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 market research graduate may seem ludicrous at first thought, but they can bring a countless number of benefits. Ultimately, a graduate is an investment in the firm’s future, both a short and long-term - and when you do 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.
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| In 2017 a graduate's added value to your balance sheet is estimated at triple their investment cost |
Short-term Benefits of Investing in a Market Research Graduate
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 fresh, new market 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 market 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 very 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 market 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 further. Their transferrable skills come in handy here - making much quicker for you to guide them in the right direction in terms of training and development. Plus, they’re not afraid of asking those silly questions (that actually turn out to be quite important most of the time!) that someone more experienced in the industry may feel embarrassed about asking. Whilst they may be ambitious, they are also rigorous.
3. A Fresh Perspective
If you’re hiring a market 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 more as someone entering your company with a brand new perspective on market research, 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.
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| If you're hiring a market research graduate. it is almost guaranteed that their industry experience will be little. if not non-existent and this is not neccessarily a bad thing |
Long-term Benefits of Investing in a Market Research Graduate
1. Graduates to Experts
With their skills and knowledge, not to mention an enthusiastic energy, market 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 towards any given role. Whilst 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 market research talent will result in the right expertise being cultivated for long-term insight excellence specific to your business needs.
2. Business Future Proofing
Although the industry is ever changing, the skills that market research graduates acquire during their studies definitely won’t be obsolete any time soon - great for businesses looking for a long-term investment. Long-term capabilities like the ones these market 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 less likely provide. It may even be that you have no call for said capabilities at present, but as the industry morphs and your business develops, 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 market research graduates tends to go beyond market 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, market 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 market research has for business holistically and with such understanding, will become a huge asset in terms of actionable business insight production.
Conclusion
Looking at the cost of employing a market research graduate verse 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 market research graduate, even without any prior experience in the industry, brings to their role so much knowledge and so many transferable skills that over time they will inevitably become an invaluable member of a company work force. With so much potential there for the taking, the real question to be asked is, ‘Why wouldn’t you want to invest in a market research graduate?’
