Out of style: Traditional targets like banks, oil sector no longer the first pick

Mid-career applicants seem to think NGOs and telecos offer the most growth.

KARACHI: At its most basic level, a brand is a unique identity. It is a shorthand way the public thinks about what a company does, produces, serves and sells. If done right, a brand reinforces a reputation in the direction intended by the organisation.

When well-conceived and developed, a brand is a vibrant picture held in consumers’ minds. Well-executed brands are worth millions, even billions of dollars, in sales and shareholder value. Consumers choose brands in great part to tell the world and themselves who they are. Branding is a central element of marketing strategies. The consumer in effect believes, “The only way I can be who I am is to have specific products or services.” A powerful brand, therefore, creates a must-have quasi-monopoly for itself.

If all this is possible for the consumer, then why not for staff as well? Brands are always stated in positive terms both explicitly and implicitly. No organisation ever promotes a brand position that if the consumer does business with them the consumer’s life will get worse. If brand promises can positively motivate customers, then why shouldn’t the same promises or aspirations motivate staff?



I think this survey shows that the reach of brands, or the ability to motivate extends beyond the scope of the company, or the consumer. It also extends to the prospective employee and has a bearing on the choices made when seeking a job.

A brand is an intangible product and like anything else that can be bought or sold it can be in style or not, it can be fashionable or not. The demand and lustre of a brand waxes and wanes with time.

For example there was a time when it was cool to be a doctor. Then banking was the profession to be in. After being ultra-cool in the days when Silicon Valley was in its infancy, technology has once again taken centre-stage. For example it is ‘in’ to be a blogger, an activist on social media or to be an App developer for smartphone OSes.



The survey by ROZEE.PK shows that this is true in the case of perceptions by job seekers as well. The trends depicted in the latest Top Employers survey see many former heavyweights losing ground to other brands and sectors that were not traditionally employee-magnets.

The top three highest ranked employers belong to the NGO/Social Services, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), and Telecommunication sectors. These top three employers attracted almost 50% of the total votes.



The FMCG sector had the highest popularity amongst respondents as four employers from this industry make the list.

Student respondents have a higher inclination towards preferring employers in the FMCG sector than employed respondents.

The top ranked employer in the NGO / Social Services industry attracted 77% of the total votes given to the top three employers in NGO / Social Services category.

Banking and financial sector, media and local companies and some other traditional favourites fail to make the grade as preferred targets, barring certain exceptions.

Corporate social responsibility is a big thing in the corporate world, but in Pakistan, at least for now, it does not figure very high on the reasons for choosing a prospective employer.

The lack of growth prospects and the pinch of the circular debt seems to have hit the oil sector hard, a few years ago and this sector would have been very noticeable in the top ten.

The absence of media companies is just sad. While there is no obvious connection and there is no rule that says that media companies, which represent the fourth estate, should also be good employers, or have positive brand perception, it is unfortunate that this is not the case.

reporting by khurram baig

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2013.

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