A big problem on the graduate job trail

Right now most of the popular graduate employers are accepting applications from students - but only those with outstanding A-levels. Several of the top employers demand UCAS scores of 360 (3 straight As) to even read your application. Which, for academic underachievers and vocational overachievers like me, proves a little problematic.

Rather than studying for my A-levels, I was busy running large-scale gaming events at Earl's Court, ExCeL and Sheperd's Bush, and travelling around the world writing for gaming magazines, or managing a £100k AMD marketing initiative to crack the early adopter market. And, at the expense of coursework, growing huge online communities and social hubs for various companies.

In short, my teachers weren't too keen with either the quality or promptness of my work. I always assumed that this was a worthwhile sacrifice as it would give me a huge advantage when trying to get a job.

Only it doesn't.

After a frustrating browse through many of the top business/marketing student employers in the top 100 graduate employers, i've found UCAS scores are used for the purposes of applicant-screening. And by this I mean several companies even have signs specifically to draw attention to the required UCAS score needed to apply.

Are the links between A-Level achievement and corporate talent really so clear? I've read several studies which beg to differ. So, what is the solution? Is there one?

Help appreciated.

Billboard advertising in games

Even more annoying than in real life. There has to be a better, more integrated, way forward than this. Why is there no reward for the top players of each game? Discounts on Intel products perhaps, or invitations to test/review/comment on new Intel products? If this is the best that a top company can manage, then it's a huge disappointment.

In the "heat of the battle" I'm going to be busy shooting people - not reading Intel slogans.

Apple PR takes a hit over damaging C4 video clip

Gizmodo posts about Apple's PR force field.



Essentially Channel 4 were interviewing Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing (what a long title) Phil Schiller. The interviewer touches upon the subject of Apple's iTunes monopoly and at a nod of the head, Apple's PR team literally stand between the interviewer and the interviewed.

As Gizmodo notes, this clip does seem out of context, but that's not the point. The point is Apple's PR team is supposed to be one of the best. The media hangs on its every word. They should know that everything is being filmed, they should know that these type of clips can be released into the public without any context whatsoever.

Perhaps the solution is they need to be filming their own version of these interviews. They need to ensure they are able to launch an instant video response if out of context clips are leaked onto the internet.

Via Peter Himler.

Beating Psycho Slime

Whilst researching some copy for a client, I came across my favourite flash-based game of all time, Slime Volleyball.

Slime Volleyball was a school PC lab favourite, but no-one could ever defeat Psycho Slime. Countless coursework hours were sacrificed conquer this evil foe. But it never happened. So as our paths now crossed some six years later, I decided to take him down.

Alas, i'm no better now than I was then. However this is the social media age, within minutes I had found a thriving Slime Volleyball community. This community even has its own Wiki and several YouTube videos on defeating Psycho Slime. Some people are even offering their expert advice for a small fee.

The niches and opportunities never cease to amaze me.

I still can't beat it mind. Think you can do better? Click here.

Refreshing Press Releases

Reading my bloglines against for the first time in a while i've come across Tod Maffin's Media 2.0 post calling for a new way of writing media releases. Note, this is not referring to the social media release.

It's a good read, he's revised a press release from Bell Canada and you can download his updated version

Much of my experience comes from regional newspapers and specialist magazines. These are filled with staff which really wouldn't know what to make of a social media release, they would probably find it a complete waste of time. They prefer traditional press release format, which they can rewrite into a news story.

However they note there is a huge gap between what PRs want to say, and what their readers want to read. This often prevents good news releases from making its way into print. There are obvious gains then for PR agencies writing news releases in a lively and refreshing style. The challenge isn't rearranging the structure of a press release. Cutting the sections into a story summary, quote, background isn't going to work.

I believe, for regional/specialist PR at least, the opportunity is about taking a different angle entirely. Delve a little deeper, ask about the other interests and hobbies of the people concerned. Most importantly, try to write about people, not companies. Try some fun and humour, get a professional photographer and experiment with a range of images. Use short sentences, clear language, unusual headlines.

Five thoughts on the infamous PR list

I've only just had the time to catch up on most of my blog feeds. So I've only just been reading up on Chris Anderson (Author of the Long Tail and editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine) and his recent PR outburst against PRs which spam him.

In his outburst he published the list of over 600 PR professionals he has blocked from contacting him. The list noticeably contains the e-mail addresses of most the bigger PR agencies.

My thoughts:

1) I think there is a CRITICAL lack of training for junior PR professionals and pitching. I can't comment on what University teaches, but the fact Chris is even being targeted with press releases seems largely to reflect the pressure on PRs to pitch by the quantity and not the quality.

2) PR professionals are lazy and don't think things through. If you're pitching a big magazine (the type of magazine which receives a lot of pitches) then you can't spam the general address listed, you need to pick up a copy of the magazine and find more relevant e-mail addresses.

3) In a follow up post Chris commented that some of those on the list have apologised and asked to be removed. Honestly, if you're on his list, you probably need not be too concerned - he wasn't the person you were supposed to be pitching to anyhow.

4) PRs are probably a little too comfortable with e-mail, and need to consider other avenues to getting coverage by Wired.

5) I'm in favour of this list, I think Chris has taken a very provocative step which might eventually be seen as a positive effort to improve PR.

Also read: how not to conduct yourselves. Thanks Ed

I didn't threaten TWL with legal action

Some people are looking at the timing of my last post, the timing of TWL's decision to quit blogging, and coming to the wrong conclusions.

In short, I didn't threaten TWL with legal action. As readers of the comments to my last post know. TWL removed me from the Flackenhack categories, apologised both on his, Sally's and my blog. He even dropped me a few e-mails under his own name.

And no, I don't intend to reveal the name (many people know anyway).

I don't know what caused TWL's decision to stop blogging. It is a shame, TWL did a great job of holding many silly PR practises to account.