Executive Summary

This report will put forward a proposal for a plan that aims to increase Great Easterns
recruitment by 1800 new graduates. It will first analyze the target market for Great Easterns
recruitment efforts, identifying motivations and desires of the target market and their
behavior. Based on that, this report then will propose ideas to meet this goal. The first idea is
to enlist some of Great Easterns younger and successful staff to become the face of this
recruitment program. The next is to launch more platforms of recruitment. This report will
then explain how these ideas will be implemented.

In terms of the preferred channels for receiving information in Singapore, majority of internet
users (81%) prefer to receive email. 45% of them prefer to receive SMS, while 31% of them
indicated social media as their preferred choice.

In terms of the preferred channels for receiving information in Singapore, majority of internet
users (81%) prefer to receive email. 45% of them prefer to receive SMS, while 31% of them
indicated social media as their preferred choice. In terms of the preferred channels for
receiving information in Singapore, majority of internet users (81%) prefer to receive email.
45% of them prefer to receive SMS, while 31% of them indicated social media as their
preferred choice.

In terms of the preferred channels for receiving information in Singapore, majority of internet
users (81%) prefer to receive email. 45% of them prefer to receive SMS, while 31% of them
indicated social media as their preferred choice.

Target Market Analysis

This section provides an analysis of our target market of fresh graduates aged 25-29 in
Singapore. Some of their aspirations, opinions and lifestyle would be further discussed in this
section later.

What millennials want varies between each individual. However, they possess certain
characteristics common throughout their age group. According to experts at Euromonitor,
millennials seek experiences rather than material objects and goals, they want good value for
money, they want products that speak to them specifically, and they want to be heard and
interacted with.

In Singapore, there are 1.21 million young adults/millennials aged between 20 to 32 in 2016.

Work-life Balance as a Top Priority

According to the National Youth Survey in 2013, common aspirations for young adults
include: earning a respectable income, having a successful career, acquiring new skills and
knowledge, having a place of their own and maintaining strong family relationships.
 Top 5 Aspirations of Young Adults (2013)
Earn lots of Money
Have a Successful Career
Acquire New Skills and
Have Place of my Own
Maintain Strong Family

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Maintain
Strong Acquire New Have a
Have Place Earn lots of
Family Skills and Successful
of my Own Money
Relationship Knowledge Career
s
Top 5 Aspirations of Young Adults
74% 70% 68% 65% 47%
(2013)

The results have shown that even though they value having a successful career (65%), more
of them value the importance of maintaining a strong family relationship (74%). Similarly, in
a discussion done at a PAP (Peoples Action Party) Policy Forum, young adults also
indicated work-life balance, and career opportunities and advancement as their main concerns.

Heavy users of Social Media

Millennials are also considered to be heavy users of the social media and are engaged in more
than one social media platform. Facebook is the leading social network in Singapore, where
young adults are most likely to log to their social media account via a mobile device.

The diagram above from e-Marketer shows the Top 5 Social Media Sites among internet
users in Singapore in July 2015. Facebook ranks first at 64%, YouTube ranks second at 43%,
and Instagram ranks third at 25%. In terms of social media and messaging app user
penetration, WhatsApp (46%) tops the list, followed by Facebook (43%) and Facebook
Messenger (26%). (We are Social, 2016).
Preferred Channels for Receiving Information

In terms of the preferred channels for receiving information in Singapore, majority of internet
users (81%) prefer to receive email. 45% of them prefer to receive SMS, while 31% of them
indicated social media as their preferred choice.

Data is from the November 2015 Experian Marketing Services and WBR Digital report titled
"Digital Consumer View 2015 (Asia)." 1,200 internet users ages 18-55 in China, Hong Kong,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand were surveyed online in August 2015.

Young Adults Value Brand Association

Young adults are particular with the brands that they carry or be associated with as it
represents who they are. To them, brand association, prestige and quality are important as it
reflects them as an individual. Thus, it is common to see them carrying luxury or branded
goods. Some of them see it as a reward for working hard, whereby owning one is like
achieving a milestone. Therefore, branding is important to the millennials. (Euromonitor ,
2016)
Methodology

The research presented above identifies platforms and methods to reach out to our target
audience. This section now highlights methods to gather information about our target market.
Information required are their attitudes and opinions toward the financial services industry.
One of the most effective methods to understand more about their attitudes and opinions is
through conducting surveys.

Through our surveys, we plan to uncover the platforms that our target market uses to source
for jobs (e.g. career fairs, online job portals, agencies etc.), which will help us identify the
most effective platform to invest our recruitment efforts in. Next, it is to understand their
expectations and needs in a job, so that we can deliver the type of value that our target market
seeks. It is also important to have knowledge about their lifestyle habits, to incorporate it as
one of the features in promoting the financial advisory career. Finally, it is necessary to
discover our target markets opinions towards the financial services industry, in an effort to
effectively address possible negative views towards this industry and analyze possible
improvements that can be made, particularly towards those who view this industry positively.

Proposed ideas

In line with our methodology, we present recruitment ideas that make use of data that was
collected through the surveys to be conducted. Based on characteristics of young adults
explained above, we have decided to focus our recruitment of fresh graduates by promoting
the Financial Planners lifestyle as the main selling point, given that work-life balance is a
priority of many young adults.

This recruitment effort will take place through use of social media and campus recruitment
drives.

Firstly, a group of young and successful financial planners will be selected to be our
spokespeople. They will act as the face of the recruitment drive and our social media models.
Photos and videos showcasing the desired kind of lifestyle that financial planners lead will be
featured on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. The desired kind of
lifestyle typically involves glamorous activities, job satisfaction, and sufficient remuneration.
For the recruitment drive, these young planners will be at the recruitment booth sharing their
stories with young graduate to inspire them.

Idea Implementation

As shown in researches and surveys, the most important aspect in job satisfaction is having a
work-life balance. Instead of a fixed and rigid 9 to 6 workday, the graduates in the new
generation desire greater flexibility in their future careers. The ideas we have chosen will be
highlighting this crucial aspect in the life of a financial planner as we are entrepreneurs and
self-employed, giving us more control over our work-life. The 3 ideas we have chosen to
implement are career fairs, university recruitment drives and talks, along with social media.

Career Fairs

Career fairs are one of the most important channel for fresh graduates who are looking for a
suitable career to find out more information. It is the place where we will be looking at a
target audience that are ready and receptive to information regarding to the respective careers.

Recruitments in universities

A social stigma created about Financial Planners is that one does not have to require much
education to become one. This social stigma may have resulted in the negative outlook that a
financial planner is just a salesperson.

With our target audience being fresh graduates, it would be more feasible and attractive to
bring our recruitment drive into universities.

Apart from the fresh graduates, we can provide exposure to current undergraduates as well
and give them an alternative career route to contemplate about in the future.

Social media

With an increased reliance on technology, social media has undoubtedly become a strong
mean of influence. On top of creating an engaging and light-hearted video that targets fresh
graduates and to capture their attention, posting the video on social media platforms will
allow the video and our message to reach out to a greater audience. An effective platform is
Facebook.

Our plan is to attract people to like and follow our page together with our marketing
efforts for the whole program. With an audience at our page, we will manage it by regularly
updating the page with interesting and relevant posts that will capture our target audience
attention and interact actively with them.