Each morning our inboxes are filled with round-ups of the big stories from the nationals (conducted by Berkeley PR’s team of execs and managers). Lately it has all been doom and gloom - more redundancies, more missed targets, more recession, recession, recession.

I’ve been discussing this with our newest account director over the past couple of days and we’ve come to the conclusion that very few redundancies would be making headlines if it wasn’t for the frenzy the media’s whipped up about the credit crunch. It reminds me of the situation with the data loss stories earlier this year - once the media realised it could sell more newspapers by using scare tactics, every tiny slip up became a front page news story.

Contracts come to an end and don’t get renewed, it’s an unfortunate fact of life, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re doomed. Just this morning I spotted an article on Silicon.com reporting on the latest skills survey. Apparently, tech vacancies have been easier to fill this year. “Has the IT skills crisis turned a corner?” asks writer Natasha Lomas.

Yes it’s going to be tough for a little while, I don’t doubt that, but let’s also recognise that it’s not all bad. Now’s actually the time to be making smart investments (ever considered boosting you profile with a little PR?) and, as a client wisely said, go for the deals you know you can win rather than trying to spread yourself too thinly.

Being smart and reading between the lines is what it’s all about.

Rebecca Wheeler