My name is Beth and I studied BA (Hons) Classical & Archaeological Studies and Comparative Literature. I am a month into my new role at Sage Publications – a global academic publisher of educational resources – as a Contracts & Rights Assistant. This means I review licensing, contracts, and rights agreements for new and existing journals/books. My university years were kind of untraditional thanks to Covid-19, and I found myself after graduation in my hospitality job feeling like a change. I decided that I wanted to look into publishing and that’s where the Careers and Employability Service (CES) at Kent came in. I think I am most proud of taking that jump, leaving the stability of my established hospitality role to pursue a professional career I was truly interested in.
I utilised the CES initially to rework my CV at the beginning of my applications progress to show off my transferable/existing skills. But, they proved to be a better resource than I expected! They also organised a talk with the SYP online that enabled me to widen my network, through their mentorship programme, and recognise that I wasn’t alone, there were loads of people in the same boat as me. Often, I used the team as a sounding board to ensure I was on the right track. They were behind my decisions to start a book blog, volunteer with the Faversham Literary Festival and undertaking an internship at Allison & Busby. I also got to meet both Michael Rosen and Bettany Hughes at the Faversham Literary Festival!
My internship was really where my applications started to see some traction, gaining that experience was truly invaluable. It also gave me connections to the IPG – Independent Publishers’ Guild. I worked with them at the London Book Fair, a huge part of the Rights side of publishing – the area I wanted to break into.
I felt like the CES team were always there to support me throughout my almost 40 applications before I got my current role, and have continued to be so sweet, sending me little messages of congratulations! They really challenged me to go outside of my comfort zone and actively apply for each new role. I owe them so much for putting up with me during this last year!