#PRHJobHack, or, the day I discovered my dream job
Living in Scotland when you want to work in publishing can be disheartening. Sure, there are publishing houses here and there, with some great opportunities, but the hub of publishing is indisputably London, at least when it comes to “big names” like Penguin Random House and HarperCollins. As a broke twentysomething, London’s not exactly ideal. So it was with great excitement that I spotted a tweet about an event in Glasgow called JobHack run by Penguin Random House (or PRH for those ~in the know~) approximately 10 seconds after it was posted. (I’m constantly glued to publishing-related Twitter feeds. It’s a problem. Or, in this case, a blessing!)
I banged out a frantic and hopefully sparkling cover letter, updated my CV, agonised over my 100-word “stand-out” – I’m naturally long-winded, so this was torture – sent off my application, and waited to hear if I’d snagged one of the thirty places. I mean, I obviously got in, because otherwise this post would be pointless and tragic.
Cut to: the 14th of October, in the coolest middle-of-nowhere brewery I’ve ever visited. (Yes, this post is a week later. I’ve been working and also I had to read my free copy of The Martian more than I needed to do anything else in life. More on the FREE BOOKS later!) Some lovely people from PRH greeted us, we picked up our free Penguin tote bags (mine is the cover of Here Lies by Dorothy Parker, which I need to read before I carry it in public for fear of being branded a Fake Poser) and chatted a bit before our ice-breaker exercise (gulp) which was a round of Human Bingo. I did not win, but I did admit that I do in fact know every word to “Shake it Off”. But who doesn’t? Right?
After that, and a frankly baffling (to me) ordering-the-publishing-process exercise, which was highly educational, we started on the serious (but still fun) stuff: workshops. Each person from PRH led a workshop on their area of expertise, so the day was essentially a tour around the various departments, like marketing, digital publishing, recruitment, and so on. Each group had a bit of time to work on their pitches – for ad campaigns, for apps, for entire book concepts (eek) – and then we presented our ideas. None of the groups I was in won any prizes, but it was the participation that counted. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself, as I grumble quietly to myself about the advanced book-proofs I so coveted. The digital publishing workshop was particularly interesting: ebooks, apps, and virtual and augmented reality are all increasingly popular technologies, and the overview of the new Stephen Hawking app made me want to spend actual money on an app – no mean feat! It looks amazing. A Brief History of Time was one of the free books I picked up, and the app is for people like me without a doctorate in theoretical physics who want to begin to understand some of the really cool stuff about space that Stephen’s been writing about – so basically everyone.
My favourite part of the day, though, was probably the speed networking that concluded the event. We got the chance to ask questions about different routes into publishing, the day-to-day nitty gritty of working in various areas of publishing, how and where to apply to places to give yourself the best chance of getting a job, and other pressing questions. The point of the event was to demystify publishing and bring publishing to places outside London, and that’s what it did. I’m going to keep applying to work experience and internships and every entry-level job I can find, I’m working on applications for postgrad courses (which I almost definitely can’t afford, but it’s a solid Plan B if I don’t manage to get an entry-level job? Probably?) and I’m so happy that I’ve managed to confirm that publishing is the industry for me. Somewhere where everyone likes books! Paradise!
Seriously. Look at those cute M&Ms. And those beautiful covers! And that bag! I love you, PRH.
