Since the assessment day last month I have been checking my e-mails constantly waiting for a response. Today it came. I'm not going to be working for PR week's international consultancy of the year 2007, Hotwire PR.

They said :

As you know we had over 400 applications for positions, and you did incredibly well to get down to the last 35. We found it very, very hard to assess who should go on to be in the last 12 candidates for final interviews – but we made the decision based on a number of factors including your knowledge of technology, your writing and your understanding of PR.

Bearing all of that in mind, I am sorry to say that we haven’t shortlisted you. This doesn’t mean that you didn’t do a great job – just that it was very competitive and inevitably some good candidates weren’t shortlisted.

I've asked if there is any feedback they can give me to help with future interviews. So we'll have to see what happens with that. I really liked Hotwire and enjoyed the assessment day, so even though I didn't get the job I enjoyed the experience and the trip down to London. Plus it also means I don't have to cancel my trip to Nice next week as that coincided with the final interview dates.

Labels: formby, graduate, hotwire, job interview, matthew watson, public relations

The assessment day in London went fairly well. We were placed into small groups and given a client to create a pitch for. As the day progressed we were given updates and had to rework our pitch to accommodate them. I had lots of great, creative ideas but since public speaking isn't my strongest point I'm not too sure how I did.

During the day we all had a quick interview with one of the staff, which I quite enjoyed. I talked about all the things I got up to at Concept Communications last summer and the PR campaign I put together for Mogul Magazine. We were also set the task of writing a press release in thirty minutes and creating a small list of media to send it to. Annoyingly I completely forgot to make the media list, but I was quite proud of my press release so hopefully that will even things out.

I find out if I'm through to the final interview round sometime during the next two weeks. Unfortunately the final interview is scheduled for the day I fly to Nice. So if I'm lucky enough to get an interview I will have to cancel or modify my holiday dates.

Labels: concept pr, formby, hotwire, job interview, london, matthew watson, mogul magazine. public relations, nice, public relations, work experience

I have just sent off my first application form for a proper, grown-up job! I've applied for Hotwire's 2008 Graduate Scheme in London. I shall let you know how I get on.

Labels: career, employment, formby, graduate, hotwire, job, london, matthew watson, public relations