I never knew what I wanted to do for a career. I chose a university course that interested me, but it wasn't tailored to any specific career.
So maybe it was unsurprising when, aged 27, I had something of an identity crisis. I wasn't happy in the job I had fallen into; I had left a previous job in air conditioning sales support because it wasn't where I wanted to be, and the new job in admin support was meant to be a temporary position while I found something permanent. But over a year after I joined, I was still there. It was fine but it didn't challenge me or get me out of bed in the morning.
It was time for a change. I made a list of all the things I loved doing – reading, writing stories, watching films – and realised that publishing was where I should be. I wanted to be the person who read incoming manuscripts and decided whether or not to publish them. I wanted to take an author from start to finish and bring incredible stories to the public.
Of course, deciding that was the easy part. Getting there would be far more complicated. Realising that I'd have to go back to being a work experience person, or 'workie', I quit my job and started a last-minute placement at one of the largest publishing companies in the world. It was to be the first of an endless string of unpaid positions. I jumped from department to department, company to company, never managing to secure a full-time paid job.
After a while my hard work paid off and I was taken on as a temp, covering staff who were on holiday. It was a welcome relief from the stress of unpaid work; I had an income again and was dealing with the ins and outs of publishing, reading manuscripts from agents and writing reader reports. Editors were now listening to my opinion and making decisions based on the information I gave them. I was finally part of the publishing world and it felt like an immense relief to find that I had chosen well. Publishing was absolutely where I wanted to be.
But the paid work didn't last. The holidays stopped and I had to start again with more work experience placements. I moved on to a new company, equally large and impressive, but had to begin at the bottom. Most importantly, I was able to get some experience in the editorial department: I wrote draft copy text for a recipe book and compiled data for an impending iPhone app. That was where I wanted to be but it was the hardest department to get into.
After this experience, I started to be invited to interviews. But although I made it this far, I was finding it hard to get beyond. I was spending my days working for free, going to interviews and doing occasional stints of paid shifts. Months later and I had repeated this process over and over. Having expected to be a workie for only a few months, reaching the one year mark was a point I'd never planned on.
I was still nowhere near getting a job and I came close to giving up. I was broke, miserable, stressed and lacking motivation. I had given it my all and still nobody had given me the job I so desperately wanted. I began to resent the work I was given, especially at times when I felt my experience was being exploited.
This was the moment where I had to decide if I wanted to go on. If I had quit all the stress, the lack of sleep, money and the lost social life would have been for nothing. I couldn't bring myself to quit so I changed my approach.
I started ignoring the large publishers I had worked for and shifted my focus toward the smaller publishers. It worked. Within a week I was invited to an interview and a few days later was offered a job as an editorial assistant.
So was it all worth it? Yes and no. I love my new job; I am reading books, editing, talking with authors and I work alongside others who love books as much as I do. But the 13 months I spent as a workie tested the limits of my patience, bank balance and sanity.
As a general rule, the work experience route is a fascinating way to get into an industry and could be a good move if you have some financial support. It shows you what life in that industry is like, builds up your experience and allows you to make valuable contacts along the way.
But while some employers use work experience people well, others can take advantage. You should remember that you are there to get a sense of the job, not do it for free. Doing the bear minimum will not make the lasting impression you need to to stand out so being a work experience person should be a two-way street – you are there to help out, but also to learn more about the job.
Like other industries, publishing is immensely competitive and for every job you get an interview for, hundreds more will have applied. Before you opt to work for free, ask yourself why you are doing it and how badly you want the experience. Will you be able to keep going when all hope seems lost?
I got there eventually, but it could have ended very differently.
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