Though I’ve had some interesting offers, and been through rigorous interviews with several prestigious organizations, I’ve decided for the short term to take on a three month contract with my long time employer. We’ve just won a major account, so launching that company will be an exciting project on which I’m in on the ground floor.

My ear remains to the ground and I’m still certainly open to other opportunities to begin at the end of the contract. If you know of any marketing communications positions in that timeframe, I’d love to hear from you.

I’ve been ill and so not spending much time on the net, but the past few weeks have not been kind to media companies both at home and south of the border. It’s tough times out there, people.

As I look for work in media relations, I have to wonder how my work will change as media continues to shift away from traditional to new media. I can’t help but feel that the same shifts that saw me leave the music industry may ultimately see me leave the media industry. Only time will tell.

As I am looking for work and trying to decide what the next few years of my working life will look like, I’m discovering the many different ways that a writer with my skill set and history can make a living – taking a full time job outside of the home or cobbling together a living from multiple freelance writing opportunities, done from home with a flexible schedule. Certainly the latter will enable me to parent my child the way I had initially hoped, but the pay for such jobs varies wildly. Some opportunities that I’ve seen offer such little money that I’m confident in saying that I’d make more working for a fast food restaurant. Others offer reasonable remuneration for good quality work.

Only time will tell where I end up, but whether I end up working for a wage that positions me well below poverty line or in the comfortable high-middle class, seems to be a matter of how much research I’m willing to do in my job search.

Check it out here.

The point is though that RyanAir never purported to be a PR dynamo and polite social media participant, rather, it promises inexpensive flights, a pledge on which, by all accounts, it delivers. In the same way that people look up to celebrities and sports figures, individuals who have talent in a particular field yet never signed up to be role models, we expect companies to act in forthright and courteous ways, to always be concerned with their public image, and whether they purport to be beacons of morality and ethics, to accept the role as given and undertake the responsibility inherent with public life. Such is not the case. It’s a long philosophical debate as to the hows and whys.

There was an excellent film made several years ago called The Corporation that did a good job of beginning to delve into the psychology of business and the morals and ethics eschewed in the name of profits. Very interesting watch.

As I Tweeted to another Twitter user last night, my husband refers to communications as a Rubik’s cube of sorts; Twitter is the hot configuration of the moment, but this too will change. Remember when prospects asked if we could develop content for web sites, as though content development was radically different for this new channel and an entirely different skill set would be necessary? Okay, there are indeed nuances and considerations depending on the medium, but clear and concise messaging and quality content rule, regardless of the channel. Good writers can write marketing materials. Period.

Everything old is new again. A true adage, and also a Barenaked Ladies song. They themselves are new again, with the departure of Steven Page, founding co-leader of the band. Ed Robertson, the other co-front man, is indeed one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my life and very talented too, but I fear that a Barenaked Ladies without the banter between Ed and Steven, such an integral part of the band’s live show, will be a horse of a different colour and that the band may not survive the transition. Only time will tell.