Opinion: The Problem With The ‘Foot-in-the-Door’ Approach

Posted on April 28, 2023 in Uncategorized

In my experience, when you’re trying to get your first job in publishing, there’s one phrase you’ll hear more than anything else: “you just need to get your foot in the door”. This is usually well meant; publishing is a notoriously competitive industry to break into. It’s why there are so many talks, courses and even degrees designed to help hopefuls get started. And in some ways the advice makes sense. Your first, (usually) entry-level job is likely the most difficult to get, when you have the least experience and hundreds, sometimes thousands of applicants are competing for the same roles. So, people advise that you apply widely. If you’re interested in editorial, perhaps apply for marketing and publicity roles too. Then, once you’ve got that initial experience and built some good relationships in the industry, you can always make a sideways move to the department you originally hoped to work in.

I’m not here to tell anyone not to do that, but I also think that advice should be taken with a grain of salt. Every department within publishing is unique, and different people will suit and enjoy different roles. It may well be that you start off thinking you want to work in editorial, but find out that the buzz of a publicity role actually suits you much better and you’re happy to stay. But if after a year or so you are just as convinced that editorial is where you want to be, you might find yourself in a tricky situation. As your colleagues are moving up to more senior roles, you’ll have to make a decision. Do you make a sideways move into editorial, and start back at the very beginning as an assistant, or do you stay in a department that isn’t ultimately where you want to be? 

I’ve seen this happen a lot, and have had friends who have struggled with this very dilemma. The issue is, while you may have a better idea of how the industry works once you’re in it, it’s still likely that you’ll have to make a sideways move rather than a diagonally upwards move if you want to change departments completely. Again, this isn’t a given. Some departments (like sales and rights, or marketing and publicity) have a lot in common, making a move from, say, assistant to executive between those departments is less of a leap. However, if you’re working in production and want to move into design, it might be a trickier move unless you’re willing to start again in an entry-level role.

The advice about getting your foot in the door is also often couched with the suggestion that, even if you get a first job in a department you hadn’t initially envisioned yourself in, you might be able to help out or get experience in your desired department once in the company. Again, this might be trickier than it seems. Of course, all companies are different, but most managers will want you to be dedicated to the work you’re doing, and although there will be opportunities to get to know people in other departments, there’s no guarantee that you’d be able to spend part of your working day helping out or shadowing away from your main role.

I don’t want to be discouraging here, and I think there are some options to cast a wider net without blindly walking into any publishing role you can get. My first piece of advice is to really think about what you enjoy and what you’re good at to guide you to a department that will suit you best. So often, publishing hopefuls aspire to get a much-coveted editorial assistant job, because an editor is the first job you think about in publishing. I felt the same when I was a fresh-faced college graduate, but when I accepted a sales job outside the publishing industry, I realised how much I enjoyed sales and how much better suited I was to it. I loved talking to people and building professional relationships, and I also loved the outward perspective you have in sales, where understanding the market outside the walls of your company is just as important as understanding the product you’re selling into it. 

So start by thinking about what type of work you like most. If you are detail oriented and enjoy managing projects, you might be a great fit for production. If you speak another language or are keen to travel, foreign rights might be the place for you. There are so many exciting and varied roles in publishing and I’d highly recommend familiarising yourself with what’s on offer. There are lots of great resources available in the SYP Resource Center to get you started, including the Types of Publishing Job page, and the ‘A Day in the Life’ articles, (found on the Get Into Publishing page) written by people from various departments and roles within publishing, which give an insight into the type of work involved in each.

I would also advise you to think about casting a net wider than the publishing industry. As publishing tries to become more diverse and inclusive, companies are increasingly hiring at all levels from outside the industry, as well as promoting from within. So if your dream is to work in marketing, perhaps look at entry level marketing jobs outside of publishing, and then you may be able to make an upwards move into marketing in publishing as a second role. You’ll be able to bring your marketing skills, and more diverse knowledge and experience to the table, which is always a good thing! 

So all of this is to say, don’t feel like you should take an entry-level job in a department that you feel certain you won’t enjoy. As much as anything, hiring managers want to have team members who actually want to be on their team, not who are just waiting for the first opportunity to move to another department. Be honest with yourself about what you want, but also take the time to explore the many roles and jobs that exist in publishing and think about what you’ll most enjoy – you might surprise yourself.