A Day at Penguin :)

Last Thursday I attended Penguin's "Getting into Publishing" open day at their head office in Strand. I applied for a place after receiving a mass email from my university career's er.. lady (I'm not sure what her official title is but that's what I refer to her as haha). I was pretty damn excited once I'd found out I'd been offered a place considering they'd had over 400 applicants!

Finding the office was a bit of a task in itself since I hadn't printed out the map, there were no signs and Google Maps was of no help to me either (it kept telling me that some sort of clothes shop was my destination). But when I finally stopped and asked for directions I couldn't believe my eyes. It was love at first sight. I wish I'd taken a picture but I'd wanted to get in as soon as possible. The building itself had me spellbound so you can imagine how elated I felt during the day there.

We had breakfast upon arrival and then spent the entire morning listening to various members of staff discuss their job roles and how they'd got there (I'll admit that I was disappointed since the moment I discovered the Twinings box and made myself a green tea and cranberry [which I had no idea existed by the way, would totally recommend it to anyone who likes green tea!] it was time to go in). It was so fascinating as I was introduced to the many other job roles that publishing has to offer, especially since I had only ever considered myself in an editorial role. The talks gave me some perspective and since then I've been wondering where I think I'd fit in well in publishing. I know I want to be there, but where exactly at this point, I'm not sure!

In between the talks we had a refreshment break where not only did I get to make myself another tea, I also got to talk to a few of my fellow publishing job seekers. Everyone that I spoke to was lovely and friendly and I have stayed in touch with one person since. :)

After everyone was done speaking we were given the opportunity to network with the Penguin staff whilst having a yummy and totally free lunch together. I have to admit, it was my first time networking so I went into it just asking questions as they came to me. I spoke to a handful of the staff and managed to even get contact details from a few who were particularly interesting. I call that success!

We were also given an awesome goody bag to take home which included a free book!

Everything inside the goody bag, the goody bag itself and my visitor name tag :)

My favourites from the goody bag!

I especially love the back of the actual goody bag/tote! ^^

Later on in the day I had an interview at Foyles bookshop. The interview went really well and it was probably the most comfortable interview I've ever done. Sadly, they had hoped I could fill a full time position but being at University makes that impossible. They did offer to keep me in their records for any future part time jobs that may become available though, so keep your fingers crossed!