Heaven knows I’ve got my work cut out finding the good news out there right now. That said, my old pal and head of the AGR Carl Gilliard keeps going on record to say that the majority of graduate recruiters are not cutting their graduate intake, and a significant percentage are actually increasing the number of grads they take on. That might include the world’s largest PC maker, HP whose profits have come in higher than expected, giving its shares a 10% bounce and sales up nearly 20%. Last year the company overtook Dell as the biggest PC maker, and that position looks like holding thanks to global reach, a broad customer base and…er…ongoing cost cuts.

Tags: graduate opportunities at HP, growth at HP, IT careers for graduates and students

A sad day for comedy: Its sayonara to one of big businesses loose cannons, Jerry Yang, the co-founder of Yahoo, who is stepping down at big boss. He’s been entertainingly under fire from his staff and board after cocking-up a sale to Microsoft earlier this year and then waving goodbye to Google in a proposed internet advertising tie-up. He wrote to employees to say he would find another buyer, and never did. Yahoo is surprisingly popular outside of the UK, where Google is king, and a new boss might just be the shot in the arm the company needs, so definitely put them on your “possible employer” list. Yang’s e-mail to employees ended with the words: “All of you know that I have always and will always bleed purple” - in reference to the predominant colour on the company’s logo. Er…which is red.

Tags: Graduate careers at Microsoft, graduate jobs at Yahoo, IT, Marketing, Online

You know when the mad girl at school says she’s going out with the best looking boy (she’s not) and then tells everyone that she dumped him (she didn’t) and then says that he calls her all the time and is in love with her (he’s never)? That’s the same as the Yahoo’s relationship with Microsoft. You’ll be reminded that back in May Microsoft made a play for Yahoo, but the search giant’s board rejected the offer saying it was too low. Since then the economy’s moved to the middle ages and Google have pulled out of an internet advertising partnership with Yahoo. So, desperate Yahoo boss Jerry Yang stood up at a conference in San Francisco this week and said: “The best thing for Microsoft to do is buy Yahoo…at the right price whatever that price is. We’re willing to sell the company.” He then went on to say that the failed Google partnership was “incremental” to his overall growth plans. You’re not looking very attractive sweetheart! Microsoft declined to comment.

Tags: Graduate jobs at Microsoft, IT graduate job interview talking point

A think-tank is a bunch of brains that get together to look at an issue and dream up news ideas – like the bra that clasps at the front. Sometimes these groups become profit making companies, one of which is Demos. They have been pondering the use of social networking sites in the workplace and concluded they it is a good thing. (Demos’ research was paid for by Orange, who are coincidentally developing their own social networking site.) Demos say the sites provide “crucial platforms for discussion and collaboration,” and say that firms that ban their use are essentially asking staff not to talk to one another. Try telling that to Virgin Atlantic who these week disciplined staff old and current who “discussed” the airlines safety procedures on Facebook. A recent study estimated that fannying around on Facebook during office hours costs UK businesses £6.5 billion per year in lost productivity.

Tags: Facebook jobs, using IT at work, Virgin Atlantic Graduate careers, working practice at Virgin

St John’s College Cambridge has introduced a new limit on student alcohol intake. No surprise then that complaints about the Dean’s ideas have been posted thick and fast on a wall in Facebook. And who’s this joining the debate? One, Pedro Amigo – or Peter Friend to you and me, or PAL, the initials of St. John’s Dean, Peter Anthony Lineham. That’s right, suspicious students found the mysterious Pedro shares Lineham’s email address. The Dean wont confirm or deny he’s stalking the site, but did apparently call the main detractors of his alcohol cull into his office for a “meeting” last week. No doubt Pedro tipped him off. Two-facebook if you ask me.

Tags: Facebook jobs, University St John's Cambridge, Using IT