Guilty

Liz Norman writes - As a result of the study ENI have been doing with Chime, into market research as a career, I was asked to take part in a debate at ESOMAR congress  on whether  ‘the industry is guilty of failing to articulate it’s strengths to potential entrants’.  Presented as a court case we even had a judge with a wig and gown.  Despite the fact our own study shows that our industry is guilty; 53% of recent entrants fell into the industry with almost no knowledge of what is involved, someone had to be a defence witness and I foolishly volunteered.  Needless to say we didn’t win!

Whilst I can understand why no one wanted to speak for the defence, I think there are individual pockets of hope.  More and more agencies are taking on interns, and many have stated to me that visiting Universities before recruiting, quantifiably improves the quality of those that apply.  ESOMAR and the MRS have individual initiatives with which we are involved (keep an eye on the changing MRS website).  What we could do with is a bigger more co-ordinated approach and to do that we need more of the industry involved.

The talk was part of whole morning of Congress papers dedicated to youth in research.  There were inspiring presentations by young researchers, conveying their passion for the industry.  They discussed the sorts of things GenY are looking for in a job; flexibility, mentoring, variety, opportunity.  All things that market research could offer in  a career.  The young researcher of the year finalists showed the amazing talent we are attracting to the industry, and the winner Pallavi Dhall’s, presentation on how to reach the gay male population  in India was fascinating.

The morning also showed we have a some way to go, Preritt Souda talked about why his friends are leaving the industry.  Salary seems to be a big issue, and I wondered is it perception or reality; are we really earning less than other areas of marketing services?  Something ENI will be researching with Chime and the MRS.  It also came out that in research that undergraduates think that management consultancy offers a better work life balance than market research – surely that can’t be true!

I’m looking forward to going back to ESOMAR next year and rather than talking about the issues, talking about the initiatives we have undertaken as an industry to make market research a career of choice.  Watch this space............

September Activity

Firstly today Liz Norman is taking part in a debate about the promotion of the industry at the ESOMAR Congress in Nice with the Fringe Factory - looks quite serious!!!!!!!!

Secondly tomorrow, Caroline will be presenting some of our results at the Insight Management Academy's joint Client and Agency forum which is looking at the retention of Talent in the industry. The attendees will be helping to flesh out one of 5 key next steps we are hoping everyone in the industry will get involved with.

Watch this space for more details

Interim results from our work – No.1 - Falling into the Industry

Over the coming weeks, we will start to share some of the key insights and observations we have identified as part of our work to date on this very interesting subject.

We start by looking at how people came to enter the industry – go to any research industry gathering of experienced researchers and ask how people began their career and I bet you hear the phrase “I fell into it” a number of times.

One of the objectives of our project was to establish whether or not those entering the industry now, have a more planned route into becoming a researcher.

Well both our first quantitative survey and all the qualitative interviews we have undertaken have shown that many people still enter the industry in this unplanned manner (and even still use the same phrase!)

Our quantitative survey showed that for researchers with less than 3 years experience of our industry:-

This was echoed in our 1-1 interviews with young researchers across the globe – regardless of continent or language, the experience of discovering by chance the wide variety of roles and that a career in our industry can offer was a common theme.

So, is this situation a bad thing? – some argue that the adhoc nature of entering the industry is not a bad thing as it allows people to be able to find a home for their talents that perhaps at 6^th form or University they were unsure how to direct into a career path.

The counter argument to this is perhaps, how many people don’t ever get the chance to even consider the wonderful world of research because they don’t see any proactive communication or engagement from the industry at the key career decision points in their life? We know from our own experiences and those that we talked to in our study, most people in the population consider a career in research as consisting of standing on a street with a clipboard – as we all know, a career in research offers much more than that!

In the coming weeks we will look at more insights and observations from the research as well as highlighting the ideas for action that our respondents at the various stages of our research are suggesting should be put in place to help the whole industry move forward and shout about the great things it does.

2014 Activity

Just a quick 2014 update to let all our followers know that we are currently reviewing the results of the quantitative study undertaken in the UK at the end of last year. Full results will appear on here in due course and we'll be letting you know how you can get involved in commenting on the key points the research has raised.

We are also starting to plan a number of speaker slots and events to share the findings of our project during the next few months and also using these events to get more input and reaction - watch out here for more details as and when we have them.

2 days and counting

No it's not a line from the latest bond film - you have just two days left to take part part in our online survey.

If you haven't received an invite or reminder from the MRS, drop us a line at researchingacareer@gmail.com and we'll get a link to you.

The clock is ticking!

3 Days to go........

Yes, just 3 days left to take part in the quantitative survey about Researching a Career (survey closes Midnight Wednesday).

All MRS members should have received a link to the survey - if you haven't, drop us a line and we'll get one sorted for you.

Coming soon - our survey for all researchers

We are just in the process of finalising our online survey to go out throughout the research industry. If you are a signed up member of the MRS you'll be sent a link. If you aren't, you are still more than welcome to take part in the survey.

All you have to do is send us an email to our project hub at researchingacareer@gmail.com and we'll arrange for a link to be sent to you.

Thank you - The Researching a Career team

An attendee's view of our first session

Below is a short report from one of our attendees, Andy, who shares a few observations from his point of view.

The Elizabeth Normal International (ENI) and Chime Insight and Engagement (CIE) event was enjoyable on a number of accounts. Firstly I got to catch up with some people I’d not seen in a long time (research is a small world!), but secondly, the opportunity to be put into a mini research-workshop myself was very revealing!

From the discussions we had I think one thing that really shone through was that although nobody in research has a day structure quite the same as the next person, we all got frustrated by similar things. But what was perhaps more interesting was hearing about the different things that motivated people – for some it was all about seeing a job well done, for others seeing their work enacted upon, and for the likes of myself the social dynamic.

It was quite apparent as well, from a number of people, that market research is very much something you ‘fall into’. You may have a first class sociology degree when you leave Uni, but you don’t necessarily have a remote idea that the Market Research industry exists, let alone that you’ve got a degree that lends itself quite nicely! So Market Research ends up being the coolest job that no one ever seems to know about. There is something about that which enables you to feel quite self-satisfied and smug admittedly, but also I think we all learned that there was more effort needed for Market Research, as an industry, to branch out.

How would you promote the Market Research Industry

As part of our work on this project, we have been asking ourselves:-

How would you promote the Market Research Industry?

It would be great to hear what you think  - there is one catch, it's got to be 20 words or less!

Are you up to the challenge?

Use the comments box below to tell us what you think or tweet @mrxcareers

A moderator's view of our first event

What do you think happens when you put a bunch of young researchers in a room together?

If you’d have said “speed dating” or “deciding to embargo the term ‘market research’” or “designing an advert for the market research industry featuring none other than Chris Tarrant”, you’d be on the money.

Ok, so some pretty amazing things happened in that room of young researchers but it turns out, whether you’re a client-side or an agency-side researcher, specialising in qual, quant or a bit of both, you actually have a lot in common. Perhaps the most striking is young researchers’ bright-eyed eagerness to change the world. It’s one of the main reasons they were interested in research in the first place, and it’s one of the greatest sources of satisfaction in their work.

It’s about creating shockwaves, and jolting people in powerful positions into listening to the people that matter. Thy word/ethnographic video/crossbreak is thy weapon, and beware he who flies in the face of research…

Our bunch of young researchers also relish a challenge, which is fortunate really, as they see one of the greatest challenges to be overcome is the sheer lack of awareness or appreciation for the work that they do. Our young researchers don’t work all the hours God sends for the money alone (“what money?” some asked); they do it in the hope that the man on the street lives a happy, wholesome existence, but knows that it would not be so if there were not researchers out there looking out for him. 

Who else would be able to tell the powers that be that he needs to go to the doctor’s quite urgently but puts it off because he knows how much effort it will take to get an appointment; that he worries about sending his two children to university and doesn’t know what financial help is available; that his day would be so much easier if his mobile phone coverage actually allowed him to make telephone calls? 

To the man on the street, these improvements would happen as-if-by-magic.

He wouldn’t be far wrong.