‘How to’ of it
Proof of pudding is in the eating.
Proof of pudding is also in the making, the talking, the seeing and the hype created.
Consider a situation. You know an architect who has just started his career; you have never seen his work or heard his name in the appropriate circles. However, you have heard him talk; talk a lot of his work – how many clients are pouring in, how great the job is, the client appreciation he has received. Day in and day out you hear this person talk about work, you see his promising new website and social networking sites are used efficiently to let the world know that this architect is doing really well. No possible opportunity is missed to drill in his professional details and how amazing the outcomes are.
Suddenly out of the blue a friend of yours needs to hire an architect, and immediately the first name that comes to your mind is of the young architect. The names of reputed firms are hard to recollect and even the billboard (right in front of you) advertising an architect fade away.
Whether or not you recommend him is a different issue, for the young architect the purpose is served.
Most people engage in personal branding, at the end of it ‘How to do’ outweighs the ‘What to do’.
Internship and Training Periods
Summer jobs provide companies with a fabulous opportunity to market themselves. It is during this time of the year that they can gain a great future employee or a loyal consumer. The opportunity important to the intern is of far greater value to the employer.
Despite this, students are seen doing meaningless door to door surveys, making presentations on topics that have long lost relevance or doing clerical work as part of their internship program. Why is there such a blatant waste of fresh ideas and young talent? Blame on a poor mentor, excessive hiring of interns are mere excuses, which encourage further negligence towards the students and the projects assigned to them.
Examples of wasted talent are many. Interaction with a intern may appear to be of low consequence, but think of the bad word of mouth that a disappointed student can generate. What of the lost talent , the missed opportunity to position the brand, the monetary loss from carrying out this exercise year after year…think about the image of the industry that the student now shoulders.
What could possibly have been a valuable close interaction between the consumer and the brand, is turned into a mere exercise. What is being done to stop this from happening at your workplace? Are enough opportunities provided for the intern to learn? What kind of industry knowledge is imparted? Has the company succeeded in sharing the essence of its values, beliefs and work culture? More importantly will you be hearing from the student again?