Comments on: Working Mentors and Learning on the Job

By: Jessica

Jessica — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:04:55 +0000

I would suggest that she hit up a conference that is maybe a little more broad based and attend whatever networking events they have, scour the listings of who is speaking/presenting/attending and/or ask her boss if they have anyone she should meet while she is there. If they are successful, they have been around forever, they know people, though they themselves might be unhelpful. Say “I’d love to buy you a drink and pick your brain.” You don’t have to tell people you have no idea how you are supposed to approach certain aspects of the job, you can say “I am tossing around ideas of how to expand blah blah” or you can ask them who does really well in your frield and then seek out that person as a mentor or connection.

Also, use the new year to go to your bosses and say you want to have a little pow wow and just say you want to talk about expectations and any new ideas moving forward into 2013. Tell them you love the job and you just want to find ways to push things forward and get their input, whatever posi-corpo speak you want to throw at it. Pitch them some tangentally related small idea and then draw them out that way. Then it might feel and sound less vulnerable, but then also puts the onus on them to help give you direction or at least give you a communicated framework instead of a hands off expectation.

I don;t know how competitive the world of academic publishing is, but even in the truly competitive world of magazine publishing, people with the same jobs hang out together and g drink and bitch about their jobs and it’s not like state secrets are trading hands. You might also want to just look into regular professional womens mentorship programs and workshops–two of my friends who just wanted to get ahead in their fields did them and found them really helpful, just in terms of having a little coaching.

By: yelena

yelena — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 16:22:54 +0000

Are there professional organizations that have info and networking opps for their members? In the small press field, I’m thinking of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (clmp dot org) that have publisher resources on their site and even peer publisher advising. Don’t know about academic publishing, but maybe google around?

By: Jeanette

Jeanette — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 22:25:44 +0000

I think that what you need are friends in your field, more than informational interviews. Maybe google a few things like “women in publishing happy hour” or “publishing networking ny” and see what you find? Meetup might be another good resource. I’ve had good luck going to events in my own field when they meet consistently, ideally in a bar, so that you start getting to know people. Striking up casual friendships will help you start building a network of people who you like, and who want to help each other out, and it will be way more fun than going to big one-off events and trying to hand out cards. If you lay that groundwork, I think you could maybe get a sense of who is safe and appropriate to approach with some of your specific questions. Anyway, just my two cents. Good luckk!