Want a graduate job at this investment bank? It will help if you blog

Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International - the Japanese bank which we understand will be on a hiring drive in New York and Asia next year - has hit upon a novel way of differentiating between people who apply for its graduate and intern programmes in London: it's asked them to write a short blog.

"Last year we asked students to suggest their favourite quote," says Robert Walke, head of IBD recruitment at Mitsubishi in EMEA. "This year we wanted something that was more relevant to financial markets," he adds.

To this end, students have been asked to write a 200 word blog on current market conditions and how these conditions are affecting business areas that Mitsubishi UFJ Securities operates in. The blogs are a non-mandatory part of Mitsubishi's application process and are entered into a competition to win an iPad. So far, the bank has awarded two iPads to the best graduate blogs, and it has a further two iPads to award to the best blogs by would-be interns (entries to the graduate blog competition are now closed).

The deadline for intern blog entries is January 4th.

Successful or winning blogs are no guarantee of a graduate or intern offer, says Walke. Nor is writing a blog strictly necessary if you want a graduate job at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities. However, it will help. "The blog should complement your application," Walke says.

The response to the blog competition has been overwhelming: Mitsubishi has had closed to 1,000 entries. The two winning graduate blogs are available to read in italics here.