Unless you've been living in a hole this weekend, you will have heard about the furore surrounding Damian McBride after he sent emails discussing smearing senior Tories. The events have had PR professionals arguing with political website editors, educators blogging their observations and formulas being devised to explain the whole situation.



Although this is clearly not something we want to condone as communications enthusiasts but has this avoidable episode been the publicity which political bloggers needed? The resignation has made headlines across the news all weekend and has even had my friends asking "you're into that blogging malarkey aren't you? What's all this about between McBride, Draper and a guy called Guido?"



So people are talking about it. Political blogs like Guido, Iain Dale and the like might be taken more seriously by MPs and the public might go to read their political news from these commentators rather than political journalists from the national press. The most relevant post that I've read is from Neville Hobson who (indirectly from this Telegraph article) points out how the tipping point for UK political bloggers may be upon us.

"Political bloggers in the UK have never had a better chance to wield real influence, whatever their political flavour."

The British political blogosphere has entered the mainstream and will play an increasingly important role with the build up to the next election.

Is that a cry I hear for another interview with a young PR professional? Matt Churchill studied Journalism at Westminster but decided to switch to the dark side and joined the PR industry. After a 3 month internship at Zest PR, then just over a year at Chocolate Communications, Matt joined the Edelman digital team.


1. How is work at Edelman going?

It's great. The people are top notch and Edelman's holistic philosophy and honest approach is, for such a large company, very refreshing. I feel that i'm settling in and my feet, although not yet under the table, are certainly resting on the floor by my chair.

2. How did you end up getting your job at Edelman?

A magical mix of Twitter, luck and my need to be constantly tuned into the blogosphere.

3. How does the atmosphere and work differ from your time at Chocolate Communications?

Both agencies have a very natural approach to PR. Chocolate Communications is a consumer lifestyle agency and the actual work, compared to Edelman Digital, is massively different. At both Edelman and Chocolate, reports have to be written and media knowledge accrued, but the main difference is the engagement with the blogosphere. At Chocolate the main focus was to obtain broadcast or national coverage, whereas at Edelman we solely focus on the likes of you and me.

4. What made you want to move?

I didn't want to move from Chocolate as such. The opportunity to work for Edelman was one that I couldn't pass up. I had been thinking about where I wanted my career to go and decided that playing on Twitter was right for me. The conversation with Edelman happened at the time when I was deciding to concentrate on the social media side of things and it turned out to be the right time.

5. What is your role and what kind of things do you get up to during the average working day?

I'm an Account Executive. No single day is different, whether it's monitoring a client's presence in the blogosphere, chatting with the UK head of your client on the phone, or running round a sofa for a video (!) - it's very varied.

6. What skills do you think are required to do what you do?

You need to be versatile: one minute you're writing a report, the next you're eulogising social media strategies with a client, before calling reception to remind them you've got someone coming in for a meeting and they'll only drink coffee with soya milk in it. You've got to juggle a lot of objects and that half the fun.

7. Do you plan to stay in this sector of PR?

Yes absolutely. Digital is the way forward and is still not a toddler, if you look at advertising as the Grandpops of the marketing mix. It must be re-iterated that Digital is only one part of a PR toolbox - the fact that there are agencies specialising in it prove that division of labour works and you can no longer be an agency who has one person who is the go to guy or girl - every PR must at least be aware of the importance of Social Networks for example, even if they don't fully 'get it', whatever 'it' is, and trying understand the implications of the evolution we're going through.

8. Would you ever consider in-house?

Not at the moment, i'm not at a stage of my career where it appeals to me, but I figure that I'd like to try it, maybe. I don't know, it depends on where the wind takes me. My career hasn't been particularly linear or predictable (yet) and i don't expect that to change in the next 30 years.

9. Best and worst parts of the job?

Best part is the fact that we're really in the eye of the storm as far as social media goes - we're making new things happen all the time, to be innovating without even realising it is an amazing place to be in.

The worst bit is a tough one, at the moment i'm enjoying my work more than ever so i'd have to say the bus to work in the morning, and even then that beats the squashing myself onto the tube.

10. Dream job?

Rock star!

11. Brand you most admire?

London - ok so the city isn't a brand as such, but the way it markets itself is wonderful, you can throw anything at Londoners and life will carry on pretty much as normal. Just wander round the capital at night to see the landmarks lit up - it sells itself and people talk about it in pubs all over the world without being paid to do so - perfect PR.

12. Tool that is the most useful for your work?

My brain - it's amazing some of the ludicrous ideas I come up that are considered mildly sensible and doable :-) Does that come across as big-headed? I don't mean it to - I figure that my phone or PC might be important for communicating, but if i don't know what to say, then those two things are obsolete.

13. Did you know what you wanted to do after leaving University?

I didn't particularly want to go to university, my friends bullied me into it - I would have been happy being a sparky. But i'm glad I went - it made me realise that I wanted to communicate. I did a degree in journalism so to wind up in PR is an all too obvious irony - initially I wanted to write the music section for the Guardian....

14. What skills from your University life are transferable when working in PR?

Meeting new people and learning about them quickly before asking yourself 'how can I add value to what they do'.

15. Do you think a PR degree is necessary for a career in PR?

No. Many of my uni friends who studied PR have gone on to do different things, whereas I only know three people in PR who actually did it or are doing it as a uni course.

16. A reason why graduates should go into PR?

It's not an obvious career choice which means you're challenging yourself straight away. If you do an English degree, PR wouldn't necessarily be a first choice for a job option - brilliant, why settle for ordinary?

17. A reason why they should choose Edelman?

Brilliant graduate scheme and fantastic support network. You're working alongside some of the most experienced people in the industry - be that Digital, Consumer or Public Affairs - and you genuinely learn something every day. It's a hell of a buzz when you look at what you accomplished over the day and what you've learnt.

18. Something anyone going into PR should know?

It's not all Ab-Fab or Madmen. You're dealing with real people - of course the caricatures exist, but they are a dying breed and a good example of bad PRs.

19. Any advice to students applying to graduate entry-level jobs?

Be persistent and read as much as you can. PRWeek should be your first port of call, New Media Age your second and Mashable your third, especially if you're going into Digital. Do an internship for 3 months and work out if you definitely want to commit a large part of your early career to PR, and you can of course read my three part guide to getting a job in PR at Seldom Seen Kid (knew i'd get a plug in somewhere!)

20. Anything else you think might be useful.

Once you're in there, be eager and organised. If you need advice, ask. Most important of all don't allow yourself to get stressed.

Believe it or not, work finishes at 5:30 and yes, you may need to stay extra hours on occassion, but don't let it rule your life. If you're leaving the office at 8pm each night, work out why - is it the work load or your prioritisation?

Take some time each week to completely disconnect from work - work to live, don't live to work.

After assessing hundreds of CVs and/or graduate questions, HR (or senior team depending on the company) must decide on how the graduate day is going to be carried out. The team has been through many applicants' CVs but must now sieve through this next batch. Of course this depends on how many further stages there are. For instance, the biggest companies are likely to have many stages because they can afford to host all these days whereas a smaller sized outfit may only host one day.

Usually companies often encourage applicants to apply to a grad scheme providing they have a minimum set of qualifications/skills e.g. A in GCSE English or 1st or 2.1 from a top university (something which Stephen Davies doesn't agree with). HR then have to sort the wheat from the chaff and get a managable number fo applicants down for the first stage. It's been interesting to see how each company differs in its approach to applicants i.e. what method the company uses at which stage. For instance I've had to do a group pitch, a phone interview, a writing test and a face-to-face interview all at different stages depending on the agency.

It's pretty difficult to determine what method is best for which stage in the application process. The only thing I'd add is that I think it is important to have all these methods to test the grads in different ways. For instance, confidence on the phone is pretty imperative for PR and the phone interview tests this. The group pitch tests your ability to work in a team. The writing test checks whether the candidate is competent in writing. And the face-to-face interviews check whether the candidate can deal with a pressure situation and can think on their feet if dealt a difficult question. What I would suggest is that a face-to-face interview is done at the last stage (possibly as well as before). This way the agency can definitely see if the candidate has the personality to fit the company. It's no good if the candidate has all the skills necessary but has no interest whatsoever in the sector that the agency specializes in.

I'm not sure that the above methods should be the only ways to test prospective employees of the company. But what other tests or methods could HR teams potentially use to test that the candidate is the right person for the job? Aptitude and psychometric tests are used in other careers, is there something which can be used similarly to this to test graduates wanting to get into PR and communications?

If you're a follower of mine on Twitter , you should have heard that I've been on a two week placement with Shiny Red. This online PR practice was formed in 2006 between Shiny Media and the Red Consultancy.

If you've been a follower of this blog from the start you will have read about some of my previous work placements so I felt that I was the stalwart of the interns going into my placement at Shiny Red. However, this placement was probably the most rewarding of the placements I've done because of the breadth of roles and duties I was involved in and the responsibility given to me from the start. Although placements can sometimes be tedious and not worthwhile, I was really welcomed as part of the team at Shiny Red and felt that what I was doing was helping Shiny Red and their clients.

During one recent interview I got through to the last stage but didn't get the job because the other candidates had stronger PR experience showing it is imperative for graduates to have plenty of experience in the PR industry.

If you're wondering where to try your hand at PR then I highly recommend doing a placement at Shiny Red. They're a lovely bunch of people and would like to thank Ashley, Becky, Lewis, Laura, Gill, Lolly, Tara and Helen for making me feel welcome and part of the team.

After a bit of a delay the popular (?) interviews are back and it's time to catch up with Alex Pearmain of prandcommsnetwork fame which he runs with Alain Desmier. After graduating in History at Oxford, Alex went straight to work at the Fishburn Hedges graduate scheme.

1. How did you end up getting your job at Fishburn Hedges?

I applied for the grad scheme in my final year at Oxford, alongside applying to do stay on and do my PhD. A combination of financial reality and a desire to do something ‘real world’ rather than another 4 years of libraries and Late Medieval history meant the world of work won out.

2. How does the atmosphere and work compare to other agencies that you know of?

Fishburn Hedges had been doing ‘integrated’ comms long before it became de rigeur; that’s reflected in the fact we have specialists but not lots of defined practice areas, so I work with a huge range of colleagues with different perspectives, which I massively value. As for the culture… I personally think of it as a ‘relaxed gentility’. There’s a warmth and personal interest in each other. It’s certainly not as outright trendy as some places, but then neither am I!

3. What made you want to go into this sector?

Three things really.

One was that I’ve always consumed huge amounts of media, whether books, newspapers, magazines or the web. Which is partly a result of a passion for information, and partly a reflection of just being able to read bloody fast!

Another was actually academic. I was fascinated by the role of communication in shaping communities in history. I could bore you with the role of the vernacular in medieval Britain, but I won’t…I also rated my ability to use words effectively.

The third sounds grandiose, so don’t laugh too much. But (as my Facebook profile says) I want(ed) to change the world. And communications can both BE the change and be agents for the change.

4. What is your role and what kind of things do you get up to during the average working day?

I’m a consultant working on both ‘traditional’ corporate media relations and digital media. Which is pretty much what I think every media consultant will seamlessly be doing in a few years. Quite a few of us already are.

The average day is enormously varied, which doubtless reflects both the nature of careers in PR and the breadth of work I get up to at Fishburn Hedges. I like to start early, and normally get stuck into some twitterage and a magazine (I’m a big Economist fan) on the train in. I’ll then motor through some RSS feeds, check on any media monitoring which needs my attention, and then try and write as many documents as I can first thing- always the most productive time for me. This is normally a variety of plans, presentations, and copy for various media. After a few internal meetings and client conference calls it might be time to think on a few media angles, have some measurement banter, and then call it a happy day. I always find it hard to switch off, so generally write down a few pages of illegible notes on the way home, which I then struggle to transcribe later!

5. What skills do you think are required to do what you do?

There are too many to mention if you want to be a real super-star of the industry. I think it requires you to be more of an all-rounder than just about any other sector. The two which I find indispensable are an appetite for media (if you don’t enjoy consuming it, why work to be part of its creation?) and positivity. Whether you’re selling a story to a journalist, an idea to a colleague or work to a client, people respond to positivity. It is also the only way you’re going to keep the tempo of your own work up if you really want to achieve stuff. I do realise I sound like a poor motivational speaker!

6. Do you plan to stay in this sector of PR?

Yes, assuming it’ll continue to have me!

7. Best and worst parts of the job?

Best; Creating an idea or execution which really surprises and delights colleagues or clients, and then seeing it put into practice.

Worst; There are various functional bits and pieces which aren’t always the most exciting (I never thought excel would play such a large role in my life), but personally it’s dealing with frustration. Big aspirations leads to big frustrations, and channelling that can (on occasion) be challenging. I remain a constant model of serenity, of course.

8. Dream job?

Inside PR; heading up an agency which delivers sector-leading and sector re-defining work. Or leading the comms function for English Heritage. PR and Castles. That’d be pretty cool.

Outside PR; I’d love to work with a local brewery creating an amazing product like these guys, and then market the stuff to within an inch of its beery life. The UK is crying out for quality locally produced food and drink, producers just need to be smart about getting people’s attention and retail moments.

9. Brand you most admire?

I always say innocent, and have said it for ages, but that bandwagon is getting pretty full, with everyone says how much they love it. I’m a big Ocado fan brand-wise too. Although I think there’s huge scope for them to extend it and become better defined in consumer’s minds, they’ve succeeded in creating a fun, considerate brand which is synonymous with quality and innovation, yet has avoided being labelled as ‘geeky’. All from nothing. Some of their recent PR tactics have begun to take nice strides into consumer press too.

10. Tool that is the most useful for your work?

A pencil. Nothing’s ever final when you write it in pencil. Plus my earphones. Dire Straits has been fuelling my days lately, and there’s only so much ‘80s music my colleagues can take.

11. Did you know what you wanted to do after leaving University?

Yep. Change the world.

12. What skills from your University life are transferable when working in PR?

Oxford degree courses are deliberately vague yet overwhelmingly confident that whilst they won’t quantify or label the skills you gain, you will emerge, chrysalis to butterfly-esque, phenomenally talented. I wouldn’t claim that for myself, but a rigour and depth of thinking were certainly useful, as well as interest in the human drivers behind events (that’s the historian in me coming through). Having your writing relentlessly critiqued was pretty handy too.

13. Do you think a PR degree is necessary for a career in PR?

Well as I haven’t got one I’m bound to say not! I’m sure it’s helpful for people to know what they’re getting into, and (this is all purely my own opinion) it’s certainly no worse preparation than many other courses, but ultimately it’ll be personal attributes and the way you take to the job itself which will determine your success.

14. A reason why graduates should go into PR?

Because you can actually be paid to spend time reading newspapers, browsing Facebook, and creating YouTube pieces. Sounds like being a student, you say?!

Seriously though; because you’re going to get variety and breadth of work, whilst doing something which, on a good day, can make you feel a little bit ‘rock star’.

15. A reason why they should choose Fishburn Hedges?

I guess the best thing I can say about the scheme is that it made me the consultant I am today. (I hope that is taken in the positive sense intended!). It is a different experience to what’s on offer at most agencies and you can tell how much we rate it by the fact so many of us ex-trainees are still knocking around here.

16. Something anyone going into PR should know?

A working knowledge of Microsoft Office may only you get you onto the bottom rungs of the ladder, but lacking that knowledge is going to see you quickly fall off the ladder. Not all that deep as advice goes , but practical!

19. Any advice to students applying to graduate entry-level jobs?

Spell check and proof read. Do actually read the papers and browse the web.

I've now been in London for a few days, working with the lovely Shiny Red team and thoroughly enjoying my placement there. It was suggested that I should go to the London Bloggers Meet Up organised by Andrew Bargery, and I went along to see what the fuss was about.

As well as a little talk from Helen Aspell (@hel_razr) of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the event heard from Robin Grant of We Are Social, who I had a little chat with. This was to promote WWF's Earth Hour which aims to get the world to turn their lights off for an hour at 8.30 this Saturday.

It was brilliant to finally link the faces with the names/blogs/twitter avatars that I've come so accustomed to seeing every day. Not to link bait but...thanks to Ben, Dom, Wadds, Lewis, Lolly, Robin, Kai and lots of other people I've completely forgotten the names of, for speaking to me! Jolly nice to meet you all.

I felt it was about time for a Wiki to be created to enable students (and prospective employers) to look at other students' blogs. This was inspired by Stephen Davies' list on his website which came about from a rant a year ago on the lack of student bloggers. Feel free to add yourself or friends (with their permission) on this wiki here. Any problems regarding the list feel free to email me (contact details tab).

From my experience, different people have different opinions on what are the most important factors when hiring their next graduate. The general consensus by all PR practitioners seems to be that not one factor can determine whether a candidate gets a job or not; it is a combination of various things (most of which are listed in the poll).

However, if all your potential candidates had exactly the same features what would you want to stand out? If there was a "most important factor" what would it be? Anyone in PR, marketing or communications feel free to vote and also students wanting to get into these fields, your input would be greatly appreciated. Any thoughts feel free to comment and I will post a follow-up post when/if I get a big enough response.

As everyone knows, Twitter is becoming increasingly popular. But with this popularity comes a few people who don't agree or don't like the tool. In the last week, Rachel Sylvester has had a pop at the site on the Times website; Guido Fawkes, the political blogger, has aimed a few swipes; and Jon Stewart had a satirical dig at it on the Daily Show above.

So why all the hatred for Twitter? Well, I think most people are sceptical initially. I know I was. But soon (most) people realise how the tool works, its potential to help you and its potential to allow you to help others. Jon Stewart, in particular, doesn't yet understand the point of Twitter. Or actually what it is.

“For the uninitiated, here’s how Twitter works - I have no f***cking idea!!

So what can make the unconverted go to the dark side? Well, I suppose if more and more people sign up then they might feel compelled to try it out. The Times article particularly lacks some knowledge of Twitter. The argument seems to be based on why anyone would want to read about what people are doing throughout their day, but that's not the point of Twitter. There's plenty of articles out there explaining why Twitter is not this and is instead much more than this. And even if this was the case, what is wrong with MPs trying to better communications with their constituents?

The one thing I'd say about Twitter is don't knock it till you've tried it. Properly.

If you haven't started to enjoy Spotify yet, you really should start using it. It's going to be one of the big rivals to LastFM, Ourstage etc and most importantly of all, (to the music industry at least) illegal downloading sites. Spotify allows users to stream music from a huge catalogue of music and to create and share playlists amongst it's users.

The ability to create these playlists has made Sally Whittle create a meme for a Friday afternoon playlist. You can download hers here, as well as Jed's here, Adam's here, Chris's here, Bryony's here, Matt's here, Anne's here, and if anyone else shares I'll try and link to yours too to embrace the spotify lovin'. Me and Rob Brown were tagged by Jed after tweeting about our need to create one of these playlists. For me, this to satisfy my hunger of creating playlists and sharing them. As Ad Parker points out the last time this kind of thing could be done was on cassette tapes in the early 90s where the process took hours if not days..

My playlist can be downloaded here or if you haven't signed up to spotify yet (why not?!):

Pixies - Where is my Mind?
Hal - Play the Hits
Shearwater - Rooks
David Bowie - Oh! You Pretty Things
Little Boots - Stuck on Repeat
Radiohead - 2+2=5
Little Barrie - Free Salute
Jane's Addiction - Mountain Song
Sufjan Steven - Chicago
Passion Pit - Sleepyhead
Frightened Rabbit - The Modern Leper
Devotchka - How It Ends
Elbow - Weather to Fly
Mos Def - Ms. Fat Booty
Annuals - Bleary Eyed
Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill
TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me
Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong - Lucio Starts Fires
The Hold Steady - Chips Ahoy!
The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil
Broadcast 2000 - Get Up and Go
Unkle - Burn My Shadow
Beck - Modern Guilt
Wilco - Handshake Drugs
The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset