Part 10 (1/2)

How to find advertised jobs.

I was told that publis.h.i.+ng jobs aren't advertised in the newspapers, so I never bothered to look there. One day my dad comes in with the employment pages and says, 'What about this job for a publis.h.i.+ng a.s.sistant with a scholarly publisher?' I thought he was teasing, but it was real and I got the job!

(SHARON MULLINS, EDITOR, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA).

We flagged back in Chapter 13 that only a small proportion of jobs is advertised. It's a small proportion, but it's a vital one. This is where you find publishers who are looking for staff: ready, willing and eager to hire you. Here is what to do about it.

Spend time on job websites Browse relevant websites for jobs. If you don't have decent Web access from home, your local public library or any inst.i.tution you belong to (university, work and so on) can help out. (And if you're not Web-savvy, you need to sort that out before you go looking for a job in the media.) Various places on the Web carry job ads: * Newspaper websites * Agency websites * Job-specific websites * Company websites Look for a heading that says something like 'career opportunities' (most common in larger companies which have the resources to do this). If you have a particular employer in mind, keep checking their website for information on what has cropped up.

Good search terms for job websites include: (If you're Web-savvy you can skip this paragraph.) You can usually do a quick search and trawl through lots of results, or an advanced search that refines things down. Where possible, set up a regular automated search using categories and sub-categories. Once you've registered your interest, the website e-mails you jobs weekly or even daily. While job search e-mails can be frustrating in pulling out a thousand jobs that aren't right for you, it's better to have a wider search and skim though a long list, than a narrow search that misses something. It's also useful to see who is recruiting, even if not for any job you might be interested in, and how long jobs are advertised for (or re-advertised). You will pick up an idea of which firms lose most staff/have most new vacancies and are therefore likely to be difficult places to work or expanding quickly.

Think laterally: check job function websites and journals as well as publis.h.i.+ng-specific sites. For example, if you're interested in Marketing, try marketing organisations such as the Direct Marketing a.s.sociation near you. Many of these jobs may be in industries you don't want to work in, but some will be in publis.h.i.+ng or related careers.

We also recommend you Google and read industry magazines and newsletters to find the latest sites and job advertisers.

Read job ads in newspapers, magazines and journals Read the papers. Do this as well as using the job websites ads get categorised in different ways and you can't afford to miss something. Not every printed job ad makes it to the websites (and vice versa).

Remember: * Don't just turn to P for publis.h.i.+ng, E for editing or M for Marketing Skim though the entire job section. Non-publis.h.i.+ng companies might have a job for you, and employers categorise jobs differently from how you do.

* Read national and local papers you never know.

* Look at the job ads in the general news section as well as the job ads section.

Read widely and be constantly on the lookout. Don't forget that non-publis.h.i.+ng companies have publis.h.i.+ng jobs, too.

Who do you want to work for?

As well as the companies you know, do some research on publis.h.i.+ng companies you don't know: * Check out books and magazines in shops publisher details will appear in the first few pages, including address details, and, in magazines, contact names.

* Check resources that have lists of publishers. If you can't afford to buy them, your local library will stock them.

Then look at company profiles and check their websites would you want to work there? If so, bookmark their sites, and as well as contacting them (see Chapter 13), check company websites regularly often jobs go up on their site well before being advertised, so you can get in early. And when you reply, make it clear you saw the job on their web-site rather than in the paper it shows keenness, which can't hurt.

In the corporate world, direct mail, newsletters, brochures, press releases and other material (referred to as 'collateral') are now all big business.

You wouldn't necessarily imagine that law firms and accountancy practices had publis.h.i.+ng opportunities yet someone has to put together all that marketing collateral. In fact, there's a whole industry of publis.h.i.+ng, much of it online, that goes on in the professional world which we consumers never see. (STEVE) So, as well as traditional book and magazine publishers, think about: * Professional services firms such as accountants and lawyers They publish a great deal of marketing material.

* Community groups and what used to be called charities (they now prefer 'not for profit organisations') The big ones have publis.h.i.+ng and communications departments, and some do lots of direct mail with catalogues; and you get the warm fuzzy of working for a Good Cause. They pay well, too.

* Banks In fact, virtually every big company no feel-good factor about good causes here, but the career prospects are terrific.

* Universities and large non-government schools These usually have good job sections on their websites and they don't necessarily run the job ads in the paper. Universities have publis.h.i.+ng divisions, for internal communications and sometimes for books and journals.

* Government and the public services Local, national, international of all sizes create reams of printed and Web-based publications.

Not only is working in corporate communications a great way to build up your publis.h.i.+ng experience, it also exposes you to a level of commercial-mindedness that many traditional publishers, frankly, cannot match. In fact, you may find you end up as a highly-sought after expert in this area . . . and perhaps, like many people we know, you'll find your home there, and never move into 'traditional' publis.h.i.+ng after all.

Many smaller publishers and organisations don't have websites, or not websites that are updated regularly with job ads. If that's where your interest lies, you'll need to look out for their ads in the papers, or better yet, get in contact with the best of them and let them know you're interested, and get your CV into their system.

More reading In the UK * /jobs *a career development advice bureau which runs a CV clearing house, where you can register that you are looking for a job within the industry * Guardian (MediaGuardian Tuesdays in print) * Guardian jobs.guardian.co.uk/browse/media/index.jsp * CV Clearing House /cvonline/intro.htm is a great place to browse publis.h.i.+ng jobs and post your own CV * Regionally based papers (Birmingham Post, Western Daily Press, Liverpool Echo) * The Inst.i.tute of Direct Marketing (IDM)In Australia.

* The Australian (Thursdays and Sat.u.r.days).

* State based papers (Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Courier Mail etc) Sat.u.r.days * SEEK .au * mycareer.com.au these are the job ads from The Age (Melbourne) and Sydney Morning Herald, and other Fairfax publications * .au.

* .au job search service for the media, entertainment, arts, public relations and publis.h.i.+ng industries in Australia and New Zealand * Weekly Book Newsletter (generally known as Blue Newsletter or Blue News) THE place for book publis.h.i.+ng jobs. This e-mailed newsletter isn't cheap to subscribe to, but you can get a free 30-day trial to start with and then subscribe for a month at a time until you get your job * Australian Direct Marketing a.s.sociation (ADMA) .au.

Chapter Fifteen.

How to use a recruitment agency.

So, how does the idea of trawling through a ton of different ads and websites in search of a job sound? It is effective, we can vouch for that. But there's no doubt it is time-consuming. That's where the idea of using a specialist recruitment agency comes in.

Besides the advantage of saving you time, a good agency will give you an interview before agreeing to take you on, and this itself can be a great way to find out more about publis.h.i.+ng, and to explore career options you may not even have thought of so far. And most staff there will have worked within the industry themselves, and so be well placed to identify what you have to offer the market and what the market has to offer you.

What's more, a good agency will also help you sharpen your CV so that it presents you to your best advantage. Here's some great advice: Most applicants don't think through how to sell themselves in enough detail. For example, they put on their CV that they've spent time 'working in a catering firm' during a holiday job, but looking closer we discover they did some marketing and also got involved in the management of the database.

These are transferable skills and it's vital the publis.h.i.+ng houses you apply to know how much experience and initiative you actually have. We will not write their CV for them (there is no point we don't want them to look identical) but we can show candidates how to present themselves advantageously, and of course that is free guidance they can benefit from, whether or not we find them a job.

(MARGARET MILLS, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF JUDY FISHER a.s.sOCIATES, UK).

There's an old saying that if you want to catch a fish you have to think like a fish, so it's worth thinking about why a publis.h.i.+ng house might use an agency to find staff.

A well-known publis.h.i.+ng house may not need to advertise starter jobs; they can rely on CVs submitted from those who write in hoping for a vacancy. But for more senior positions, or posts they find hard to fill, they may use the services of an agency. Some publis.h.i.+ng houses use recruitment agencies for all their positions, as a standard process, and it's worth thinking about why they find it helpful. Christie Davies, Senior HR Officer at Walker Books, uses agencies sometimes: The HR culture at Walker used to be one where an ad in the trade press was deemed all you needed to do to find staff and yet the costs of the ad were not good value if we received only a handful of CVs as a result. We continue to advertise, but I also like to use agencies when the need arises. I have a strong relations.h.i.+p with several, and know they will be good sources of high-quality people for jobs that are perhaps tricky to fill or where a specific type of person, or skill set, is required.

The agencies I like to use are publis.h.i.+ng specialists, and are very well networked. They have excellent connections within the industry and can find me the kind of person I know will fit in.

(CHRISTIE DAVIES, SENIOR HR OFFICER, WALKER BOOKS, UK).

The publisher saves both time and money by using an agency. A popular firm can attract hundreds of CVs for each vacancy they advertise, and trawling through them all looking for the right apt.i.tudes is very time-consuming. Secondly, advertising is hideously expensive (the cost of the ad s.p.a.ce, the time involved, the temporary loss of the job function . . .) and the more smoothly this is managed the better.

A recruitment agency handles all aspects of recruitment: advertising, sifting, interviewing and providing a shortlist, and for this publis.h.i.+ng houses pay for the agency's services, usually 17.5% of the starting salary. So, if you get a job and are paid the price of a new car a year, your company is paying around the price of a motor scooter for the pleasure of your company on top of what they actually pay you. This may not sound a lot (considering the high costs of s.p.a.ce advertising in particular) but an agency may be able to shortcut some of the costs of recruitment. Advertising online costs less than advertising in print and sometimes may not be needed at all. A good agency can offer suitable candidates from their existing resources, high-quality candidates whom they already represent, and whose CVs are on file, and ready to go which means that if you're on their books they may be able to match you straight away, without going through a long application process.

Using an agent to find you a job sounds enticingly simple: on the one hand, they have vacancies to find candidates for; on the other, you are willing to offer your services. But hang on a second: it's not quite as easy as all that. Here are three words of warning before you pick up the phone.

Working with recruitment agencies