Every now and then I wonder why I’m actually doing this blog thing. I’ve been getting the feeling recently that I don’t lead an interesting enough life to make one blog post everyday. I mean in the last week, most of my blog posts have been about games or my shiny new PC. Personally I don’t mind talking about all that nonsense but I know it doesn’t create interesting reading.

I’ll probably have to find the real reason for signing up to this challenge. If I don’t I think I’ll have to stop, there’s a big fear of boring everyone to death – something I already do enough outside of the confines of this blog.

As much I don’t like explicitly calling it a hobby, until it results in regularly paid work, it kind of is. Sometimes I do wonder why I even write at all, I mean being a Graphic Designer (what I’m actually studying) is just shapes… right?

I’ve started to realise that even if I don’t become a full time journalist, the skills I will have gotten from the whole journey will help to no end. Not only have I had to code umpteenth number of Wordpress themes (HTML, CSS & PHP) but I’ve actually learnt how to write properly (English). That’s four vital languages I’ve learnt during the last three years – not including PR-speak.

Again, whether this results in anything I can do for a living remains to be seen. But after all is said and done, I’ve learnt vital skills along with meeting a great collection of friends. That probably excites me more than any job offer ever could*.

*I’m sorry, that sounded straighter in my head.

I know I shouldn’t do this but it’s late and I still haven’t posted anything for today.

Today, or more like last week but it went live today so I won’t spoil the illusion, I wrote my 10 random iPod tracks for Electro-Candy. I know I should be posting something original here but I rarely write for other sites and have a lot of work on.

Work that includes writing about the excellent, Heavy Rain. In the meantime though you should all check it that out. The article not Heavy Rain, although you can do that as well… yeah, do both.

I don’t hate putting a score on review as much as most reviewers. At Nidzumi we use a five star scale which basically equates to terrible, bad, average, good, great – how many more ways do you need to describe a game?

Today though I hesitated to put a number on a review. Bioshock 2, it’s great if you’ve played the original but if you haven’t you’ll probably fail to see why everyone went gaga over it the first time. So when looking at it like that, it’s either a four or a three depending on prior experiences. I then realised how stupid this all is, it’s just a number and I had spent more time debating that then any other decision that day. If only people read the text, then again I’ve been known to skip to the end a few times so I can’t complain.

And what score did I give it… You’ll have to check yourself (before you wreck yourself)

Recently at Nidzumi we’ve been on the look out for new staff and thanks to our Business Manager we’ve had a truly overwhelming response. However, some of them, and I don’t want to sound unappreciative of people’s efforts, some of them, have been way off the mark. I know it’s a voluntary job but it’s still something that you supposedly do, so at the very least be professional about it. So with that said here are a few pointers when applying for a job online…

1. Send examples of your work – Starting off with the most important thing of all, send examples. If people can’t read your writing then people can’t even think about you. If people aren’t thinking about you the chances are they’re already considering someone else who did send an example along.
2. Don’t use clichés – Now we’re all susceptible to the odd cliché every now and then but if you’re applying for a writing job don’t send an example that looks like a template.
3. Tell me your name – I’m surprised this has even happened but I’ve received a couple of applicants who haven’t even put their name on the application. Combine this with no examples and you’re not even going to get a follow up email.
4. No boilerplate emails – Don’t send a standard email with names switched out. I’ve had numerous emails that flatter Nidzumi’s news coverage. We don’t run news coverage as far as I know.

I don’t mean to get up all on my high horse but no matter what the job, all those things people tell you about CV writing are true. If you don’t get the basics right you won’t be considered. I was surprised with how ruthless I could be with applicants but first impressions are everything.