A shift in marketing to returning ex-pats

You may recall that a few days ago I made a big hoo-hah about being a published author, and that I had a testimonial printed in the September issue of SA Promo Magazine… Well if you looked at it, and looked closely at page 78 of the magazine, you will notice a very interesting advertisement. It appears that St Andrews School for Girls, a private school in Senderwood, Johannesburg, is going to be exhibiting at the forthcoming HCR Woza Ekhaya event in London .

And not only St Andrews, but other schools are going to be present too. St Peters (Sunninghill) and St Johns College (Houghton) are also confirmed exhibitors. Admittedly, this does start to look like the guest list to the Last Supper - but it was always going to be private schools that would go down this route with regard marketing their brand.

There definitely is a twofold reason for their involvement. Firstly, a recruitment drive to attract back to South Africa the ex-patriot teacher population.
But secondly, and to my mind more interestingly, this represents an opportunity to market to ex-pat parents in London and the UK, who are concerned at schooling for their children when they return.

To me this marks a very interesting shift in the marketing and focus of attracting South Africans back to South Africa.
Not only will companies continue to market to the young professionals who have been over in the UK for only a few years – but the scope is being broadened seemingly, focusing on those who have been overseas for several years, who have perhaps begun families, and are now at a point of considering returning with their families.

It will be interesting to know what responses these schools get from parents at the HCR event.

Is there a gap in the recruitment market?

I was very interested to find my Homecoming Revolution Testimonial posted on the HCR blog this morning, but read with more interest some of the comments that had been posted - a whopping 12 comments, which on an article I have written, I find awesome.

But many people express the same view - when talking to recruitment agencies in South Africa from overseas, most people seem more willing to show you the door. "Come see us when you arrive" is the general comment back.

It is interesting that when I moved over to the UK in 2002 I used a service called "First Contact" (or 1st Contact) and they set me up with some really cheap hostel accommodation, a briefing session at their offices about the UK and London, and most significantly, assisted in me opening a bank account. Without their help I would have had severe difficulty getting that bank account, and everything that follows.

In the same way, when returning I would have had problems opening a bank account for myself. Fortunately I still had accounts open from when I lived here.

But with an increasing number of senior staff and experience and skills disappearing overseas, it seems significant that there are no agencies set up to assist getting these people back.

There were SEVERAL time during my drivers licence saga that I could happily have returned to the UK - where things just seem to work.

There must be a gap in the market here that someone is overlooking.