An Open Letter to the Publishers Association
Why work in publishing week is not working
As another #workinpublishing week draws to a close, no doubt you are patting yourself on the back with the amount of engagement, sharing and posts across social media. However, as I have commented to your staff before and tried to discuss on numerous occasions, work in publishing week is not working.
When any of us speak to our audiences, all we are doing is speaking to people we already know and engage with. If we are aiming to attract a diverse audience, then this is not the way to do it. We should be talking to new audiences and people we don’t yet know. It seems the publishing industry is in an echo chamber, mostly telling people who already know, that publishing is a career option. For the first work in publishing week, the PA had the right idea – visiting the skills show and talking to students who were still at school, yet this was never continued.
Also, when I checked the Publishers Association twitter feed, at least one piece of advice was outdated. Others also seem to be sharing outdated ideas of what publishing is and what you need to do to get a job in publishing. You do not need to get an internship; first and foremost, you need office experience.
And this is my biggest issue; after every work in publishing week, as a qualified careers advisor who promotes publishing careers all year round, I pick up the pieces, take the abuse and manage expectations of those who were already looking for roles in publishing and getting nowhere or those who assume the industry has lots of vacancies. For example, ‘why are they doing this when I’m already in hundreds of candidates?’ ‘I studied for a publishing masters, why does my face not fit, what am I meant to do?’ ‘why are so many schemes restricted to all entrants?’. As one candidate said to me last week ‘it is like standing in front of a locked door, for which there is no key’.
I’ve been on the diversity train for a very long time and the primary hinderance to any one from a non-traditional background, is that they are required to be the main breadwinner or fully self-sufficient from day one of employment. All the time their main influencers are saying the money is not enough and they ‘should go and get a proper job’. This isn’t a new issue; it isn’t because of the cost-of-living crisis; this has been going on for a very long time.
Please can we have a serious rethink before the next #workinpublishing week? My door is always open for a detailed discussion as to how you can reach career networks and realistically promote publishing as a career option for all.
Yours sincerely
Suzanne Collier RCDP
Shortlisted for CDI Career Coach of the Year 2022
Winner CDI Research Award 2022
Shortlisted for IPG Services to Publishing 2022, 2021, 2020, 2018