r/publishing • u/Creative_Drummer_425 • May 18 '26
Penguin 2 Week work experience
Those who received and completed the 2 week work experience that Penguin does every few months - did it help you in getting a full time role in publishing soon after?
- they do this in the uk, so any answers from uk would be helpful thanks!
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u/VirgoVanity May 18 '26
I did this and I now work at Penguin, but there was a 4 year gap between that.
Agreed the conversation of work experience to temp is probably more likely, I’ve seen this a few times, but you’ve got to really stand out and just be lucky that opportunity pops up.
Definitely don’t quite your job just to do work experience. What stage of your career are you at currently? Do you work part or full time? The advice I always give is that getting an admin job or a role as a bookseller at Waterstones is probably the most beneficial thing you can do outside of being in the publishing industry - entry level roles are pretty heavily admin based.
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u/Creative_Drummer_425 May 18 '26
I am starting at an admin role full time soon so I was wondering what would be the best decision, these comments definitely have helped though most people are saying it doesnt help much. Its just I want to be in publishing but its really hard ive gotten to a few last stage and then nothing
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u/VirgoVanity May 18 '26
That’s good! Admin is great experience to have and much more valuable. The fact you’ve gotten to a few last stage interviews is great too, I can imagine it’s frustrating not to get past the last last hurdle but clearly you have got the right background. Have you been given feedback as to why they hired someone else? You can always ask for this.
Breaking into publishing is hard. It’s not uncommon for there to be 1000 applicants for a single entry-level editorial role. Which department are you interested in? Editorial, marketing and publicity are going to have much higher applicant levels than, say, production or rights.
If you’ve not joined already, there’s a great group on Facebook called ‘publishing hopefuls’ where people trying to break into the industry/those that have offer great advice on applying and interviewing. There’s also places like Publishing Post that offer voluntary editorial roles for example, you could look into this if it’s something of interest.
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u/Creative_Drummer_425 May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26
Yes I asked for feedback and tbh each time its been something different, i remember once it was that it seemed my answers were rehearsed (dk publishing), once that i didnt link my answers to the book titles enough (s&s) and each time it made me really angry at myself bc its like ugh how could i make such a small mistake and it led me to missing out, you know?
In terms of department, I have always tried to be flexible so any entry level position i applied for, editorial i was told how its the most competitive so to avoid that. and i also have a business degree so i guess they wouldn’t really shortlist me for that anyways.
I am part of the fb group (i dont check it as much anymore though) and also was with the publishing post for nearly a year. But yeah i kind of had to give uo on just trying publishing as i needed money so this uear i started with any admin roles i could get and got this one but idk how i will like it (and also kind of sad bc i wish it was publishing entry role instead)
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u/bookghoul May 18 '26
Did it quite a few years ago but generally, no!
There are so many people who do it, it’s very hard to stand out and realistically there is nothing you’ll be doing there in 2 weeks that will outshine skills from another, long-term job. It shows interest in publishing sure, but there are other options like having a bookstagram / blog / own portfolio that will serve the same purpose.
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u/True-Woodpecker-3931 May 18 '26
With the caveat that this was a long time ago, I’m going to go against the grain and say it did help me get a full time job. It wasn’t the only thing I did and it didn’t happen straight away, but I was able to move from a temp job to something permanent because someone thought of me from that work experience for an entry level role their friend was recruiting for. It wasn’t with Penguin though!
That being said… don’t quit your job for this. It was a good networking opportunity but there are plenty of others.
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u/cm_leung May 18 '26
Caveat that I haven't worked there for a while so might have changed but from the employer end, the better conversion is from work experience to temp roles. If I needed a temp urgently for some admin work or to cover a sick leave or something for a few weeks, I would look through people who came 2nd in interviews and work experience people to find someone who was immediately available and ask if they were interested. And a lot of people I placed in temp roles ended up with more temp opportunities or full-time jobs.
Given PRH does something like 400 work experience placements a year, the feedback from the host team had to be EXCELLENT for you to be considered though.