Work Experience at Little, Brown Book Group: Advice on how to get a placement in publishing
It is a truth universally acknowledged that getting into publishing is bloody difficult.
Some would even say it’s as difficult as your degree. That is unless, of course, you know a friend of a friend who works in a publishing house and can speak to their colleague’s friend of a friend of a friend and put in a good word.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have it that easy.
Nope, I had to get a placement the good old-fashioned way. AKA Persistance.
Don’t get me wrong, if you get offered the opportunity of a placement through a friend of a friend of a friend, take it with both hands. If I’ve learnt anything about the process of applying to work in publishing it is that you have to take up every opportunity and do anything, even if you don’t want to do it.
But it is even harder to get a placement when you don’t know anyone in the world you so desperately want to inhabit.
So, here are a few tips on how I got a work experience placement and how you too can get into publishing (or any industry which is competitive).
Side note: The placement I am on is worth the slog of application forms and tailored CVs and covering letters. These last five days have been incredible and have made me realise exactly what I want to do and where I want to work.
1) Be organised
Start applying for placements as early as you can.
I have only just got a placement in the summer after my graduation. You ideally want to have a placement in each summer break of your University holiday. This is important because what I have learnt this week is that you don’t just need one placement to get yourself noticed… you need several.
One tip would be to keep a spreadsheet of everyone you have applied to. This way it is easier to see who you’ve applied for, who you’ve had replies from and whether you can follow up any e-mails.
Once you are on your placement, use it as a stepping stone to get another. Network with people. Speak to the company you are working for and see if you can come back in a couple of months or the following year. You’re more likely to be picked for a placement if a person has met you face-to-face because your application has a more personal touch and it shows the effort you have put into the application.
If you do this, and keep a record of your applications so you can re-use and tailor them for other applications (I’d recommend keeping a CV and covering letter folder on your desktop), then you could be well on your way to securing a placement.
2) Apply for places that actually offer work experience placements
This may be the opposite of what most people would tell you. But I have been on the side of awaiting even an e-mail confirmation acknowledging the receipt of your application for a long time. In fact, for most of the placements I applied for speculatively, I am still waiting.
Your best bet is to search for publishing houses who actually offer work experience placements or internships. These companies are much more likely to reply to you or at least acknowledge your e-mail AND they are often much larger companies who have connections and contacts that you can make whilst on your placement.
It will also mean that they often give you a direct e-mail address to send your application to, which saves a lot of time trying to contact companies for e-mail addresses.
3) Phone the company and ask who to direct the e-mail to
This is one thing that really makes you stand out from the crowd. If you can get the name of the person who deals with work experience placements and you can direct the e-mail and covering letter to them, they will remember you. AND it makes it much more personal and nicer for them to read. It is the most simple thing and it honestly takes no time at all. Plus it’s also a good idea to ask this person questions about the company which is a hell of a lot easier via telephone than via e-mail.
4) Follow up e-mails and phone calls
The crux of the matter is that as a work experience candidate you are quite low down on the ladder of a person’s priorities. If they can keep pushing you further and further back on their schedule, particularly if they are a very busy individual, they will. This is when persistence comes in, and I am certain this is what got me my work experience placement at Little, Brown.
When applying for the placement, make sure you read all of the details in the careers page about the application process. This will tell you (more often than not) how long it will take for the company to respond to you. Usually they will say between 3 - 6 weeks. After one week, call up the company, ask to speak with the person you’re dealing with and ask them if they have received your e-mail. This will get you noticed above other candidates because this person will very likely bring up your e-mail and will have a glance over it as they are speaking to you. If you have a cracking CV and covering letter then they will want to read it. If they explain to you that they will get back to you, then leave it another three weeks and call them again. Keep calling. I can’t stress it enough. Obviously don’t hound them, but persist with them. You want them to feel like you are a really pro-active candidate and by showing a bit of initiative and being persistent you are already shaping yourself into an ideal candidate for the publishing industry.
Fine print: PLEASE don’t hound and stalk the publishing houses you are applying to. There is such a fine line between persistance and pushyness and whilst the first can very much be seen as a positive, the latter can put you in a negative light. In order to deal with this, call a maximum of three times. If by the third time they are still unresponsive and you don’t receive a placement confirmation, send an e-mail thanking them for their time and leave it. There is no point pushing something too far. Often work experience organizers can only give out a certain number of dates in advance. It’s always a good idea to keep a note of what you’ve applied for so if they send you an e-mail explaining how they don’t have any placements at that current time, it will remind you to ask them again in the future.
5) When you get confirmation of a placement (which you will I am sure of it) keep in contact with the person who gave you confirmation
This is really important. You don’t have to e-mail them every week, but every couple of months you should write to them, updating them with information regarding your schedule or asking them questions regarding your placement. This is a really nice way to create a rapport between you. It’s also a really nice idea to have a person who you are on good terms with on your first day of your placement to help you settle in. Plus, it’s really nice to just simply make new friends and talk to a person with similar interests to you too. The likelihood is that the person was in your shoes not that long ago, and if they are half decent (which most of the time they are) they will want to help you and tell you about how they got into the industry.
6) Enjoy your placement
Go out of your way to do things you don’t want to do. Speak to people. Ask questions. Go above and beyond what would be expected. Offer to do favours for people.
Not only are you coming across as being a nice and caring person, which then makes you someone who people want to speak to and even employ, but you are also helping the people, helping the company and helping the industry that you want to be a part of some day, and there is something very satisfying and enjoyable about that.
So that’s my advice. Take it or leave it. Most of all, keep going, keep applying, even if you get rejected. Take rejection as a form of how you can improve and you will get further the next time.
Extra note: swat up on the books that the company publishes. It’s always good to know the market so you can make contributions during your placement.
Finally, good luck!
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