience when you could hire someone with a lifetime of industry expertise? Investing your business’ time and money hiring a recent marketing research graduate may seem ludicrous at first but they can bring a number of benefits. Ultimately, a graduate is an investment in the firm’s future, both short- and long-term – and when you view hiring and training a graduate as an investment it can be a decision that pays dividends for years. In fact, in 2017 a graduate’s added value to your balance sheet is estimated at triple their investment cost.
Short-term benefits
1. Transferrable skills
Although a graduate may not have years of on-the-job experience, this doesn’t mean they’ve not acquired any useful or relevant skills. In fact, the transferable skills a recent marketing research graduate will have obtained throughout their studies and vocations are vast (be it through work placements, internships, part-time work, volunteering or even social activities). With a marketing research graduate you are guaranteed an employee who has the basic capabilities a job in the marketing industry requires with the aptitude necessary for extraordinary performance given a little time; a worthwhile investment to any business.
2. Continuous learners
As graduates are used to environments where continuous learning is a daily priority, adapting to their new role in the marketing research industry will not only be easier for them than your average employee but they will naturally seek to learn, develop and grow their skills. Their transferrable skills come in handy here as you can guide them in the right direction in terms of training and development. Plus, they’re not afraid of asking those silly questions (that turn out to be quite important most of the time!) that someone more experienced in the industry may feel embarrassed about asking. While they may be ambitious, they are also rigorous.
3. A fresh perspective
If you’re hiring a marketing research graduate, it is almost guaranteed that their industry experience will be little, if not non-existent. This lack of experience means that many graduates are not privy to industry norms – and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing! Look at it as someone entering your company with a new perspective, with innovative and refreshing ideas from which you can immediately reap the rewards – they may even inspire the rest of your employees to consider things from an alternative angle. New ideas go a long way in terms of your return on investment.
Long-term benefits
1. Graduates to experts
With their skills and knowledge, not to mention an enthusiastic energy, marketing research graduates come with a great deal of potential. Not yet set in their ways, they also offer the key thing that experienced professionals most likely do not – flexibility. They welcome nurturing and can be guided toward any given role. While they do bring short-term benefits, their true value can only be viewed longer term. Investing time and money in a graduate with the right basic marketing research talent will result in expertise being cultivated for long-term insight excellence specific to your business needs.
2. Future-proofing
Although the industry is ever changing, the skills that marketing research graduates acquire during their studies won’t be obsolete any time soon – great for businesses looking for a long-term investment. Long-term capabilities like the ones these marketing research graduates will have acquired, including but not limited to the commercial application of their digital selves, will be an asset to your firm for many years to come – something a professional in the middle of their career will be less likely to provide. While you may have no call for said capabilities at present, the industry morphs and your business develops and different skills are required. You never know what’s around the corner and the more talent you have available to you within your employee arsenal, the better you will fair.
3. Overarching knowledge
The knowledge of marketing research graduates tends to go beyond marketing research alone. Often throughout their studies they will have been exposed to the latest thinking in an array of disciplines, from marketing to retail, project management to finance. In time and with the right training, marketing research graduates will develop the ability to combine the knowledge acquired in their degree with their on-the-job experience. They will have a practical understanding of the commercial impact that marketing research has for business holistically and with such understanding, will become a huge asset in terms of actionable business insight production.
Costs vs. benefits
Looking at the cost of employing a marketing research graduate vs. the multitude of benefits it’s clear that it is a worthwhile business investment (assuming the right graduate is employed) – both in the short- and long-term. A marketing research graduate, even without any prior experience in the industry, brings to their role so much knowledge and many transferrable skills that over time they will become an invaluable member of a company work force. With so much potential there for the taking, why wouldn’t you want to invest in a marketing research graduate?