On Friday, Chinwag waved goodbye to Gregory, our first tech intern. It was an experiment, which proved extremely fruitful for Chinwag, and hopefully, Gregory too.

For a company that sits at the S end of SME, combined with some control freakery thanks to yours truly, taking on an intern would be a challenge on a number of fronts. Could we find the right person? Would they learn anything? Did we really have time to make it work?

Previous internships had worked well, with an editorial intern progressing into a full-time role, but we learnt just how much staff time is needed. Tricky for a small company that finds itself stretched at the best of times.

About the time we waved Gregory off, a tweet from Loic Le Meur (@loic) popped up, agreeing with Seth Godin’s take on internships,

"I think internships are overrated. Most of the time, the employer thinks he's doing the intern a favor, but he doesn't trust the interns to do any actual thoughtful, intelligent work worth talking about. And to be fair, most of the time the interns are busy hiding, not grabbing responsibility but instead acting like they're in school, avoiding hard work and trying to get an A."

Pretty cynical. Perhaps this applies more to internships within large organisations, because that’s not been the experience at Chinwag. He’s right about one thing, there’s little point in having an intern if you’re not going to let them do anything.

There are many reasons why the strategic use of social media can advance your career, building your reputation, garnering links with key contacts amongst others.

Hot on the heels of the digital placement program, news reaches us of another initiative in the North West for recent graduates looking for careers in the interesting world where new media meets TV and radio, North West b.TWEEN TV Platforms.

This Autumn could be a testing time for some of the 400,000 graduates looking for a digital career, with the number of vacancies taking a dip, competition will be hotter than ever.

Internships and work placements, when well executed well, can be a fast-track way to getting a dream job as well as providing employers with seasoned recruits.

We're big fans at Chinwag with two interns currently learning about the industry and providing valued help in a busy environment.

News of another great scheme has reached Chinwag Towers. Creative digital support agency Northwest Vision and Media are working to help make the region’s new talent make the right start - and partnering with agencies keen to find them.