If you buy the shorthand that ‘brand’ is what people say about you behind your back, research like that featured recently in PM is invaluable. Magnified Learning asked school children which careers they thought sounded boring and which appealed. And guess what? Media and creative came top. And some big, important, sectors like energy, transport, and charities, came bottom.

These are headlines, of course, and any HR professional worth their pay cheque will say that their business is far more interesting than a crude headline like “energy” or “transport”, but how do young people get to that level of sophisticated knowledge? How do you, as an employer, get past the stereotype to get young people interested in what you do (and to get your share of the most talented)?

I was invited to a breakfast meeting to discuss the findings and most of us felt that if employers want to change perceptions, they are going to have to do it themselves, rather than wait for Connexions – the national careers service – to do it. And to encourage us with what’s possible, we heard a great case study from the insurance industry which used a board game (‘Discover Risk’) to show school children that “risk” could be interesting – after which an impressive 72 per cent said they’d consider a career in the sector.

Connexions rather lost its way, mired in a debate about whether to focus on classic careers advice or young people who are at risk of becoming ‘NEET’ (Not in Education, Employment or Training’). Surely any sane person would want both?

But money’s tight and the Government’s pushing more and more on to education providers – schools and colleges – which have little recent experience of serious careers support. If you want to get your message across, DIY looks like a safer bet to me.