Viral’s are fun aren’t they, a perfectly good excuse to while away a few minutes in your day. You only have to like it a little bit to post it on your Facebook, Skype it to a workmate or email it to your friends and all of a sudden its been seen the world over. Here at RateMyPlacement.co.uk we are producing our very own viral to (hopefully) spread across the internet and our fair planet. We are in the planning stages right now and currently brainstorming.. got any ideas? we would love to hear them, but in the mean time heres a few of my favourites that have graced the internet in most recent times that are specifically designed for advertising.

http://youtu.be/FKe6nyORbrM – Pepsi Max

http://youtu.be/y0qZYqdsYAg – Budweiser

http://youtu.be/owGykVbfgUE – Old Spice

http://youtu.be/XI_9Yxr0blo – K-Swiss

http://youtu.be/LJP1DphOWPs – Ojai Valley Taxidermy

10 Second Review – The Muppets (IMDB) The Muppets are rounded up to put on a fundraiser to save the Muppet studios. Plenty of cameos from the likes of Jack Black, Dave Grohl and Zach Galifianakis as Hobo Joe. Very funny. 8.9/10

Chronicle (IMDB) 3 friends develop telepathic powers after interacting with a glowing rock. Flight and vulnerability isn’t enough for one of the boys that goes mental (think Akira) and ends up throwing the Police around like rag dolls. 6.2/10

And finally, well done to new recruit Steve Watling that won blogger of the month for his Valentines day survival guide, the ASDA card is particularly special.

So Valentine’s Day is over for another year, and I can almost hear the collective sigh from the guys out there. The trials and tribulations of picking the perfect card, special gift, and stunning day for your loved ones are all things that need to be thought about to make that day extra special for all involved.

However, in some cases the collective ‘tat’ that is available in certain high street stores just doesn’t feel like you’ve made the effort…believe me I used to attempt to sell it online for one of these retailers!

You might be thinking…God this guy is depressing…but given that my work for Valentine’s Day started in November, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me, but what I want you to do is give you a What Not to Buy Guide for next Valentine’s Day and beyond, mainly based from things I’ve seen…and regrettably some that I have done!

So let’s start with the Cards

A few things here, firstly don’t be frugal at special occasions like this, is your loved ones not worth a few pounds on a high quality card with a heartfelt message?…if not, why not try this for next year.

Apparently, this card sold out in the Asda store in Dumbarton, not too sure what this says about our society? Would love to see the look on someones face when they open this up!

If you are the type of person who can stretch to more than 7p for a Valentines Card then, congratulations you old romantic!

Maybe a Scribbler card is the type of thing that you’d be looking for, although this is not for the feint-hearted. Make sure your relationship is as solid as a rock before you even consider sending one of these cards, or you could find yourself reading Nat’s blog post on ‘A Singleton’s Guide to Valentine’s Day’ pretty soon!

It takes a brave, or stupid person to purchase one of these, so here’s the one I bought:

and if I’m honest…didn’t get the reaction I was hoping for (I was hoping for laughter and amusement and it evoked more anger and disappointment!) so to make up for it I bought some beautiful roses…which, as you’ll see later didn’t have the desired effect either!

Finally, if you’re a bit of a player but you can’t afford to keep all your many admirers happy then remember to look out for Morrisons next Valentine’s Day, as you never know when their Buy One Get One Free offer will be available again!

Just goes to show that even the big supermarkets can get it a bit wrong! Make sure you don’t make the same mistake 14th February 2013

The all important gift

So, once you’ve nailed that all important card, it’s important not to neglect the importance of your present, whether it be the classic flowers and chocolate or something a little more exotic, there’s a lot to think about. Firstly, avoid the tat!

I spent 18 months selling stuff like this online and it’s a sweet relief to not be surrounded by it everyday, sure there has to be something more sentimental than this…

Although, maybe it could be worse…how about buying flowers a day late and at half price!…Guilty Man right here!

Having felt very bad about the shocking reception the card got, I thought flowers was a safe bet, I’d bought in the flowers, she was loving it, arranged them beautifully and on the sideboard they went in all their glory. Then disaster struck…

The one thing I’d forgotten in what otherwise would have been the perfect crime…the receipt! She spots it, sees the £15 discount, and the illusion is shattered!

All in all a bit of disaster on my part…in case your wondering, she made me a home-made and very tasty heart-shaped cake, shown below, made with TLC:

What did I get her…an offensive card and half price flowers, she’s a lucky lady…in fact maybe I’ll just read Nat’s blog!

Thanks for reading and if you need any advice for not what to buy for Mother’s Day, check back soon!

Being topical, I thought I’d write a blog on fun facts about Valentine’s Day!  If you ever wonder why we spend 1 day a year buying flowers, treating our loved ones to chocolates and bubbly (personally I think that should happen every month?!) then read on find out where it all began.  I’ve also added my own thoughts to give the blog some attitude, if you don’t agree then feel free to COMMENT!

Enjoy and Happy Valentine’s Day

When did it all start?

There are various theories on the origin of Valentine’s Day, but the most popular dates back to the time of the Roman Empire during the reign of Claudius II, 270 AD. Claudius didn’t want men to marry during wartime because he believed single men made better soldiers. Bishop Valentine went against his wishes and performed secret wedding ceremonies. For this, Valentine was jailed and then executed by order of the Emperor on February 14. While in jail, he wrote a love note to the jailor’s daughter signing it, “From your Valentine.” Sound familiar?  No actually, I’ve never had a letter written to me from a prisoner in jail?!

Flowers

• 73% of people who buy flowers for Valentine’s Day are men, while only 27 percent are women.
• 15% of U.S. women send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day – wow, is that desperate?!

Roses

• The red rose was the favourite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love.
• Red roses are considered the flower of love because the colour red stands for strong romantic feelings – never would have guessed that one…
• Approximately 110 million roses, mostly red, will be sold and delivered within the three-day Valentine’s Day time period – anyone interested in opening a rose shop for 3 days a year?!

Greeting Cards

• Women purchase approximately 85 percent of all Valentines – are you going to let this go guys?!
• Teachers will receive the most Valentine’s Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, sweethearts and pets – teachers, really?!  Think they missed out my school in this survey…

And… More fun facts about Valentine’s Day

• Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, France, Australia, Denmark, United States and Italy.
• The most fantastic gift of love is the Taj Mahal in India. It was built by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan as a memorial to his wife – Mughal definitely set the standard with this one
• Every Valentine’s Day, the Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare’s lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet – do they know it was a story?!
• About 3% of pet owners will give Valentine’s Day gifts to their pets.
• In the US, 64 percent of men do not make plans in advance for a romantic Valentine’s Day with their sweethearts – typical!  

WARNING! Valentine’s Day is approaching…

I have come to the conclusion that it’s pretty much impossible to deny the existence of Valentine’s Day.  We Brits love a good commercialised holiday.  Or maybe that’s just the people who make cards and balloons?  Anyway, Valentine’s Day is here to stay: FACT.  In all my single glory I have so far managed to avoid eye contact with the small army of teddy bears that glare at me every morning and evening from the window of my local gift shop.  You know the ones – they have ‘I love you’ stitched onto their paw and their expression promises you eternal devotion in a kind of weird-psycho way (ever noticed that their eyes are fixed on you at all times?!)

Teddy bears aside, I ask myself this question: why, as a singleton, should I have a negative attitude to Valentine’s Day?

Yes, the PDAs (Public Displays of Affection) are enough to make me reach for the nearest bucket and yell “get a room!” in a half triumphant, half despairing way.  And of course, the unashamedly commercialised nature of the day is enough to make any sane Clinton’s employee want to flee the country.

But Valentine’s Day isn’t all doom and gloom if you don’t have a better half.  In fact, it’s quite the opposite!  It’s a well known fact that V-Day night is one of the busiest out there, with singletons across the country heading out with their friends to have a good ol’ barmy.

So, with this in mind I have compiled a list of Do’s and Don’ts for singletons this Valentine’s Day…

Don’t: Sit at home alone watching Bridget Jones Diary whilst working your way through a bottle of wine, blinking your way through tears and wallowing in self-pity.  Avoid at all costs.

Do: Throw a small gathering at your house!  Have a “bring a dish”/”bring a bottle”/”bring yourself” get-together with your friends to celebrate friendship, good times, and have an excuse to get crrunk!

Don’t: Go for a quiet meal with your Mum at the local Italian.  I think it’s safe to say restaurants are a no-go on Valentine’s Day if you’re single – unless you want to watch all the hand-holding and footsie going on…awkward if you’re caught staring…

Do: Go for a night out with the lads/ladies!  Clubs will be bursting with single people out to have a good time.  Why not join in the fun and enjoy yourself?

Don’t: Head to a small/intimate restaurant if you’re planning a rowdy meal en masse (8 people or more) – couples won’t appreciate the level of noise or the spontaneous chants.

Do: Hit the bars with a friend or a group of friends!  V-Day is one of the best days in the year to meet new people – bars won’t have couples having a quiet romantic time together, they’ll be full of singletons!  So get out there and be sociable, you’ve got nothing to lose.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you all in advance!

In January, UCAS are showing a 7.4% reduction in applicants year on year from 583,546 in January 2011, to 540,073 in January 2012. How will this impact the world of placements and internships?

With 2011-2012 academic year being the last year before the tuition fees kick in, the number of applicants to university was a record high. With this in mind, a 7.4% reduction isn’t too shocking; I am sure a lot of students who were considering a gap year pre-university probably thought better then armed with the knowledge that their tuition fees (and travelling debt!) would treble if they postponed a year.

With this peak in applicants last academic year, it would be logical to assume the number of first-years starting university this year increased with it, and should be safe to assume second years next year will swell too? It did, with 1.4% increase in university acceptances in August 2011 last year rising to 384,649 compared with 379,411 in August 2010. Based on these numbers, I therefore believe that without any market changes there should be an increase in demand for placements and internships for the 2012/2013 academic year, with the year after then being the challenge.

Having said this, from reading through all university Award nominations at the National Placement & Internship Awards 2012, we have seen universities ramping up their focus on employability as the core way of attracting students to universities. Newcastle University are one of many universities accrediting and increasing the accreditation for work-based learning modules, with The University of Birmingham Careers & Employability Centre winning ‘Most Improved Commitment to Employability’ and increasing their team from 30 to 60 over the next couple of years. These universities are not alone in investing heavily in student employability, with all other 60 nominations at the NPIAs citing significant financial and personnel investment.

From an employer perspective, we are seeing more and more companies create and develop placement and internship programmes. The latest graduate research outlined:

“More than a third of new graduate jobs this year will go to students who have already worked for the employer – a record high”

Alongside this research, our client base has doubled year on year advertising 50% more opportunities to students than last year, and the launch of the ‘Best Medium-sized Employer’ Award at the NPIAs was to recognise the growing number of large companies, creating and developing their own schemes. SAP who won ‘Best Medium-sized Employer’ are a prime example of this shift in the market, introducing a scheme for 8 students last year, with this number increasing to 15-18 this summer.

So with more students at university from September onwards, universities increasing their emphasis on employability and more employers offering undergraduate schemes, all arrows are pointing in the same direction: that placements and internships will become an increasing part of a students’ university life.

We are obviously biased being so engrossed in the market, however we believe that even if university applicants do significantly drop in the years ahead, the overall exposure in the market across all stakeholders will ensure that awareness and interest of placements and internships amongst students will counteract this.

44 days.

44 days long days since my last blog. You must be having serious withdrawal symptoms but I’m back to give you your fix of YouTube, stupid purchases and LADS.

The last six weeks have been very busy, I have been up to Scotland forChristmas, back home in Jersey for New Year and up to visit all my university friends in Hull. Since I have been seeing so many people again there have been a lot of hugging going on, which makes me very happy. I love a good hug! There are so many occasions for one as well, a welcome hug, a well done hug, a goodbye hug, a hello hug, a drunk hug, a comforting hug, even a three-way hug! They are so underrated and way underused. So because of all the hugging I have been doing lately as soon as I saw this video I knew it was going to be my ‘YouTube Video of the Week’. A hug makes someone feel better, it makes people smile and nothing bad has ever come from a hug! So in dedication for this video I want all of you who read this (Hi mum!) to take this weekend and do three types of hugs…

1. Hug someone you should do a lot more often – There is probably somebody in your life who you love to bits but don’t ever show it enough. So show it with a hug.
2. Hug someone that seems upset or down – If someone is feeling low and hasn’t had the best of days, just take 5 seconds to give them a big fat hug. I bet they will be the best 5 seconds of that person’s day.
3. Hug a stranger – It doesn’t matter where you are, just make eye contact, smile and ask somebody if they would like a free hug. Don’t be shy, the worst that can happen is they say no and it’s their loss! When you do get someone, give him or her a warm, platonic hug. That means you wrap your arms around them over their shoulders or just below their arms and maybe pat their back gently a few times. (Try to avoid being a creep and touching people below the waist and no need to touch hips either!)

Many of you will just think this is odd, and you are the one’s who are missing out. I have no doubt that if you complete all three of these you will feel great and you’ll have a big smile on your face by the end of them.

Now it’s on to my ‘Purchase of the Week’ feature, which I’m surprised, is even happening because of how broke I am. This probably makes this decision easier since I haven’t been able to buy much! My purchase of the week is my ticket to UK Bass Culture at the 02 Academy Brixton on the 2^nd of March. Now I’m not sure how many bass heads read the RMP blog but those of you who are will know this line-up is absolutely amazing and will be an incredible night! I have friends coming to visit me from Jersey for the event and it’s going to be a weekend to remember, but one I am most likely to forget!

Finally we are on to the ‘LAD of the week’ feature. This isn’t actually a story from this week, but it was after my last blog and because of what this guy has gone through he more than deserves it! On BoxingDay, in the middle of the busy Christmas football period, Gillingham faced Crawley Town in a league match, little did winger Chris Whelpdale realise it was going to be a game to forget. In a collision with an opposition player late in the game he took a knock to his “man area” after originally thinking it was nothing too bad he had a look and turned out he had tore his scrotum! OUCH! The 24-year-old had to have 5 stitches and his manager described the injury and “disgusting” adding “I don’t think his wife would be happy either!”

Now the injury alone may just warrant this award. The main reason, however, for Whelpdale being dubbed ‘LAD of the week’ is because once he had taken the expected LADS banter from the guys in the changing room and got himself stitched up he returned 4 days later to play Dagenham & Redbridge! When we look at the likes of Carlos Tevez who are sitting on the bench sulking for half their career and compare them to the likes of Whelpdale who even with a “broken zone” manage to turn up for a scrappy League Two encounter there is only one winner in my eyes! Chris, we salute you sir!

It’s been fun, but it’s time for me to shut up and you to get on with some work!

Adue, Kwa Herini, Auf Wiedersehen and Goodbye!

Tom