MTV has finally abandoned the MTV Generation’s paper job application system and been bought kicking and screaming into the Web 2.0 Generation’s electronic job application system.  StepStone sat MTV down and gave them a good talking to in order to show them how much money and time they’d save by embracing the newest of new technologies.  I was shocked to hear that MTV Networks, the company behind MTV, operates over 120 channels so it’s bigger news than you’d initially think and Kevin Warburton, the HR manager at MTV Networks, could hardly contain his delight as he said: “We want and need to hire the most talented people in every role to keep MTV as the best and most successful network TV provider”.  Perhaps his delight was a little more muted then I remember!  Check out these videos for more information of working within the media.

I’ve been known to sink one or twelve in my day, but never have I seen a chart of the hardest drinking industries, that was until today.  It seems the surveying masterminds over at YouGov  (where you can also earn money for taking surveys) had a bit of spare time on their hands and concocted a ‘know your limits’ project.  This project has produced some stats, but more imporatnly a top five of which industry breeds the heaviest drinkers.  Before we get to our top of the tops inspired count down, let us bask in YouGov’s stat fuelled goodness. One in 10 drinkers felt their alcohol consumption is affecting their work but 29% in both the media and IT sectors and a 25% in the finance sector admitted to feeling pressured to drink by colleagues.  Over half (52%) of those surveyed drink after work to relieve stress, with around a third in education (30%), construction (31%), media, publishing and entertainment (31%) and finance, insurance or real estate (33%) saying they drink due to stress at least once a week.   I’m fully stated up, let’s move onto the countdown. If only I had some Top of the Pops music, hum it along in your head…it’ll be more entertaining:  In at 5 we have estate agents. And a brand new entry at 4 is insurers.  A none mover at 3 is the finance industry.  Just missing out on the top spot this week is IT workers, but for 2009 the hardest drinkers in the country and claiming the top spot is…the media industry. Seriously, any drink related issues check with the amazingly people at the NHS.

No, I’ve never heard of Vivendi either. They’re the French company that is now seemingly Europe’s biggest entertainment group. Among their portfolio, they own Universal Music, the world’s biggest record company, pay-TV station Canal+, growing games maker Activision Blizzard, and France’s second largest mobile phone company, SFR – significant as France is the only place left in the developed world where the mobile market is a growing one (Vodafone would love to get their hands on SFR). Universal has flummoxed the music industry by getting digital download sales to outstrip the decline in CD sales. Some feat.  They’re growing gauche, doit et centre, so if you’ve got bad breath and a short temper, get on the Eurostar and get in there!

Not happy that the only thing in my house he hasn’t had a hand in printing on is the toilet paper, Uncle Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp (The Times, The Sun, Sky…) plans to invest $100m over the next 12months to start six regional tv channels in India – one of the world’s fastest growing media markets. The channels will broadcast in six languages and run under the Star brand. That brand also has a presence in China, but Rup think India’s more open media sector could provide greater opportunities (less censorship for a start). The company, which also owns MySpace and Twentieth Century Fox, has also pledged to double the number of staff at Dow Jones Newswires, which Murdoch bought along with the Wall Street Journal last year.

You know how you keep having to show your mum or sugar daddy how to use the Sky+ or predictive text? That’s a career now. The official term for the young teaching the old new gadget tricks is “reverse mentoring.� The media giant Time Warner is employing “tech-savvy� students to give 90min coaching sessions to senior leaders – at $500 a pop! The execs get taken through the capabilities of the iPod and iPhone, as well as shown how to make the most of MySpace, LinkIn and FaceAche. How un-cool is that?!