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Office workers waste 52 minutes per day in meetings     The average office worker wastes 52 minutes a day in ‘pointless’ meetings where they don’t contribute, aren’t listened to or are just making up the numbers, according to research by You Brand, one of the UK’s leading communication coaching programmes which has worked with top business brains like Charles Saatchi, Justin Urquhart     Stewart and Guy Hands.       You Brand founder Julia Goodman quizzed clients, which include FTSE 50 companies, about the etiquette and mechanics of meetings. “Many people feel isolated and cut out of meetings, with the biggest complaint being shouted down by louder colleagues,” she says.           “Interestingly, more dominant characters say meetings fail because colleagues don’t contribute enough. What people don’t realise is that speaking in the first five minutes of a meeting will make sure they are listened to later.       “If people were trained effectively in communication, British     businesses could double the effectiveness of meetings and their overall output.”       Using tried-and tested communication techniques such as role play and video recordings, You Brand’s team of coaches shows people how others perceive them – and what they can do to make their personality shine     through.       “While the chair of a meeting needs control, everyone is responsible for ensuring discussions run smoothly,” said Goodman. “People must communicate clearly, and say what they mean to make meetings more effective.”

Over 1,000 new student, graduate vacancies open for 2010 at PwC     PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC), the UK’s largest private sector employer, plans to recruit over 1,000 students and graduates to start work in 2010.    The firm bucked the recession trend in 2008 and 2009, maintaining its commitment to back graduate skills development with nationwide career opportunities across its businesses. For 2010, PwC will increase its internship and management consulting vacancies, and will for the first time also recruit for trainee positions with PwC Legal.    The majority of vacancies will be in the     firm’s assurance practice, followed by advisory, and tax. The programme will recruit for:    • A graduate generalist programme working in tax or assurance to train as a chartered accountant;    • A graduate specialist programme, providing opportunities in strategy consulting and actuarial business with training for a relevant qualification;    • Over 100 new vacancies in the firm’s advisory team, to meet the firm’s management consulting growth strategy, including 20 starting in January 2010;    • Over 200 internship     online Employability Skills Clinic received over 50,000 visits in six months, providing tools and tips for students to assess their skills and achievements against employers’ expectations and business needs, putting them in the best position to get a job.    Ian Powell, PwC chairman and senior partner, said the firm’s decision to maintain its graduate recruitment programme in a recession was not only a commercial imperative, it made good business sense.    Sonja Stockton, head of recruitment at PwC, said: “If anything, the war for talent has got     more intense rather than less in the recession, for graduates and employers alike. This year’s recruitment campaign is not about maintaining our numbers, it’s about our ambition and growth in the market.”    Applications to the firm increased 48% in 2009, with jobs offered to graduates from over 90 universities. 82% of new joiners were in the 20-24 age group, 17% of the intake were over 25, and 40% qualified in subjects outside of the traditional degree disciplines attracted to the firm, including the arts, geography, science, engineering and languages.     vacancies, expanding to include a new consulting internship programme;    • A summer business academy for first-year undergraduates;    • An international internship programme linking UK students to the firm’s network in America, Europe and China.    This year’s recruitment campaign will again offer employability skills advice and tools online, on about 30 university campuses and at the firms’ major regional offices throughout the year.    In 2009 the PwC

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