I nearly walked out

Above: Brunswick PR in Lincolns Inn Fields (middle building).

Increasingly I am “moonlighting” for the upstairs PR division. They seem to like my writing style, and every week I get several assignments. Ian (my boss) doesn’t like me doing this, but as work is fairly slack at the moment he can’t really complain.

This morning I went with Rachel (one of the PR account handlers) to a client meeting in the Strand, and on the way back we walked through Lincolns Inn Fields and she pointed out Brunswick where she used to work.

“I went there straight from uni” she said. “My interview was really weird. I answered a small ad in PR Week and got invited to an interview. When I got there the waiting room was packed with people - they had asked in everyone who had applied. Lots of people walked out when they saw how chaotic everything was. I nearly walked out myself. But I stuck with it, and eventually got five minutes with a funny little man - I won’t say who. And I was asked back for a second interview which was more professional. And the rest is history.”

Brunswick is one of London’s biggest PR companies, with offices in America and Germany. The firm was founded by Alan Parker who has given a lot of support to Gordon Brown over the years (“but he’s planning to jump ship - don’t tell anyone I told you”). Their client list includes a big chunk of the FTSE top one hundred.