How to Get a Job in Publishing Part 10

How to find advertised jobs.

I was told that publishing jobs aren't advertised in the newspapers, so I never bothered to look there. One day my dad comes in with the employment pages and says, 'What about this job for a publishing a.s.sistant with a scholarly publisher?' I thought he was teasing, but it was real and I got the job!

(SHARON MULLINS, EDITOR, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA).

We flagged back in Chapter 13 that only a small proportion of jobs is advertised. It's a small proportion, but it's a vital one. This is where you find publishers who are looking for staff: ready, willing and eager to hire you. Here is what to do about it.

Spend time on job websites Browse relevant websites for jobs. If you don't have decent Web access from home, your local public library or any inst.i.tution you belong to (university, work and so on) can help out. (And if you're not Web-savvy, you need to sort that out before you go looking for a job in the media.) Various places on the Web carry job ads: * Newspaper websites * Agency websites * Job-specific websites * Company websites Look for a heading that says something like 'career opportunities' (most common in larger companies which have the resources to do this). If you have a particular employer in mind, keep checking their website for information on what has cropped up.

Good search terms for job websites include: (If you're Web-savvy you can skip this paragraph.) You can usually do a quick search and trawl through lots of results, or an advanced search that refines things down. Where possible, set up a regular automated search using categories and sub-categories. Once you've registered your interest, the website e-mails you jobs weekly or even daily. While job search e-mails can be frustrating in pulling out a thousand jobs that aren't right for you, it's better to have a wider search and skim though a long list, than a narrow search that misses something. It's also useful to see who is recruiting, even if not for any job you might be interested in, and how long jobs are advertised for (or re-advertised). You will pick up an idea of which firms lose most staff/have most new vacancies and are therefore likely to be difficult places to work or expanding quickly.

Think laterally: check job function websites and journals as well as publishing-specific sites. For example, if you're interested in Marketing, try marketing organisations such as the Direct Marketing a.s.sociation near you. Many of these jobs may be in industries you don't want to work in, but some will be in publishing or related careers.

We also recommend you Google and read industry magazines and newsletters to find the latest sites and job advertisers.

Read job ads in newspapers, magazines and journals Read the papers. Do this as well as using the job websites ads get categorised in different ways and you can't afford to miss something. Not every printed job ad makes it to the websites (and vice versa).

Remember: * Don't just turn to P for publishing, E for editing or M for Marketing Skim though the entire job section. Non-publishing companies might have a job for you, and employers categorise jobs differently from how you do.

* Read national and local papers you never know.

* Look at the job ads in the general news section as well as the job ads section.

Read widely and be constantly on the lookout. Don't forget that non-publishing companies have publishing jobs, too.

Who do you want to work for?

As well as the companies you know, do some research on publishing companies you don't know: * Check out books and magazines in shops publisher details will appear in the first few pages, including address details, and, in magazines, contact names.

* Check resources that have lists of publishers. If you can't afford to buy them, your local library will stock them.

Then look at company profiles and check their websites would you want to work there? If so, bookmark their sites, and as well as contacting them (see Chapter 13), check company websites regularly often jobs go up on their site well before being advertised, so you can get in early. And when you reply, make it clear you saw the job on their web-site rather than in the paper it shows keenness, which can't hurt.

In the corporate world, direct mail, newsletters, brochures, press releases and other material (referred to as 'collateral') are now all big business.

You wouldn't necessarily imagine that law firms and accountancy practices had publishing opportunities yet someone has to put together all that marketing collateral. In fact, there's a whole industry of publishing, much of it online, that goes on in the professional world which we consumers never see. (STEVE) So, as well as traditional book and magazine publishers, think about: * Professional services firms such as accountants and lawyers They publish a great deal of marketing material.

* Community groups and what used to be called charities (they now prefer 'not for profit organisations') The big ones have publishing and communications departments, and some do lots of direct mail with catalogues; and you get the warm fuzzy of working for a Good Cause. They pay well, too.

* Banks In fact, virtually every big company no feel-good factor about good causes here, but the career prospects are terrific.

* Universities and large non-government schools These usually have good job sections on their websites and they don't necessarily run the job ads in the paper. Universities have publishing divisions, for internal communications and sometimes for books and journals.

* Government and the public services Local, national, international of all sizes create reams of printed and Web-based publications.

Not only is working in corporate communications a great way to build up your publishing experience, it also exposes you to a level of commercial-mindedness that many traditional publishers, frankly, cannot match. In fact, you may find you end up as a highly-sought after expert in this area . . . and perhaps, like many people we know, you'll find your home there, and never move into 'traditional' publishing after all.

Many smaller publishers and organisations don't have websites, or not websites that are updated regularly with job ads. If that's where your interest lies, you'll need to look out for their ads in the papers, or better yet, get in contact with the best of them and let them know you're interested, and get your CV into their system.

More reading In the UK * www.thebookseller.com/jobs * www.publishingnews.co.uk/pn/pnc * www.bookcareers.com a career development advice bureau which runs a CV clearing house, where you can register that you are looking for a job within the industry * Guardian (MediaGuardian Tuesdays in print) * Guardian http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/browse/media/index.jsp * CV Clearing House http://www.bookcareers.com/cvonline/intro.htm is a great place to browse publishing jobs and post your own CV * Regionally based papers (Birmingham Post, Western Daily Press, Liverpool Echo) * The Inst.i.tute of Direct Marketing (IDM) www.theidm.com In Australia.

* The Australian (Thursdays and Sat.u.r.days).

* State based papers (Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Courier Mail etc) Sat.u.r.days * SEEK www.seek.com.au * mycareer.com.au these are the job ads from The Age (Melbourne) and Sydney Morning Herald, and other Fairfax publications * www.careerone.com.au.

* www.meapcareers.com.au job search service for the media, entertainment, arts, public relations and publishing industries in Australia and New Zealand * Weekly Book Newsletter (generally known as Blue Newsletter or Blue News) THE place for book publishing jobs. This e-mailed newsletter isn't cheap to subscribe to, but you can get a free 30-day trial to start with and then subscribe for a month at a time until you get your job * Australian Direct Marketing a.s.sociation (ADMA) www.adma.com.au.

Chapter Fifteen.

How to use a recruitment agency.

So, how does the idea of trawling through a ton of different ads and websites in search of a job sound? It is effective, we can vouch for that. But there's no doubt it is time-consuming. That's where the idea of using a specialist recruitment agency comes in.

Besides the advantage of saving you time, a good agency will give you an interview before agreeing to take you on, and this itself can be a great way to find out more about publishing, and to explore career options you may not even have thought of so far. And most staff there will have worked within the industry themselves, and so be well placed to identify what you have to offer the market and what the market has to offer you.

What's more, a good agency will also help you sharpen your CV so that it presents you to your best advantage. Here's some great advice: Most applicants don't think through how to sell themselves in enough detail. For example, they put on their CV that they've spent time 'working in a catering firm' during a holiday job, but looking closer we discover they did some marketing and also got involved in the management of the database.

These are transferable skills and it's vital the publishing houses you apply to know how much experience and initiative you actually have. We will not write their CV for them (there is no point we don't want them to look identical) but we can show candidates how to present themselves advantageously, and of course that is free guidance they can benefit from, whether or not we find them a job.

(MARGARET MILLS, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF JUDY FISHER a.s.sOCIATES, UK).

There's an old saying that if you want to catch a fish you have to think like a fish, so it's worth thinking about why a publishing house might use an agency to find staff.

A well-known publishing house may not need to advertise starter jobs; they can rely on CVs submitted from those who write in hoping for a vacancy. But for more senior positions, or posts they find hard to fill, they may use the services of an agency. Some publishing houses use recruitment agencies for all their positions, as a standard process, and it's worth thinking about why they find it helpful. Christie Davies, Senior HR Officer at Walker Books, uses agencies sometimes: The HR culture at Walker used to be one where an ad in the trade press was deemed all you needed to do to find staff and yet the costs of the ad were not good value if we received only a handful of CVs as a result. We continue to advertise, but I also like to use agencies when the need arises. I have a strong relationship with several, and know they will be good sources of high-quality people for jobs that are perhaps tricky to fill or where a specific type of person, or skill set, is required.

The agencies I like to use are publishing specialists, and are very well networked. They have excellent connections within the industry and can find me the kind of person I know will fit in.

(CHRISTIE DAVIES, SENIOR HR OFFICER, WALKER BOOKS, UK).

The publisher saves both time and money by using an agency. A popular firm can attract hundreds of CVs for each vacancy they advertise, and trawling through them all looking for the right apt.i.tudes is very time-consuming. Secondly, advertising is hideously expensive (the cost of the ad s.p.a.ce, the time involved, the temporary loss of the job function . . .) and the more smoothly this is managed the better.

A recruitment agency handles all aspects of recruitment: advertising, sifting, interviewing and providing a shortlist, and for this publishing houses pay for the agency's services, usually 17.5% of the starting salary. So, if you get a job and are paid the price of a new car a year, your company is paying around the price of a motor scooter for the pleasure of your company on top of what they actually pay you. This may not sound a lot (considering the high costs of s.p.a.ce advertising in particular) but an agency may be able to shortcut some of the costs of recruitment. Advertising online costs less than advertising in print and sometimes may not be needed at all. A good agency can offer suitable candidates from their existing resources, high-quality candidates whom they already represent, and whose CVs are on file, and ready to go which means that if you're on their books they may be able to match you straight away, without going through a long application process.

Using an agent to find you a job sounds enticingly simple: on the one hand, they have vacancies to find candidates for; on the other, you are willing to offer your services. But hang on a second: it's not quite as easy as all that. Here are three words of warning before you pick up the phone.

Working with recruitment agencies

He who pays the piper . . .

Agencies are paid by the firm doing the recruiting, not by the people they place. In fact, they're not allowed by law to accept fees from job hunters. Of course, it's in an agency's own best interest long term to deal fairly with those they offer as potential employees, since, if well advised, you may return to them in the future, perhaps first for a more senior job, and later as a client. And placing people where they don't fit just to fill the spot doesn't build an agency a great reputation. Even so, never forget they are there first and foremost to serve their clients: they're not there to get you a job.

Still, that's not all bad. Because they're working for lots of different employers all the time, they will definitely know of more vacancies than you, so while you may approach them for one position, they'll know other firms looking for an employee with a similar skill set and which may not have been advertised, or leastways not yet. So you're actually beating the crowd. And it's quite a crowd you're beating, too: the advertising manager of the UK Bookseller magazine, Natalie Daniels-Browne, estimates that 80% of those using the magazine's website consult the careers section, and there are 7, 500 subscribers to the job e-bulletin every week. Do the maths and you'll soon see that you're up against . . . (you didn't do the maths, did you? It's OK, we did it for you) another 5, 999 other keen job hunters. It's the same in Australia: The jobs section is by far the most popular section on the BOOKSELLER+PUBLISHER website. We don't create a special job bulletin, so job ads are included in our Weekly Book Newsletter e-mail, which reaches pretty much the entire book industry in Australia, and readers in about 40 other countries, including the UK, USA and New Zealand. The e-newsletter drives job searchers onto our website. Job searchers account for just under 30% of all traffic generated on our website by the roughly 5, 000 individuals who visit the site each month.

(ANDREW WILKINS, PUBLISHER & DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER, THORPE-BOWKER, AUSTRALIA).

Get yourself in with an agency and you cut the odds dramatically.

Don't relax just yet Warning: you're about to be lectured. It's for your own good, so just put up with it for a moment. Normal service will be resumed shortly.

So never come to me again, if you can't show that you've been working with your own heads, instead of thinking you can pay mine to work for you. (SCHOOLMASTER BARTLE Ma.s.sEY, FROM ADAM BEDE BY GEORGE ELIOT) We've just said that the agency's primary responsibility is to the employer, who's paying them, rather than to you. So, please, do not make the mistake of relaxing and expecting your agency to do all the running for you. They expect you to put every bit as much effort into thinking about what skills you have to offer as if you were targeting the firms yourself. They expect you to show an understanding of the industry you seek to be part of. They expect you to research your potential employer.

In short, the best way to use an agency is in addition to your own efforts not as a subst.i.tute for them. End of lecture.

Agencies target the employed,

not just the restless or unemployed

It's common for a publishing firm to use an agency to find those who are not looking for a job, and hadn't even thought about moving. Organisations want team players, and many of these may be happy, satisfied and fully busy doing a really good job for their current employer, rather than actively looking for another job. Negativity is seldom as appealing, so while telling an agency how much you loathe and detest the firm where you did work experience, or your current boss, or where you're sure you would absolutely not fit in, is always an option, bear in mind the kind of impact you're likely to make. (If you look carefully, even upside-down you can see the interviewer writing 'Whinger' on your CV.) Beware of the sharks Some agencies are great. But there are sharks out there, so if you find yourself on the receiving end of any of the following, take our advice: start swimming and don't look back.

1. No interest in you Is the firm showing heaps of enthusiasm to get you onto their books and absolutely no interest in what you have to offer the publishing world? Start swimming.

2. Offers you interviews as 'practice'

What can they mean? What they actually mean, of course, is that you're wrong for the job and they know it, and/or the job's wrong for you and they know it, and you're about to waste your own time and/or that of the interviewer and they know it.

Trouble is, some agencies rather stupidly insist on presenting a range of candidates for the would-be employer to consider, even if half the candidates really aren't right for the job. They think it makes them look as if they're working hard. Actually, any decent agency cares about quality, not quant.i.ty, and won't put you through the agony of going to interviews just to make up numbers. If you get a sense you're being offered up as interview bait, start swimming.

Here's what a good agency's approach sounds like on this subject: There is no point in sending candidates along for an interview they are not interested in. I've sometimes pushed candidates to consider a vacancy that they would not otherwise have thought of, if my knowledge of the organisation interviewing, and their specific skills, led me to spot a strong overlap. But otherwise no. What's the point? We are looking at careers, not just filling jobs, and we want both employees and organisations to come back to us in future as people they like to work with and trust.

(MARGARET MILLS, BOSS OF JUDY FISHER a.s.sOCIATES, UK).

3. Agents who spend too much time finding out what else you've gone for You're not the only fish in the sea, you know. The agency's busy looking for jobs for other people on their books beside you. So if you tell them where else you have applied, and tell them of the job vacancies on offer, you might just be inviting them to submit some of their candidates to those very vacancies. That doesn't do your chances any good, to put it mildly. Of course, we're not saying that any casual enquiry about what other things you've been considering is a sign of sharky tendencies, but if they're rather insistent on this, and you just get the feeling they're not looking out for your best interests, start swimming.

Of course, we must make it absolutely clear and not just because our lawyers told us to, but because we really believe it to be true (they told us to say that bit, too) that the great majority of recruitment agencies specialising in publishing are, like the majority of recruitment agencies in general, good, decent, honest people working hard to do the very best they can for their candidates as well as their clients. The word quickly gets out, particularly about bad experiences, and since they live and die by their reputations, with any luck those doing the wrong thing will soon be looking for agencies to find them work themselves.

All we're saying is that there is the very occasional shark, is all. If you find one, just very politely let them know you're no longer in the market thank you very much, strike them off your Christmas card list . . . and tell everyone you meet.

Chapter Sixteen.

How to do a great interview.

Always remember that it's just as important for you to like the interviewer as it is for them to like you.

(SUZIE DOORe, SENIOR EDITOR, HODDER & STOUGHTON, UK).

I've had bad interviewers rather than bad interviews. The key thing is to make personal contact with the interviewer while you are working out what it is they really want: then, if you want it too, show them how much you want it, otherwise bail out. (ANTHONY FORBES WATSON, PUBLISHER, UK) Only apply for the jobs you really want! I can't tell you how many times I've interviewed people for entry-level sales and marketing positions only to find covert editorial a.s.sistants who really don't care about the marketing and selling of books! Not only is it difficult to make the leap from one departmental camp to the other, but it is also wasting a position that someone else might really love.

(NATASHA BESLIEV, SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER, HARDIE GRANT EGMONT, AUSTRALIA).

If you've made the interview, then technically they like you. Don't overwhelm the interviewer with more detail stuff. Let them get to know you.

(TRAVIS G.o.dFREDSON, RESEARCH MANAGER, AUSTRALIAN CONSOLIDATED PRESS).

Just turn up and entertain the interviewer.

(RICHARD CHARKIN, BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING).

Well, your persistent phone calls and spectacular CV have done their job, and your toe is firmly wedged in the door: you've been invited in for an interview. Now for the rest of you to follow ... This chapter is all about that all-important job interview, and how to present yourself in the best possible light.

By the way, if you're not yet quite at this nerve-wracking stage, and you're still at the nerve-wracking stage before that, of awaiting the phone call to invite you in for an interview, here are a couple of thoughts. Your call to interview will almost certainly come via a phone call to the number on your CV. As we've said before, you should carry a pen and diary with you at all times while you are job hunting; then when the phone call comes you can be ready to book in an appointment time. In fact, you should have some available times ready to hand that suit you, so if they do offer you some leeway you're ready.

If you're currently working and don't want your employers to know you're job hunting, try for a start of day or end of day interview time, and most prospective employers will do their best to arrange that if they won't at least make the effort, you probably don't want to work for them. Even so, it's not always possible, so you may need to kill a grandmother to get to the interview. Note by the way that you should tick off your elderly relatives as you kill them, because even the most benign employer may get suspicious if you're heading off to a fifth grandmother's funeral.

There's no need to ask questions about the job during the 'come for interview' phone call unless there genuinely are burning queries you want answered before you get all frocked up and troop in for your interview. But do check and double-check the time and date and location, since some companies have numerous offices, and you really want to make sure you're going to the right one.

Ready ... steady ... dazzle!

Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression. Don't waste it. Here's how: 1. Be really clear about what the interview is for: which job, which stage, which organisation Be very clear what the job you are going for entails and also what it is you're actually being interviewed for. One of my first interviews was very convivial and chatty, and I mistakenly thought I'd been offered a job, instead of a second interview. Not only did I feel a total dork, but my chances of actually getting the job disappeared very quickly!

(JULIA MOFFATT, FREELANCE EDITOR AND WRITER, UK).

There was this awful misunderstanding during the meeting for my first job in publishing, as a writer for an international dental publication based in London. I had applied, completed various subsequent writing tasks that they'd requested, and was then invited for what I thought was an interview. In fact I had got the job and they were inviting me to meet the team and tell me the good news. So I was there, confident but anxious and on best behaviour and couldn't understand why they were being so amazingly friendly and welcoming. Subsequently I learnt that they couldn't quite understand why I wasn't more excited about getting the job. Oh how we laughed! Publishing, you see, it's all about good communication.

(STEPHEN HANc.o.c.kS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, BRITISH DENTAL JOURNAL).

2. Practise, practise, practise A quick flick on any decent recruitment agency or job search site will find you a ton of typical interview questions (and, even better, suggested answers) such as 'Why are you considering leaving your current position?' or 'How do you handle pressure?' or 'What do you consider your greatest achievement?' Make a list, then come up with a good answer ... and then practise. In fact, there's no reason why you should have to answer a question you haven't already prepared for.

Here are a few typical questions, and suggested responses: Five sample questions and answers 3. Research, research, research The more you know about a company, the more it will show and the more convincing you will be when you say 'I really want this job!' (as you should). Hop on the company website as a starting point. You probably did this before applying for the job anyway; now's the time to get serious. Get familiar with the company structure, divisions and business units, office locations, recent publications and bestsellers.

Do your research. If you're applying for a job on a newspaper make sure you read it from cover to cover both in the weeks leading up to your interview and on the day itself. If you're going to a publishing house read some of the books they publish. It's essential to be able to talk intelligently and fluently about the publishing enterprise you've applied to work for. Publishers want people with lively, original and workable ideas they're always searching for the 'next big thing'.

(EMMA LEE-POTTER, JOURNALIST, NOVELIST AND FORMER PUBLISHER, UK).