A recent survey by Reed Consulting revealed that 30% of recent job candidates have changed brands as a result of a bad recruitment experience, with nearly 60% of those questioned saying that their experience of a firm had affected their perception of its brand.

Employers who forget that potential employees are also customers stand to lose more than the opportunity to hire good talent.  As the saying goes, ‘it takes a lifetime to build a reputation, and a single moment to lose it.’  Of those respondents who boycotted the brands, 66% did so because they never received a response to their application.  A simple response would have shown them the courtesy of recognising the enormous effort many candidates put into applying for a job.

I have been, in turn, overwhelmed by the hospitality and respect given by some organisations and shockingly disappointed by discourtesy from organisations with brands from which one would have expected better – and switched brands as a result!  Those who talk about people being their most important asset should remember that the place to prove this is in the office and not in the corporate brochure.  A chain is only as strong as its weakest link and it takes every member of a company to sustain a brand.  Because, ultimately, no matter what the hype, any brand is only as strong as an individual’s most recent experience of it.

In this month’s issue of ReConnect Africa, we look at the impact of flowers on Kenya’s economy and hear about an innovative approach to team building in the Kenyan Rift Valley.  A new study that sets out to track the successful experiences of Black women in the European corporate workplace offers food for thought about how success can be shared and used to inspire others.  Africans in the Diaspora are always looking homeward and we hear from Sylvia Arthur about her experiences in Ghana and how London Business School’s students learned from their visits to Nigeria and Ghana.  Finally, we turn for some inspiration to Everest Ekong, publisher of the award-winning publication, Business in Africa.

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