Getting into Publishing - The Guardian Live Q&A

On 4 July the Guardian careers section ran a live Q&A session for people wanting to get into publishing. A diverse panel answered questions which ranged from what to include in a cover letter, to how to move from one area of publishing to another.

Suzanne Collier from Bookcareers.com shared these job application tips:

• read and understand the advertisement carefully
• research the company properly
• what skills you can bring to the job
• what achievements, if any, do you have
• what differences have you made in the past to any task or role undertaken
• how do these relate to the job advertised
• have you worked on a website, do you participate in Facebook and Twitter (remember they will then look up your work), do you go to Society of Young Publishers meetings and take an interest in the industry?
• Talk about the benefits of employing you.

Bobby Nayyar, Consultant Development Manager for DIPNET suggested that you get a few people in business to look at your CV and recommends LinkedIn and writing a blog. You have to create a profile for yourself so people can find you.

Neil Morrison, Group HR Director at Random House Group says that for editorial roles, work experience is still an established part of entering into the profession. You can find a variety of internships on both www.bookcareers.com and The Society of Young Publishers websites. But again, make sure that your CV is error-free and does a good job of selling you to the employer. You need to stand out from the hundreds of applications that publishing companies receive.

It is also useful to show prospective employers that you are serious about publishing, for example by doing some training such as The Publishing Training Centre's online course Understanding Book Publishing. This course will give you a head start in gaining valuable industry knowledge and will show potential employers that you have a good understanding of all aspects of the publishing industry.

Visit the Guardian Careers Q&A page to read all the responses.