This is the second part of my publishing journey - an account of the peaks and many, many, many troughs that finally got me my role at a publishing house; one that I love. Click here to read part one and click here to read part three.
Stage three: The First Breakthrough
You know how it is with job hunting: nothing happens for months, and then it all happens at the same time. I got my first publishing interview invite from a massive publisher for a six-month position in the sales operations team, and I was over the moon. Meanwhile, another massive publisher emailed me back after an application for a sales assistant position, double-checking whether I was happy with the pay they were offering. I emailed back seconds later to confirm (note: sales was not what I’d set out to do. Sales was an opportunity. Be picky later.) ... and never heard from them again, sadly.
I'm normally very confident at interviews and, having prepared for hours, I am not lying when I say this was probably the best interview I’d ever done. Not only did I connect immediately with the people interviewing me – they were nice, in a good mood and very welcoming – but I had done my prep right.
I left on a high. Super high. But guess what? I didn’t get the job. I cried for 20 minutes when I found out, and it pretty much shattered any confidence I had built up. Here’s the feedback I got:
“It was a real pleasure to meet Vera and she interviewed really well. Unfortunately the successful applicant had slightly more directly relevant experience for the role. We felt that Vera was a great candidate and would love to keep her CV on file should any future opportunities arise…”
Fair enough, right? Even though I was already pretty experienced in several fields, this was unfortunately not one of them. Still, it stung pretty bad.
Lesson: It's all about the prep. From LinkedIn pages through company ethos and history to frontlist and backlist, look at anything and everything. It's better to go over the top than under-prepare. (Even if, in the end, it turns out someone had more experience, you will have left a great impression.)
Stage four: Interviews - the bad ones
After the first breakthrough, I managed to secure three interviews that all went downhill, for different reasons. They all had a lesson for me in the end, but getting there cost me a lot of money, time and effort, and they all came with a large cup of disappointment, obviously.
The video interview
You know how I said I’m really confident at interviews? This doesn’t, unfortunately, apply to videos. You don’t get direct feedback from the person opposite you, so you’re just talking to yourself; you have no idea how you’re doing, really. There’s a little timer in the corner showing how many seconds you have left and, worst of all, you have to watch it back right afterwards. I found it very difficult to get into an interview mindset while at home, despite having showered, dressed and put on make-up. I babbled. And I was insanely nervous for no reason at all - I actually had shaky hands.
The worst thing about this though was the feedback:
“There were a huge number of applicants and the few shortlisted candidates have more relevant experience for this particular role.”
This is fair enough feedback too, but notice how they say 'huge number of applicants' - to me this sounds like almost everyone who applied got invited to the video stage. So, the pride I felt for being invited to interview (if only virtually) was shattered, and it sounds like they could have potentially just taken a better look at my CV instead of putting me through all that.
Lesson: I'm still recovering from the shock of video-interviewing, but practice probably would have helped here. Before the interview, you can always film yourself talking.
The 'connection lost' interview
Soon after, I was invited to interview for a small, independent publisher – a part-time position, but a proper editor role. Exciting. I knew the team was going to be small and the job quite scary, but it sounded like my current role as a niche magazine editor – except with books.
Alas, they met me in a noisy café, were constantly looking at my CV on their phone, barely had any questions and essentially told me nothing about the role. They didn’t make eye contact, didn’t seem remotely interested; I was glad to be out of there. To be honest, I was sorry to have wasted my time, which clearly wasn't valued. A week later I got a generic email from one of the other team members telling me I didn’t get the job.
Lesson: An interview gone south is much like pizza. When it's bad, it's still pretty good (experience).
Luckily, right before this interview, I received another invite, so I wasn't too down after what happened. This was for a marketing role at an ex-indie, for a very niche topic, but still sounded challenging. And I like a challenge.
The disappearing act
Before approaching the finish line though, I had one last interview with another large publisher – this was for an international sales assistant position.
The person who interviewed me liked me well enough and a day later I was invited back for a second round with a director. We clicked immediately and I also got the feeling I was the only one up for the role; they clearly needed someone fast. I was confident I’d get it.
Unfortunately, as it turned out, some movement had been happening since the job posting went up; my original interviewer was leaving the company, so I’d be working with someone completely different. I waited to hear back, but... you guessed it. Never heard from them again.
Lesson: Sh*t happens.
See you soon for part three when things get better, I promise.
Stage three: The First Breakthrough
You know how it is with job hunting: nothing happens for months, and then it all happens at the same time. I got my first publishing interview invite from a massive publisher for a six-month position in the sales operations team, and I was over the moon. Meanwhile, another massive publisher emailed me back after an application for a sales assistant position, double-checking whether I was happy with the pay they were offering. I emailed back seconds later to confirm (note: sales was not what I’d set out to do. Sales was an opportunity. Be picky later.) ... and never heard from them again, sadly.
I'm normally very confident at interviews and, having prepared for hours, I am not lying when I say this was probably the best interview I’d ever done. Not only did I connect immediately with the people interviewing me – they were nice, in a good mood and very welcoming – but I had done my prep right.
I left on a high. Super high. But guess what? I didn’t get the job. I cried for 20 minutes when I found out, and it pretty much shattered any confidence I had built up. Here’s the feedback I got:
“It was a real pleasure to meet Vera and she interviewed really well. Unfortunately the successful applicant had slightly more directly relevant experience for the role. We felt that Vera was a great candidate and would love to keep her CV on file should any future opportunities arise…”
Fair enough, right? Even though I was already pretty experienced in several fields, this was unfortunately not one of them. Still, it stung pretty bad.
Lesson: It's all about the prep. From LinkedIn pages through company ethos and history to frontlist and backlist, look at anything and everything. It's better to go over the top than under-prepare. (Even if, in the end, it turns out someone had more experience, you will have left a great impression.)
Stage four: Interviews - the bad ones
After the first breakthrough, I managed to secure three interviews that all went downhill, for different reasons. They all had a lesson for me in the end, but getting there cost me a lot of money, time and effort, and they all came with a large cup of disappointment, obviously.
The video interview
You know how I said I’m really confident at interviews? This doesn’t, unfortunately, apply to videos. You don’t get direct feedback from the person opposite you, so you’re just talking to yourself; you have no idea how you’re doing, really. There’s a little timer in the corner showing how many seconds you have left and, worst of all, you have to watch it back right afterwards. I found it very difficult to get into an interview mindset while at home, despite having showered, dressed and put on make-up. I babbled. And I was insanely nervous for no reason at all - I actually had shaky hands.
The worst thing about this though was the feedback:
“There were a huge number of applicants and the few shortlisted candidates have more relevant experience for this particular role.”
This is fair enough feedback too, but notice how they say 'huge number of applicants' - to me this sounds like almost everyone who applied got invited to the video stage. So, the pride I felt for being invited to interview (if only virtually) was shattered, and it sounds like they could have potentially just taken a better look at my CV instead of putting me through all that.
Lesson: I'm still recovering from the shock of video-interviewing, but practice probably would have helped here. Before the interview, you can always film yourself talking.
The 'connection lost' interview
Soon after, I was invited to interview for a small, independent publisher – a part-time position, but a proper editor role. Exciting. I knew the team was going to be small and the job quite scary, but it sounded like my current role as a niche magazine editor – except with books.
Alas, they met me in a noisy café, were constantly looking at my CV on their phone, barely had any questions and essentially told me nothing about the role. They didn’t make eye contact, didn’t seem remotely interested; I was glad to be out of there. To be honest, I was sorry to have wasted my time, which clearly wasn't valued. A week later I got a generic email from one of the other team members telling me I didn’t get the job.
Lesson: An interview gone south is much like pizza. When it's bad, it's still pretty good (experience).
Luckily, right before this interview, I received another invite, so I wasn't too down after what happened. This was for a marketing role at an ex-indie, for a very niche topic, but still sounded challenging. And I like a challenge.
The disappearing act
Before approaching the finish line though, I had one last interview with another large publisher – this was for an international sales assistant position.
The person who interviewed me liked me well enough and a day later I was invited back for a second round with a director. We clicked immediately and I also got the feeling I was the only one up for the role; they clearly needed someone fast. I was confident I’d get it.
Unfortunately, as it turned out, some movement had been happening since the job posting went up; my original interviewer was leaving the company, so I’d be working with someone completely different. I waited to hear back, but... you guessed it. Never heard from them again.
Lesson: Sh*t happens.
See you soon for part three when things get better, I promise.
Oh doll!! I was digging my fingernails into my palms reading through these on your behalf, what an awful series of clusterf**ks! It's a relief to know there's some light at the end of the tunnel and things work out okay - and I love how you've highlighted the valuable lessons at each stage. Thank you! Really looking forward to part 3 ;)
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