Name: Barnaby Jones
Job Title: Editorial Assistant
Age: 29  
From: Edinburgh
In London: March 2006
________________________________________

Why did you come to London?

Having been in the Army for over 7 years, it is time for a career move and London offers a world of opportunities.
 

What did you hope to achieve?

Get a new job, and experience a varied social life I haven’t been able to have before.
 

What were you doing before this?

I was a military man, an officer in the British Army.
 

What does your job involve on a day-to-day basis?

Providing administrative support to the new books production team.  It is so varied that there is never a typical day.  Some days I spend reading manuscript after manuscript others giving my opinion on the first and final drafts of book covers.
 

What responsibilities do you have?

We work from a list of books that are to be published.  Editorial assistants provide an interface between departments, making sure the book is moving in the right direction, and providing clerical support.
 

What are the best bits?

Reading new writing, following a project from inception to completion, and the creative elements of the role.
 

And the worst?

Administrative mundane tasks.
 

What is the typical package for your job?

£18k is a typical entry point into the world of publishing.
 

Do you have to have prior experience?  If so, what helped get you the job?

Yes it certainly helps, I did some work experience and this proved vital.
 

How did you go about getting it?

Coming from a very different background I wrote to everyone I knew in the publishing world, before I got my break.
 

Any tips you could give our readers?

Do some unpaid work experience!  It is so competitive to get into publishing, this is the only way to get your foot in the door.
 

With this experience, what do you plan to do next?

I’d like to be an Assistant Editor, developing my own list of books to be managed.

Malvern House tomorrow, Friday 28 April, are having a University Fair for students looking to do Further Education in the UK.  The aim of the fair is to give students a chance to meet various UK Universities and find out more about Uni Life.  Also Malvern House staff will be on hand to promote their own University Pathway courses.  The Fair is open between 12:00 and 4:00 at the Malvern House, Bloomsbury Centre.

I went to a similar session before Christmas and the Day was very well attended by some leading Universities including: University of Leeds, London Metropolitan University, Royal Holloway, Brunel and the University of Surrey.  If you are considering doing an MBA, a Masters or a Doctorate in the UK - this is a worthwhile event to go to.  The Malvern House team, deserve praise for making events like this happen.

The Bloomsbury Centre is at 46/47 Bloomsbury Square, London.  The nearest tube is Holborn, to see a map click here

To read more about Malvern House Pathway Courses click here

Do you want the good news or the bad news?

According to figures produced by CILT - National Centre of Languages - and the British Chambers of Commerce, four out of five managers cannot negotiate in a foreign language and Britain rates 27th out of 28 European countries in foreign language skills (Sunday Times April 16).  In case you are in any doubt that is the bad news.

However this is good news for both people coming to the UK to work or British people that speak foreign languages, as the CILT Talking Sense report also found that:

• UK Companies seem to prefer to meet their language skills need through recruitment rather than training - UK major companies are looking for potential employees with language skills.
• A recruit with language skills is clearly valued more than one without
• Language skills offer enhanced career prospects for the individual

So when you are having ‘one of those days’ and are struggling with your languages, just remember how much learning a language can help you!

Source: CILT, Talking Sense Report; The Sunday Times (16 April)

Hope you all had a pleasant weekend, and if in London, you made the most of the fantastic weather on Saturday.  Summer it would appear is nearly upon us.  Temperatures soared to 27 degrees celcius!  Answer English took advantage of the sunshine to launch it’s AE Bike Rides, cycling from Central London along the river to Richmond. 

The river is such a good way to see London, be it if you head west and you can see the parks of London and east to see the great buildings.  Along the way we took in Kew Gardens, and stopped for a drink in Richmond before the ride home. 

To complete the sporty weekend, we got down to Temple to watch the Marathon.  It was fantastic to see the thousands of runners complete the 26 miles and raise millions for charity.  As it was also St. George’s Day, the Patron Saint of England, there were many runners cloaked in the English flag or dressed as a knight.  That and the usual comic gorilla suit of course!

We spotted Olympic gold medallist, James Cracknell, some minor reality TV ‘celebrities’ and more importantly friends, Charlie, Sarah and Toni.  Well done to all those involved!

Name: Fernanda Fain-Binda
Job Title: Promotions Manager
Age: 22
From: North-West London
In London: Since 1983

What did you hope to achieve in this job?

Gain good experience to later get into event management.  Meet loads of people and use different skills (communication, marketing, sales).  I hoped to learn a lot about marketing, as you have to suss out what a brand represents and what each customer wants.

What were you doing before this?

I was at University studying Spanish and Latin & South American Studies.  Part of which involved a year abroad in Madrid, Spain.  In the summer months over a number of years I worked in Promotions part-time.

What does your job involve on a day-to-day basis?

There’s no set day, that’s the thing about promotions.  You can work on an exhibition that is all day on a stand serving customers or another promotion may involve just a couple of hours serving chunks of cheese outside a supermarket!

What responsibilities do you have?

Training staff, monitoring customer levels, looking after the equipment, promoting the product or service, making sure that you are always ‘on-brand’ and looking good & positive for when you are in contact with clients.

What are the best bits?

The contact with people is fantastic be it the positive feedback from clients or the staff you work with who tend to be fun, free-spirited lunatics, and the kind of people you wouldn’t necessarily come into contact with in an office.

And the worst?

Working with the public, sometimes you get the occasional person who doesn’t treat you with any respect.  The same I guess for waiters or barmen & women.  You can meet some really strange people at times!

Do you have to have prior experience?  If so, what helped get you the job?

You have to have had prior experience in promotions and show that you understand the responsibilities and duties involved.  Anything where you work with the public is always going to help you getting into promotions as an industry.  Often many people are aspiring actors, models, dancers, entrepreneurs, self-employed or just people saving up to go travelling.

How did you go about getting it?

This particular job was advertised on a recruitment website, but in the vast majority of cases you get promotions work through Promotional Agencies.

Any tips you could give our readers?

If you see people doing a promotion, especially during Spring and Summer (the busiest times), ask them what agency they work for, if it’s a decent agency, what payment system they have etc.  There seem to be very few guidelines of how an agency could be run, and the work isn’t constant, so it’s not always a job for everyone!

Anything you know now that you wish you’d known before getting into Promotions?

No as such.  But as you need to be very confident, it makes you well aware of your self-worth.  It’s also made me very wary to check the details not only of the particular promotions job but also the employer (in this case the promo agency).  I think this applies to so many things be it work or life.

With this experience, what do you plan to do next?

I plan to go travelling in South America and use the skills I’ve learnt through Promotions to teach English and fund me on my travels and hopefully get into Event Management or Marketing.