Day: January 18, 2015

Doing My Own Market Assessment > Setting Up A Manpower Business

When I first moved here to the Philippines, the business model I set in motion was to set up a recruitment, training and placement business for analysts.

The concept was simple, recruit fresh grads, give them 2-4 weeks of analytics training and place them primarily in the BPO industry.

Three years and a lot of interesting adventures later, I am kind of back where I started when it comes to this idea of upscaling young talent and helping them get their foot in the door as their careers begin.

With that in mind, I am once again doing my own market assessment for the new business venture.

Last time I looked, I saw that the no one else doing analytics themed training and certainly not for the youth. I also saw over 1,000 analyst job posted in jobstreet.com and thought it was a no brainer to get into the business of helping fill those slots. So it looked like the competitive landscape was wide open. Three years later there are a handful of schools and private companies offering analytics-themed training. The pie has gotten bigger even though there are more people cooking the same pie.

College and Universities continue to churn out hundreds of thousands of graduates every year. And a nearly equal number of students leave school early because of financial challenges. However, there is a ever widening skills gap between the skill set of these students and the hiring requirements of the BPOs. There is a huge talent pool out there to be tapped.

The BPO industry continue to grow at double digit pace, with more and more requirements for new hires to not only start at entry level, but further up the food chain. Today I just did a search on jobstreet.com and there are 1,500 analyst jobs posted in jobstreet.com

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So, there is still a huge need for a manpower business that supplied an upscale level of analytics talent that higher education and private enterprise has not been able to meet.

This analysis is based on not just my assumption and my experience, but also lots and lots of cold, hard data.

2015 = Game On

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So Many Marketing Plans, So Few Successful Ones…

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2015/01/question-checklist-for-reviewing-your-new-marketing-materials.html

Sharing Another of Seth’s Awesome Blog Posts >

For that new video, or that new brochure, or anything you create that you’re hoping will change minds (and spread):

What’s it for?
When it works, will we be able to tell? What’s it supposed to do?

Who is it for?
What specific group or tribe or worldview is this designed to resonate with?

What does this remind you of?
Who has used this vernacular before? Is it as well done as the previous one was?

What’s the call to action?
Is there a moment when you are clearly asking people to do something?

Show this to ten strangers. Don’t say anything. What do they ask you?
Now, ask them what the material is asking them to do.

What is the urgency?
Why now?

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Your job is not to answer every question, your job is not to close the sale. The purpose of this work is to amplify interest, generate interaction and spread your idea to the people who need to hear it, at the same time that you build trust.

You will rarely achieve this with one fell swoop, so be prepared to drip your way through countless swoops until you’ve earned the privilege of engaging with the audience you seek.

And that is the point we need to keep in mind with our marketing efforts… it will take many, many posts and shares and engaged convos to get us to where we need to be!