I should start by saying I’m a big fan of young people. I have three of my own and I love them and their friends. I don’t buy into the theory that most young people are a waste of space and usually up to no good. Rather, I think they are, on the whole, funny, fearless, sassy, ambitious, inventive, adventurous, bold and loyal.

However, at the moment, I am struggling to defend their attention to detail and real application to the task. As a PR company, we receive many unsolicited CVs every week from young people wanting work experience or jobs. Many of them are either about to start University, part-way through a course or have just finished University. Very few are impressive and many are simply terrible.

PR requires attention to detail, an inquisitive nature and a tenacity that means you don’t take no for an answer, so if someone tells me that they’re desperate to work in PR why would they address the email “To whom it may concern”? It takes one look at our website to find out who they could write to or, even better, a phone call to get it exactly right.

Similarly Dear Sir/Madam, or Madame as I received the other day. Again, one look at our website shows you that, currently, there are no Sirs working at MCG…leaving aside the point that it should be sent to a named person.

Another favourite is to send an email template with the name of the relevant agency inserted. Looks good if you get it right, I see lots of MCGs in the text and it looks like I’ve got an application that someone has spent time on. But, this only works if you remember to take out all references to the previous agency you emailed. More often than not, it’s usually left in.

And don’t get me started on spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Most of them because the writer hasn’t checked and then double checked what they are sending. We do it, day in day out. We write things, we check them and we get our colleagues to check them. Everything we do in PR has to be right first time because more often that not we won’t get a second chance. Quite rightly so.

If I receive 20 CVs a week, I’m going to instantly dismiss any containing the errors I’ve mentioned. I have to. A CV and application for a job is meant to be your best shot, your big chance, an opportunity to work in your chosen field. If you send something that is second rate, how are you going to fare in the work place? Are you going to go that extra mile for the client and your colleagues and always do your very best work? Maybe, but you have to show me with your first bit of PR….your application.