Can guest lectures become a powerful employer branding tool?

To understand whether guest lectures can be used as an employer branding tool, we have to first understand the main agenda behind these lectures. These are delivered by some of the senior leaders who act as representatives of various organisations to help bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge. The scenarios of the real industry are far different from classroom training or college life.

However, coming back to the same questions, how can guest lectures be used as an employer branding tool? Students of classes 11 and 12 are used to interacting with experts who visit their campuses to offer career guidance workshops. While some of these experts are genuine, others are simply playing along with the promotional activities of the coaching institutes to attract more students.

Some organisations use these guest lectures to enhance their employer brand indirectly.

To be very honest, there is nothing wrong in using guest lectures as an employer branding tool. They can serve as a great platform for senior leaders to share their experiences on a particular topic and also offer relevant examples to explain the working culture.

But given the brief attention span of today’s generation, engaging them and keeping them engrossed can be quite a challenge. Innovative technology, such as virtual reality (VR) and gamification are the apt tools that can be used to counter this problem.

In trying to attract MBA students, PPT sessions and case study contests will be apt to convey the company’s culture and the jobs on offer. If we go to engineering colleges, hackathons may be the ideal way to attract young talent.

Many companies use VR technology to provide an office tour to the students. This allows them to experience the office culture of the organisation virtually. In such a scenario, will traditional tools of employer branding be able to engage with students? Will they stand a chance against such technology and innovation?

In this era, where emergence of social media and technology has disrupted the way of communication and doing business, do techniques, such as guest lectures and PPT presentations lose their relevance? Can some interventions still help keep them relevant?

There can be some unreliable data on the Internet and social media. Therefore, it may be very difficult for the students to form a perspective. Going out there and talking to them in person will give them a clear picture and a chance to clarify their doubts.

“In case of a guest lecture, if the topic or subject is relevant and interesting, and if the speaker is prepared enough to talk sensibly on it, the lecture will create the desired impact,” shares Santanu Banerjee, EVP& CHRO, Star Union Dai-Ichi-Life Insurance.

With such interactive technology in place, how can such old-fashioned methods work in today’s times?

“There can be some unreliable data on the Internet and social media. Therefore, it may be very difficult for the students to form a perspective. Going out there and talking to them in person will give them a clear picture and a chance to clarify their doubts,” says Sanjay Bose, EVP-HR & L&D, ITC Hotels.

Banerjee adds, “These sessions are important to build relations, that is, the relation of an employer with a prospective employee. This can only happen through human interactions.”

In case of a guest lecture, if the topic or subject is relevant and interesting, and if the speaker is prepared enough to talk sensibly on it, the lecture will create the desired impact.

We may use these tools for employer branding purposes, but it is very important to understand that if we use the right tool for the right kind of audience, it really work wonders for you.

According to Rohit Suri, CHRO, South Asia, GroupM, different events and tools are used to target different institutions for employer branding activity.

“In trying to attract MBA students, PPT sessions and case study contests will be apt to convey the company’s culture and the jobs on offer. If we go to engineering colleges, hackathons may be the ideal way to attract young talent,” mentions Suri.

Yes, ultimately, the emergence of technology does make a difference and the organisations are also slowly adopting such tools. Still, as we say, machines can never replace human beings. Similarly, communicating through technology alone will not make an impact. Human interaction is also required.