So 2010’s big recruitment drive is over and we have picked our new staff writers, yay! The last time that we advertised for writers through forums, universities, magazines and the Xbox Live dashboard we had an avalanche of applications and this time it was just the same. Working our way through the hundreds of blogs, CVs and published works of budding games journalists proved more difficult this time though. For starters the number of applicants who keep blogs has risen dramatically in the space of a year. While the last time round I’d say about one in five who applied for a Ready Up Staff Writer position kept a blog, just a year later we’re finding it’s one in two. Twice as many applicants were studying or had a degree in journalism. Those that didn’t have experience made a far greater effort to provide us with example work written specifically for Ready Up, which just shows how much more aware applicants have become of what it takes to break into the industry.
Although we were treated yet again to the incredible talents of all the wildly different individuals that want to be a part of Ready Up, it was their hard work and dedication to honing their skills that really impressed. Things are definitely changing. The Games Media is not the cottage industry we once knew. It’s a highly competitive environment now but the incredibly high standard of applications we received shows that you are more than up to the task.
Given how awesome you all are, whittling it down to just a few was nightmarishly difficult. So many great writers who are more than qualified won’t be getting a place on the team this time round. I can only urge you to keep writing and keep applying for stuff. There were six people though who we simply could not pass up. We are really crazy excited to have them on board. Over the coming week you’ll be able to read their first blogs so keep an eye out for those. So without further ado here they are – the secret six finally revealed!
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