This wee West-Country gay kid from a council estate's off to be Penguin Press's Marketing Assistant. I beat the barriers against me and grasped hold the ladder's bottom rung for long enough. Celebrations will happen privately (and COVID-compliantly). But now I want to help.

This is, primarily, a signpost for other hopefuls in publishing who scroll and find this. Below are the Cover Letter & CV which won me the job (complete with an error or two), some linked threads by pub gurus, and people you need to follow. I'm using my place to make space.

NOTE: I am not a publishing professional. This thread includes my own personal journey, things that work for me as an individual, advice from professionals, and bits to help you on your own journey.

The cover letter. I was professionally warned of some yellow flags in my letter, so do not imitate. Crucially: avoid Dear Sirs. This is not the 70's, and no one likes patriarchy. (Shout out to @ThatKerryHudson's Lowborn here). [AltText included]

RE Cover letter advice: no one method works for all. My prospects changed when I tried to place myself within the company, metaphorically, wherever I could. So if it's a Publicity role you're going for, maybe talk about how you'd like to see *author* appear at *event*, and so on.

To be clear, this is only a basis and my CV is already available online. You must find your own voice and style. Your experience/skills will differ to mine. But, sometimes it helps to outright see a real successful application. It helped me. So 'yer it is. On to my CV: (AltText)

You can see here that I've included an internship which was cancelled at the time and some voluntary experience. Crucially, Tier your experience. The experience for THIS job, and the (loosely relevant) bits that will help you out, maybe covering skills or personal traits.

No publishing experience? No problem. Have a look around for any indie publishers in your area, as I did, and reach out. The worst that can happen is "no". Nothing in your area? Look for interesting or practical publishers, and offer to work from home. Scour the role's ad.

Does the role need a good listener? Maybe you worked in a call centre. Reliable? Perhaps you've babysat for yonks and can get receipts of this. Cope under pressure? Remember when you were a temp till cashier in that shop? All grand, fine, and dandy.

I am aware that it may seem as though I am privileged to gain this experience on my CV. I lost an apartment, a boyfriend, worked 0-hours contracts cleaning floors, stacking shelves and cleaning up human messes. There is nothing wrong with graft, grit and determination.

Helen, PRH's (Penguin Random House) Head of Resourcing–that's recruitment, to those who don't know. Read her thread for Cover Letter ideas here. These helped me: https://twitter.com/HelenPRHcareers/status/1302631184388763648?s=20

Some of my best gaffes on CV's and cover letters, just because we're here: wrong month heading my letter (2x letters), wrong job (1x), addressed someone who didn't work there but the info was very public (1x), typo'd "Deepest fried regards" ending a letter (1x).

Set up a little base/pit/universe on social media for publishing. This helps you with getting to know other people also hunting, people who work in the industry, and people who are well-established. You'll also find jobs posted. See next:

For jobs from official sources (and some publishing houses you mightn't have met before): @PRHCareersUK @HachetteCareers @ipghq @Inspiredjobs @JobsAtHarper @egmontbooksuk @bonnierbooks_uk @BloomsburyBooks @FaberBooks @_CreativeAccess

For folk in the industry who wanna help us good eggs become wee publishing bears and bunnies, check out: @pubinterns @bookcareers @SYP_UK @thatpubblogger @popublishinguk @entrylevelboss @SienaParker

From this, you'll quickly learn who to follow. People who want to help. I've had some very kind folk give me their time, and I want to thank them. To name a few (follow them, kidz): @samatlounge @Giftee2000 @KatCapz @_elbr @DebbieHatfield @ChloeRose1702 @emansiji

Publishing has core diversity issues in its roots. And actively, it is trying to address that within its industry. If I get in, ANYONE can. Trust. I'm a fan of @PrideInPub's work; you'll easily find groups that speak to you,

Finally, it IS draining to get rejected a lot. I counted 132 applications over 1.5 years. (I have a spreadsheet which details the date of applying, title, company, perm/temp, who you addressed the letter to). And of course, colour coding. I suggest you try this too.