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We don’t recruit graduates at round8 talent search but I have a lot of friends/peers whose children are trying and struggling to get their first chance. One of the issues we're seeing is a company might be looking to pay £30–32k for someone with 2–3 years’ experience, versus £27-28k for a graduate. From an employer’s perspective, if you can hire someone with a proven track record for only a few thousand pounds more, it’s easy to see why that can be attractive. It creates a bigger problem though as if graduates increasingly have to compete with people who already have 2–3 years’ experience, how do they get the experience they need in the first place? For those working in media and advertising, where do you think the best graduate or early-career schemes are now? It would be great to share some good routes into the industry for those trying to get that first chance.

MediaPost shared an article this week that TikTok has agreed a partnership with the NFL to show football content on the platform this week (link in comments). We are finding more and more that job descriptions are being written today for roles that didn’t exist even five years ago. The people who thrive in these commercial roles will need deep social / TikTok platform expertise, alongside a good understanding of the sport, its fans, sponsors and wider commercial ecosystem. That combination of experience isn’t always the most obvious to find, but the growth in sports media is creating some really interesting opportunities. It’s one of the reasons sports media is such an interesting space for us to recruit in. round8 talent search | #Recruitment | #Sportsmedia

I have read a few things this week that lead me to pause and reflect on where our industry is heading. We don’t work with graduate-level roles round8 talent search , but I have been asked a few times recently if AI is replacing graduate jobs. An article win The Drum this week suggested that it is, and that AI is doing the ‘ordinary work’ that graduates used to do, which means there are less entry-level jobs. If we used the traditional agency titles of grad, AE, AM, AD, BD as a broad model of understanding levels, the question becomes when companies want to hire AEs, where do they hire them from if there are fewer grads? Interested to know thoughts and how people are preparing for skill/talent gaps? https://lnkd.in/eNynTV3N #AdtechRecruitment

People often ask me how the recruitment market is looking, even if they have no plans to hire or move roles. As recruiters, we see a small but useful sample of the wider market's health and with that in mind, I want to share something cautiously positive. The first few weeks of summer are usually quiet in AdTech recruitment. That lull has not shown up this year. In fact, this summer is far 'eclipsing' (did you see what I did there) last year's. Briefs are up 15 to 20% year on year. Set that against the increase in marketing investment reported by the Advertising Association and the IPA Bellwether Report, and there just might be some good times ahead. Worth noting: we mostly work with start-up and scale-up businesses, so this is not a walled-gardens story. Interested to hear what others are seeing. Round8 | #AdtechRecruitment

If you're looking for work - does your LinkedIn profile do you justice? I was chatting with Mike Nicholson on The Six Sells Podcast about this last week (episode out soon). round8 talent search work directly with hiring managers every day and one thing comes up time and again: when they're reviewing a CV, they almost always check the candidate's LinkedIn profile too. What's striking is how often we hear that a candidate's LinkedIn profile doesn't live up to their CV/the hiring manager's expectations. A few things worth asking yourself: ✅ Is your profile consistent with your CV? ✅ Does it make you look credible? ✅ Is it immediately clear who you are and what you do? ✅ Are you sharing any thoughts or insights in your space? In a world where some roles attract hundreds of applications, a well-optimised LinkedIn profile can help you cut through the screening process and get in front of the right people. --- If you would like to listen to the conversation I had with Mike, follow Six Sells or me on LinkedIn and we'll let you know when it is published. Better yet - Mike from Six Sells and I will be running a free session exclusively for those currently out of work on how to optimise your LinkedIn profile. The session will be 11 am (UK time) on Thursday 11th June - comment below if you are currently out of work and would like to join, and we will send you the Google Meet link. #Recruitment

The #CannesCannes Lions International Festival of Creativity chat is bubbling away at round8 talent search. It'll be my fifth time this year so sharing a few tips for those who haven't been for a while or are heading for the first time: Starting strong with (it might be an age thing) 3 days is more than enough! **Getting around** ‣ Don't assume Ubers are readily available. They get extremely busy and have been known to go on strike during Cannes week. Plan transfers back to the airport in advance or get the train. ‣ The walk from the Martinez Hotel to the end of yacht row is around 20 minutes. In the heat, it's a long way if you're doing it several times a day. Try and cluster your meetings by location to avoid long walks back and forth. **Scheduling** ‣ I think around 60% of your time booked, 40% left open is a good balance. Too few meetings and you're floating; too many and you miss the serendipitous conversations that Cannes is so good for. ‣ Prioritise people who aren't based in your city. Cannes is one of the few chances you'll get to see them. ‣ Tickets don't guarantee entry. Some of the biggest events have queues that make them effectively impossible to get into. **Practicalities** ‣ Accommodation - check what's supplied. We stayed on a small sailing boat one year. Lovely idea but it was a whole thing! (Megan Marsh Jim Brown Grant Allaway) ‣ Dress for day and evening in one outfit. You may not get a chance to head back and change. ‣ Comfortable shoes. There is a lot of walking. ‣ Drink a lot of water. **Good spots** ‣ Caffe Roma at 1 Sq. Merimee, opposite the Palais, is one of the best/easiest meeting spots on the strip. Several other bars and restaurants around the square if it's full. ‣ Morning runs and swims are a great way to network without the rose, and there's plenty of that in the evenings. What have I forgotten? #Cannes2026