{"id":2715,"date":"2024-10-21T17:04:12","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T17:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websites.emerson.edu\/undergraduate-students-publishing\/?p=2715"},"modified":"2024-10-21T17:04:13","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T17:04:13","slug":"building-up-a-bare-bones-resume-and-more-from-the-fall-24-internship-panel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orgs.emerson.edu\/undergraduate-students-publishing\/2024\/10\/21\/building-up-a-bare-bones-resume-and-more-from-the-fall-24-internship-panel\/","title":{"rendered":"Building up a Bare-Bones Resume and More From the Fall ’24 Internship Panel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Blog Director \/\/ Leanna Florez<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The publishing world is always changing, and so are internships. If you\u2019re worried about falling behind in this competitive field, the Undergraduate Students for Publishing Internship Panel had the solutions straight from the mouths of accomplished interns. Interns from HarperCollins, Ploughshares, Penguin Random House, and more gathered to offer their advice to a room full of publishing hopefuls, sharing their expertise and experience in the hope that clicking \u2018apply\u2019 will feel a little less frightening.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panelists included three interns with a range of experience and interests: Teya Sorenson, a WLP: Publishing major who interned at Emerson\u2019s Ploughshares<\/a> as an Editorial Intern, Entertainment Lab<\/a> as a Talent\/Literary Intern, and currently interns at Calligraph<\/a> as an Agentry Intern; Rebecca Verill, a WLP: Publishing major who interned at Candlewick Press<\/a> as a Marketing\/Publicity Intern, WW. Norton<\/a> as a College Sales Intern, Lived Places Publishing<\/a> as a Digital Marketing and Sales Outreach Intern, HarperCollins<\/a> as a Publicity Intern, and at Macmillan\u2019s Wednesday Books<\/a> as a Publicity Intern; and Ashley Verill, a WLP: Publishing major who interned for Candlewick Press as a School and Library Marketing Intern, WW. Norton as a College Marketing Intern, Penguin Random House<\/a> as an International Sales and Marketing Intern, and Macmillan\u2019s Children\u2019s Publisher<\/a> as a Marketing Intern.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With stacked resumes, the panelists started at the beginning\u2014the dreaded job hunting process. Teya described herself as \u201ca Handshake truther\u201d in terms of job hunting and emphasized the importance of checking your email, even your Emerson emails. WLP Announce is a known send-from address in the inboxes of any WLP student, often sending out news about local events, alumni success, student mag hiring, and internships. Teya highlighted the importance of looking into everything WLP Announce sends, as it may lead to an internship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also recommended \u201ccold emailing,\u201d the practice of sending a direct email to a publisher’s contact email along with a copy of your resume and an offer of your skills. As for who to email, she says \u201cIf it looks shady with a shitty HTML website from 2005, it\u2019s probably legit, and they\u2019re a lot more likely to hear you out than a big five.\u201d Google local indie publishers or publishers with a very specific niche you\u2019re knowledgeable about and reach out to them, as they likely don\u2019t want to go through the whole hiring process and would prefer someone who cold emails them. This is especially true if you\u2019re someone without prior experience or internships in the field. In Teya\u2019s words, \u201cThe worst thing that happens when you send an email into the void with a bare-bones resume is they say no!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building up a bare-bones resume without actually working in publishing is also a challenge the panelists discussed. A typical complaint is that you apply to a job to gain experience, but a job won\u2019t hire you without prior experience, so you become trapped in a circle of an empty resume. Both Teya and Rebecca advised that any experience in your desired field is valid experience. Whether you\u2019re helping your friend edit their substack, proofreading your cousin\u2019s short story, or making a graphic on Canva for a local non-profit, these are all valuable experiences that can be listed on a resume. Rebecca said, \u201cThey can\u2019t fact check what you did, and you shouldn\u2019t lie, but you can stretch what you did.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teya immediately agreed, saying \u201ceverything is cool and [a] valid experience if you word it right and add enough syllables.\u201d They emphasized the importance of having a skills section on your resume, and whatever skills you have learned, be it in a professional setting, a side hobby, or a class, note them there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Example:<\/strong> edited a friend\u2019s book <\/em>\u2192<\/strong> provided substantive and developmental edits for a full-length manuscript, lightly proofread a full-length manuscript, communicated with an author, and managed a timeline for an author\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another way to build up a resume is to simply get involved at Emerson. Though some of the material can be outdated, Emerson does offer a range of classes that provide you with real experience and valuable skills. Two classes that were mentioned were Digital Publishing and Copyediting, and the org that was mentioned as the most valuable for gaining industry experience was Pub Club. Being part of an org that actively goes through the process of publishing two books according to industry standard gave all three panelists many of the skills that they applied to their internships. It also gives you concrete proof of challenges you\u2019ve overcome as you work in the org. Final Pub Club brag, all of the panelists mentioned that through Pub Club, they were able to learn what they enjoyed doing within the publishing field, discovering interests in marketing, dislikes in substantive editing, or skills in author outreach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you\u2019ve job hunted and built up your resume, it\u2019s time to apply. Rebecca mentioned that for most internships at big five publishers, you\u2019ll need to apply via an application portal that is posted on the publisher\u2019s website. The portal will have you input your resume, experience, contact information, cover letter, and occasionally ask you a few questions related to the job or your work practice. The application process is different depending on the publisher, as many big fives open their applications late in the publishing season, giving a short window for you to apply and hear back (if you hear back at all). Independent publishers typically have longer application periods, so you may not hear back from them for a long time. Rebecca said that there isn\u2019t much of a range from hearing back, you either hear back in days or not for many weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you hear back, you may be asked to interview. Rebecca\u2019s interview with HarperCollins was two hours long, first with HR, then the people on the team she\u2019d be working with. She interviewed three times with Macmillan, and thought she bombed, but was later contacted with an offer, something that left her \u201cflamboozled.\u201d Reapplying and reinterviewing are not things to fear, but things Rebecca has done, applying for the same internship two-three years in a row and finally getting them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ashley described a different interview experience with each publisher she worked with. With Candlewick, her interview was an hour long, first with HR, then with the entire marketing and publicity team. With WW. Norton, the process was \u201ca lot harder,\u201d with lots of meetings being constantly pushed back and rescheduled in the busy fall season with very little notice. With Penguin Random House, she had many hours of different interviews a full six months in advance of her start date. As daunting as all of these different interview processes can sound, Rebecca interjected to remind that most of the time, \u201cthey already know you\u2019re qualified. The interview is just to see the vibes, make sure you have a likable personality, are passionate, and know what you\u2019re talking about.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this reason, there was an emphasis on doing your research in the field you\u2019re interested in and being personable. In fact, Rebecca\u2019s biggest piece of advice to publishing hopefuls was \u201cdo your research.\u201d Know what the big fives are, know what a backlist is, know the titles, trends, and names in your desired genre\u2014this will make you seem both passionate and knowledgeable so you can carry a conversation with the person interviewing you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with being able to highlight your knowledge and fun personality, you should also be able to highlight your specific skills and strengths. This is extremely important because as Ashley said, “If you want an internship in publishing just because you like books, congrats, you’re one of five million people.” You can highlight your individual skills in both an interview and in a cover letter by picking keywords from the job description and showcasing those through specific examples. If they mention in the job description that they need someone with good communication skills, tell them about a time when you communicated effectively rather than just stating that you\u2019re a good communicator. Just like in writing, it\u2019s all about show, don\u2019t tell.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing all of the panelists shared that they have in common? They\u2019ve all faced plenty of rejection. They each shared stories of applying over and over again to the same internships at the same companies, applying to ninety different internships and only hearing from one, or hearing from none at all for months. This goes to say that rejection is common in publishing, and it\u2019s not something that you should let pull you down into a spiral. Find your community and find your strength there. Everybody in the publishing world has been through the same feelings you are feeling now, even more so for more diverse applicants, as Ashley stated. She described her experience in her internship with feeling out of place in a predominantly white environment, but found solace in another co-worker of color. They bonded with each other by talking about diversity in publishing and finding other diverse people around them, building a community of people who help each other, and something that Ashley said she will cherish as \u201cone of the most important parts of my experience in publishing.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In publishing, your uniqueness is your strength. It sounds cliche, but your individual experience is what makes you hirable to publishers. More and more people want to work in publishing, so the field is getting even more competitive as BookTok pushes publishing into the mainstream, workers unionize, and houses merge. Where you stand out amongst sometimes hundreds of applicants are your unique passions, personal experiences, and distinct ideas; those are something only you have, and something you should be proud to share with a potential employer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional Resources Mentioned: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n