The Recommendation Generation
I read an interesting article in Marketing Week today - entitled "Social Media for the masses". It refers to the "Recommendation Generation" - which students or recent graduates very much fall into - 80% aged between 18 and 24 years old, over 11 million of us active ’social networkers’ and the majority educated. Whilst the article is aimed at consumer purchasing trends, I feel that it is very relevant to RateMyPlacement.
RateMyPlacement encapsulates the concept of the "Recommendation Generation" - the article states that 66% of social networkers are influenced by a referral from a friend or online acquaintance (think Amazon or TripAdvisor). When we first began talking about the concept of RateMyPlacement, social networks were in their relative infancy (ah the days before Facebook!), however it is becoming increasingly apparent that students are hungry for information and peer-to-peer communication.
For a student’s graduate prospects, it is becoming increasingly important that they make the right choice when applying for a placement, and we hope that RateMyPlacement is becoming an increasingly useful tool in the search for information.
So, your thoughts and opinions on this article are welcome. Do you think the "Recommendation Generation" and social networking is going to continue to grow; and in terms of work placement/internship employment, do you think that peer-to-peer communication and review websites such as RateMyPlacement are set to play an increasingly important role?
February 14th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Absolutely! There is nothing more influential in convincing a consumer to purchase a product or use a service than a recommendation from someone else who has already used that product or service. It cuts right through all the fluffy advertising and gives you a more trustworthy reflection of what to expect. The beauty of the internet and the growth of social media is that it provides people access to this information from not just their close friends and family but with people all over the world… so decisions are more informed than ever. This could not be more relevant to the case of work placements as, having done a work placement myself, it can play a very important role within your personal development and career progress. A good work placement is invaluable and this website ensures that the good ones are separated from the time wasters… and believe me there are a lot of them.
February 16th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Everyone knows that ‘word of mouth’ is one of the most powerful tools that a company can hope for when promoting their products, services or in this case, jobs - and this is far from a new concept. However, as Rob points out in the above comments, the power of the internet has meant that no longer is ‘word of mouth’ something that happens between friends and family. It truly is a global concept now, and the internet is the perfect medium for users searching for this peer-to-peer information.
The number of consumers who are turning to the internet to compare prices and read reviews and recommendations is increasing as the article points out - and I believe that recruitment will definitely follow this trend. I think it is vital that companies recognise this and I’m sure their investment in traditional recruitment methods will continue to shift to new channels including websites such as this and other social networking sites.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Hi guys - thanks for your great comments - they both make an interesting read.
Rob - I couldn’t agree more. Our original motivation for setting up this website was simply to provide students with information to allow them to make a more informed choice of work placement. This idea has snowballed to where we are today, but the concept remains the same relatively simple one: students are hungry for information and it has never been more important for them to make the right decision in terms of their graduate prospects.
Lucy - we very much hope you’re correct when you say that companies will shift their investment in traditional recruitment methods online as that can only be a good thing for RateMyPlacement! I recently read that in 2004, just 15% of employers regularly used the internet - this figure is now over 90%, and this has clearly impacted on recruitment, and the increasing difficulty of identifying the best candidates through traditional methods. We aim to turn RateMyPlacement into the number one online resource for all parties involved in the placement process - so not just for students, but university careers/placement staff and the employers themselves - providing them with access to the best student talent that is out there.
Thanks again for your comments,
Chris