A Day in the Life of Maria Vassilopoulos, The Bookseller

Posted on December 14, 2015 in Uncategorized

Description of Company

The Bookseller is the B2B magazine for the UK book trade and has been since 1858.  We have our weekly magazine, online site, email newsletters and conferences throughout the year.  I run Jobs in Books, which consists of  the jobs board, magazine pages, My Job In 5, careers area and @Jobsinbooks.

Typical Day

I get in at 9am and then if it’s before press day I am making sure the team are up to date with the week’s new jobs in books ready to be published.  I tweet throughout the day and find a new My Job in 5 interviewee for the Friday issue.  I usually have a few emails from followers on twitter or jobseekers I meet at events so I like to answer each of those- I pride myself on being community focussed.  I also attend  meetings, events, panels and careers fairs to spread the word about Jobs in Books and also to keep my ear to the ground on what issues are being discussed in terms of publishing recruitment.  Jobs in books also gets involved with Rising Stars and TheBookseller Top 100 and I also attend both London and Frankfurt book fairs as  well as having jobs and freelance pages in the Bookseller daily editions. On a Thursday and Friday I try and get a blog up from a student, SYP member or an interview on my careers tab on The Bookseller online. At the moment I am teaching on the Publishing Skills module on University College London’s Publishing MA so you will find me there on a Tuesday morning.  I am a student there too, writing a PhD on publishing history. Home time is 5pm.  I believe in leaving work on time but I will study into the evening.

How is the Role different?

I created my role.  When I started at The Bookseller there was a page or two of jobs in the magazine, an automated twitter feed with 1000 followers and a jobs board.  I was bought in to sell recruitment only, and that is still part of Jobs in Books as well as the  other areas.  My CEO Nigel Roby and editor Philip Jones have supported me in building up the area and creating a proper publishing jobs community.  What’s brilliant is when I see other organisations doing similar things- then we can work together and make it better for all jobseekers out there.

Main Influencers on your role? 

The Bookseller itself is a huge influence.  I read it for the 10 years I spent in publishing and bookselling previously and still read it every week. I even need to read the archive for my PhD!  My passion for this role comes from being made redundant 2 years ago from my publishing job and having to job search.  The recruitment agencies and Book Careers were all great but when I got the job at The Bookseller I wanted to add to this.  I hope I have- I don’t see it as a role, I see it as my responsibility. Emma Lowe, my boss, has also been brilliant.

Best parts of the role 

I am so fortunate to be able to say that I love my Job.  I really do.  I like the fact I can help at least one person each day, grow Jobs in Books and keep the service alive and kicking whilst meeting so many lovely people and learning about every single aspect of the book industry.