Career Changes: Publishing Post

All right, how the heck does one say they’re off to do something new but here I am letting you know that in a couple of weeks I’ll no longer be a marketing assistant at Oxford University Press. It’s been three years, three different and wonderful managers, and two different roles so it feels a little weird to say bye to this part of my life. I think anyone who has followed my publishing posts from the start knows that my time hasn’t always been easy, but the positives have always outweighed the negatives (especially now I’m not paying Oxford’s obscene rent prices) and I’m glad I stuck with it. This marketing assistant job was my first office job and my first real paid role in publishing, and led to me meeting and living with a gal that I now consider one of my best friends. The people at OUP really are some of the best and I’m going to miss our office antics rather terribly, but I don’t think this announcement will come as a surprise to anyone who knows me in real life; I’ve been looking for the perfect step-up role for a while now and I think I’ve struck gold with this one.

Now onto the fun stuff, my new role. I’m off to IOP Publishing in Bristol to join their team as a Marketing Executive and Library Account Developer, and I’m really rather excited to start something brand new. I’ll be working closely with my team and librarians to help increase usage and engagement with IOP’s offering, and I feel like the role will help me continue to develop the skills I’ve built while working on online products. The job comes with some fabulous perks including potential European travel (if we ever escape this pandemic), working and planning my own campaigns from start to finish, and a rather healthy pay bump. The location too was a big draw for me with one of my closest friends calling Bristol their home, and the pull of constant access to cat cuddles was too powerful to resist; I guess hanging out with them will be nice too but dang are those cats snuggly. I’m not in any rush to make the move to the city (I’m nervously hoping to buy a place) so I’ll be continuing to work from home for the time being, but I already have lunch plans with my new team to look forward too and the office Christmas party!

I obviously haven’t started yet, and there are lots to be nervous about, but I’m so excited to meet my new team in person and continue to grow within an industry that I love. I’m not going to give you my interview-style chat for too much longer, but I’ll update you once I’m settled in and let you know how starting a new job remotely has gone.