Post on 11-Aug-2014
description
What are young graduates looking for in an industry and what is
their perception of Market Research?
IS MARKET
RESEARCH
REALLY A
CAREER?
What is the image of the Market Research (MR) industry
amongst young graduates (grads)? What makes them tick? Is
our industry considered a successful career path?
To compete for the best young talent, the Market
Research industry has to increase its attractiveness
as an industry.
To understand the perception young graduates have
of our industry, Fringe Factory has set up a quantitative
study with the support of InSites Consulting, SSI and
ESOMAR Next. Together, we surveyed over 1,800
graduates across 9 countries to understand and assess
how attractive Market Research is as a profession.
This report highlights 5 eye-catching insights and
recommendations to make a change as an industry.
The time is now!
Thomas Troch & Lizet van de Kamp,
Board members of Fringe Factory
ON A QUEST
FOR TALENT
Screenshot of the visual survey: the industry awards
Countries: US, Brazil, UK, Belgium, the Netherlands,
Germany, Russia, India, China
Fringe Factory was set up in 2011 by a small group of
young researchers who work passionately within the
Market Research industry across the world. And no, we
are not a subsidiary, research agency, political party or
recruitment agency, but we are working closely together
with ESOMAR.
We work in partnerships with universities where we
regularly speak at career events, we arrange
competitions to attend ESOMAR for graduates, and
casual and fun events where graduates can meet
industry experts (yearly during ESOMAR Congress).
FRINGE WHO?
Chris WallbridgeMESH, UK
Sarah CunliffeSKIM, UK
Will GoodhandTNS, UK
David GaileyBrainJuicer, US
Lizet van de KampKAO, Germany
Thomas TrochInSites Consulting, Belgium
Kyle NelLowe’s Home Improvement, US
Tanmay DhallTNS, South-Africa
Get in touch with Fringe Factory! We appreciate your interest and would like to
get in touch with you!
http://www.wearefringefactory.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Are-Fringe-Factory/172254402827939
http://twitter.com/fringe_factory
Young graduates are inseparable
from their smartphones and cannot
imagine a life without social media.
They are digital natives. But how
are these skills relevant to Market
Research?
1
Young graduates, aged between 20 and 30 years old are
part of Generation Y, a generation with a distinct identity.
But what makes them different from previous
generations?
Pew Research Center researched the reasons
spontaneously given for what makes individuals from
different generations feel distinctive. Notice the evolution
from stating work ethic as a prominent identity claim to the
technology use, confirmed by the social media thunder
on the right.
TECHNOLOGY
THUNDER
Generation Y Generation X Boomer Silent
Technology use
(24%)
Technology use
(12%)
Work ethic
(17%)
WWII/Depression
(14%)
Music culture
(11%)
Work ethic
(11%)
Respectful
(14%)
Smarter
(13%)
Liberal/tolerant
(7%)
Conservative
(7%)
Values/moral
(8%)
Honest
(12%)
Smarter
(6%)
Smarter
(6%)
‘Baby boom’
(6%)
Work ethic
(10%)
Clothes
(5%)
Respectful
(5%)
Smarter
(5%)
Values/Morals
(10%)
1
2
3
4
5
Pew Research Center, Jan 2010.
Sources: Jeffbullas.com & SocialMediavieo 2013
million
Facebook users are ‘mobile only’
189
1 in 5
2couples meet online
new members
join LinkedIn
eve
ry s
ec
on
d
every minute
Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web
72hours of video is uploaded to YouTube
Market Research isn’t even featured in the
top ten of industries to be considered! Marketing,
Management Consultancy and Advertising are
leaving market research behind: only 13% of
graduates with higher education would consider it.
Speaking to personal interests, Travel and
Entertainment & Media, Publishing and
Broadcasting are popular industries. As digital
natives, it’s no surprise graduates are attracted
to Computer & ICT. But they are however also
very interested in the security provided by
governmental jobs. The attractiveness of the
Government does vary from country to country.
The industries that speak most to the imagination
of grads are very different. But what is driving
their ambitions? What is guiding their choice?
FROM THUNDER
TO BLUNDER
27%
26%
26%
21%
20%
19%
17%
17%
16%
30% travel & entertainment
the government
fashion
marketing
Q: Imagine the sky being the limit and anything being
possible. Which industries would you consider working in?
n = 1877 | f= None
media, publishing & broadcasting
computer & ICT (soft-hardware)
financial services, banks & insurances
food & beverages
management consultancy
advertising
Ask young graduates what’s important for them in
an industry and ‘income’ is mentioned the most
when asked unprompted. But is it really that
important? What if they had to select the most
defining criteria? It is striking to see how
demanding they are! As a Market Research
industry we know consumers are more demanding
than ever, we notice the same evolution in the job
expectations of graduates.
More intrinsic motivators like personal interests,
career path and work–life balance outperform
the importance of money. Although salary remains
an important decision factor, the real needs of
grads go beyond the transactional. It is crucial to
anticipate the changing needs of graduates.
Understanding the ‘pull’ factors will help us to
understand what they are looking for.
IS TECHNOLOGY
THE DRIVER?
79%
79%
77%
76%
73%
71%
69%
68%
67%
57%
57%
56%
50%
80% match with your personal interests
career opportunities
work-life balance
salary
job security
lifelong learning
match with your field of study
fun culture
social responsibility
innovation level
Important to very important criteria influencing the
preference of an industry to work in.
n = min 1798 | f = Excluded ‘Not applicable’
travel opportunities
contemporary image
external visibility & client contact
opportunity to work and live abroad
Overall the Government and ICT sectors are
considered to be the best places to work, both
awarded 12% of the votes. This can be interpreted
from a generational perspective, we can actually
talk about Generation PC. Short for Personal
Computer and Perpetual Crisis.
Personal Computer because they grew up with
technology and recognize the technological
advancements and opportunities in this field. The
computer & ICT (soft-hardware) scores
consistently highly (top 3) on important criteria
like ‘match your personal interests’, ‘career
opportunities’ and ‘work-life balance’.
Perpetual Crisis because young graduates are
concerned about finding a job in a period of on-
going recession. This atmosphere can lead to
rather conservative choices, like the ambition to
work for the government.
GENERATION
PC
“Two words. Job security. In a struggling
economy, government jobs can offer their
employees a bit more stability. Oh sure, you'll
never get rich, you'll be comfortable.”
“Computers and technology is something that's
constantly changing and evolving. If you start
in that field and are computer savvy, there's no
limit to what you can do in the field of
technology.”
“In China, working in the government is
fantastic as it provides you job security,
facilities, authority, social respect, work
satisfaction as you can be able to serve many
people.”
How to convince graduates who are
considering a career in Market
Research? It’s in the mix! They
expect a healthy work-life balance,
competitive salary and bright career
opportunities.
2
Let’s now focus on potential MR talent. We know
what drives the general population of young
graduates, but how are grads who consider a
career in Market Research different? They are
ambitious, but don’t live to work.
This is an important characteristic of Generation Y,
and is confirmed by the ‘Ten Commandments of
Youth’, featured in How Cool Brands Stay Hot
(Van den Bergh & Behrer, 2011);
1. Have faith in yourself
2. Respect your parents
3. Be honest
4. Take responsibility for your own life
5. Live life to the full and be passionate
6. Keep your promises
7. Work hard to succeed but not to the detriment of others
8. Be tolerant of others’ differences
9. Be happy and optimistic, even in adversity
10.Create, don’t destroy (yourself, others, the earth, values)
TO MIX OR
NOT TO MIX?
85%
83%
81%
75%
74%
73%
72%
71%
64%
64%
60%
58%
54%
85% work-life balance
salary
career opportunities
match with your personal interests
match with your field of study
job security
lifelong learning
innovation level
fun culture
Important to very important criteria influencing the
preference of an industry to work in.
n = 123 | f = Considers working in, or likes to work in
Market Research; excluded ‘Not applicable’
contemporary image
social responsibility
travel opportunities
external visibility & client contact
opportunity to work and live abroad
A healthy work-life balance is a key job
selection criterion to decide which industry to work
in. The Government is seen as the best industry to
provide this and even industries matching personal
interest like Travel & Entertainment and
Computer & ICT score highly.
Market Research has a bad image in terms of a
healthy balance. Graduates seem mostly to
articulate the daily challenges of researchers
instead of the benefits.
WORKING
NINE TO FIVE
20% the government
Q: The Industry Award for ‘Best Work-life balance’ goes to…
n = 213 | f = Evaluated at least one criterion as (very)
important, and judged ‘Best Work-life balance’ as third most
important criterion
travel & entertainment
fashion
retail
telecommunications
management consultancy
financial services, banks and insurances
marketing
media, publishing & broadcasting
cosmetics
food & beverages
pharmaceutical / healthcare
catering
market research
automotive
advertising
chemical
13%
11%
6%
6%
6%
6%
5%
4%
4%
3%
3%
3%
2%
2%
2%
1%
0%
computer & ICT (software-hardware)
“A good analysis can help us make the right decision and often promises
a brighter future of a company while a bad one can even lead to
bankruptcy, such work also means a lot of stress and too much stress
will make people feel tired out.”
“I wouldn't say it was the most stable industry to work in - lots of
research companies fighting over the market.”
The Market Research industry
consistently underperforms on key
decision criteria. If we make the
comparison with Advertising,
Management Consultancy and
Accountancy, the true positives and
negatives surface.
3
When comparing the perception of Market
Research to Advertising, Management
Consultancy and Accountancy by asking
graduates to connect a set of statements to these
industries, the negative perception of Market
Research is nuanced, as you can see on the
next page. But profound issues also surface…
As an industry we are not visible enough, unlike
Advertising, the outcome of a research project is
not always tangible and the impact on a new
product, service or campaign is not necessarily
clear. In addition, there is a barrier between the
industry and education. New techniques like
social media analysis are rarely part of market
research courses and little attention is paid to the
rise of (online) qualitative research. Graduates
simply don’t think of MR as a career.
THE HEAT IS
ON
Management Consultancy
THE HEAT IS
ON Q: Please read the following statements and indicate which of these
industries they most apply to.
n = min 1439 | f = filtered out ‘Not applicable to any of these industries’
Market Research
Accountancy
Advertising
Shaping the world of tomorrow
Working behind the scenes
Most people at university or collegewouldn‘t think about this Industry as a
career
An Industry with plenty of young anddynamic people
Only thinking about commercial needsand not about the needs of users
Only validating and not collaborating
Too academic and not aboutunderstanding real people
An Industry for nerdsThis is boring
All about numbers and not aboutcreativity
Dimension 1 (78,5% variance explained)
Dim
ensio
n 2
(17,6
% v
ari
ance e
xpla
ined)
If we can overcome these issues, there is a bright
future ahead! Compared to competing industries,
Market Research is highly associated with
shaping the world of tomorrow.
Graduates give surprisingly accurate and
positive descriptions of Market Research,
highlighting what the industry doesn’t emphasize
enough; it’s all about people! It’s about
understanding their needs, gaining insight into
their expectations and inspiring innovation.
KEEP YOUR
HEAD COOL
17%
12%
10%
4%
3%
2%
2%
2%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
Q: Imagine we’re introducing every industry in a short
presentation during the Award Ceremony. You have 5
minutes to talk about the Market Research sector. What
would you say? What do you see as the pros and the
cons of working in this industry?
n = 1877 | f = None
Determine people’s need / Connect w people
Huge impact / Crucial for a company
Gaining insights
Innovative / creative
Access to new information and trends
Product knowledge
Observing
Communication
First hand information on products
Quick-changing sector
Young / modern
Newest technologies
Detail oriented
“I feel that Market Researchers must have a lot of fun designing
surveys in new and interesting ways. They also get the chance to learn
a lot about our culture and what various sections of the population think.”
“You would be constantly learning as you are researching new things
and thus you would not get bored as your mind would be constantly
active.”
Does validation and number
crunching sound like fun? Let’s
open the box and show graduates
what Market Research is really
about!
4
WHAT’S IN A
NAME?
Graduates have a clear vision of
what Market Research is all
about. Although this image looks
very positive, it is not making the
industry attractive enough for
them to consider it.
What’s wrong with it? The need
for research is recognised, but
the descriptions give limited
insight into what the job of a
market researcher is all about.
Q: You have 5 minutes to introduce the Market Research sector. What would you say?
n = 1877 | f= None
understand people’s needs
crucial for companies
gaining insights
innovative / creative
access to new information and new trends
product knowledge
observing
communicationquick-changing sector
young / modern
newest technologies
detail oriented
first hand information on products
While Market Research is all about opening up to
the voice of the customer, it is not transparent as
an industry. In comparison to other industries like
advertising, the output of Market Research is
unclear to young graduates and the process is
still a 'black box'.
The experience of young graduates with an
industry drives their perception. While they are
confronted daily with, for example, advertising
campaigns, Market Research is not visible in
their world. The first encounter is often from the
participant perspective, and not all surveys or
interviews are doing justice to the industry.
A job as a researcher equals being stuck behind
a computer for most graduates. There is little
knowledge on any of the techniques apart from
the traditional ones like street/telephone interviews
and surveys.
OPEN THE
BLACK BOX
“I think its very boring. No human contact etc.
Others might think bad about this because of a
lot of bad telephone research.”
“Market research is pure sell of "wind" as
there is no product, nothing tangible, only the
price you pay the research and the cost of the
failure that double characteristics tend to make.”
“There are a lot of absurd or not working
surveys and dumb questions. Sometimes
there are wrong conclusions or the person,
who wants to answer, can/’t say her pure
meaning, because the answer options are not
logical or adequate.”
THE NEXT
GENERATION
Surveys and street/telephone interviews, is that all
Market Research is about? Of course not! The
GreenBook Research Industry Trends Report
(2013) sheds light on the adoption of new
research methods among research providers and
clients. What if graduates knew about online
communities, mobile surveys and social media
analytics?
Q: What use of these techniques and approaches do you see ahead in your future?
Are you up for team work? Would
you like to collaborate with smart
people? Then why not consider
Market Research?!
5
Only 13% of young graduates would consider
working in Market Research. What is the gap
between what they’re looking for and what they
associate with this industry? The most appealing
topic in the list on the right is ‘Innovation’ (69%
appealing to very appealing) and fortunately
innovation is also associated with MR.
So where does it go wrong? Next up in the most
appealing topics is ‘Team spirit’ (65% appealing
to very appealing) and ‘Smart people’ (64%
appealing to very appealing). Collaboration with
inspirational people is clearly something young
graduates are looking for and don't think they'll
find in Market Research.
MIND THE GAP
34%
32%
30%
27%
26%
25%
24%
23%
22%
18%
14%
14%
13%
46% Marketing
Innovation
Consulting
Social media
Numbers
Big data
Big brands
Team spirit
Smart people
Awards
Q: Hit the space bar as quickly as possible when you see
a word related to Market Research.
n = 1877 | f = None
Stories
Co-creation
7%
Cool people
Parties
ESOMAR
While 13% of young graduates would consider a
job in Market Research, only 3% list it as the best
overall sector. The market research industry is
mainly losing talent to the Marketing sector.
Those considering a job in MR mostly give the
award for the best industry to Marketing; 15% in
comparison to 6% of the total sample.
To convince both graduates who are already
considering Market Research and those who are
not, it will be important to emphasize the driving
force of Market Research in the world of
Marketing.
PUT THE MR IN
MARKETING
12% Computer & ICT (soft-hardware)
Q: And the Industry Award for Best Overall Sector goes to…
n = 1877 | f = None
The government
Pharmaceutical / healtcare
Marketing
12%
7%
7%
6%
6%
6%
6%
4%
4%
4%
4%
3%
3%
3%
3%
2%
2%
5%
Financial services, banks and insurances
Media, publishing & broadcasting
Travel & entertainment
Fashion
Telecommunications
Food & beverages
Management consultancy
Chemical
Automotive
Cosmetics
Market research
Retail
Advertising
Catering
Other
And now what? What can you do to
help revamp the perception of the
Market Research industry and attract
young talent?
!
Open the ‘black box’ and prove the
impact of research on MarketingTo increase the visibility of the industry and the awareness of
careers in Market Research, we have to open up. Connect with
marketing and share successful research stories behind
successful products, services and campaigns. Emphasize
emotions of fun, dynamism, creativity and adventure to attract
grads. Move away from boring reports and make the outcome of
research something that’s shareable, creative and sexy, like an
infographic.
Demonstrate the use of digital and
social media toolsThere’s a direct connection between the technological evolution
and hot topics like social media, the internet of things and the
quantified self. The Market Research industry can find the match
with the personal interests of young graduates by increasing the
awareness of areas like community research and big data.
Communicate about the variety of
jobs and career opportunitiesThere are not a lot study fields that directly lead to a career in
Market Research. This can be negative, as there is a lack of
awareness, but it can also be positive, as there is inflow from
different study fields. Increase internship and training
opportunities and share how teams are composed; highlighting
multidisciplinarity and career opportunities. Highlight different
functions - like qualitative research, quantitative research,
analytics, interviewing and data processing to attract grads with
unique backgrounds and distinct skills.
Cross the bridge between the industry
and educationThere is a gap between a Market Research course and the
reality; new techniques and the rise of (online) qualitative are
rarely part of such courses. These can attract a new audience to
the industry, looking for a people centric approach, innovation
and creativity. Increase the presence of Market Research at
career events and bring MR professionals into the classroom
to paint a realistic picture of the industry.
http://www.wearefringefactory.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Are-Fringe-Factory/172254402827939
http://twitter.com/fringe_factory
Get in touch with us!