Last Friday I finished up at what is my last publishing-related internship that I have planned for the near future. While I love the industry, I can't afford to keep doing all this unpaid work with no guarantees of a job at the end of it.
I completed two weeks at a Camden-based literary agency. I signed a confidentiality agreement on my first day, so I won't name them, and I won't tell you much about what I did there. However, I will tell you that I was slightly disappointed. I'd heard good things about them, but once I was there I became more or less a glorified receptionist. The way it was meant to work was that they'd have two interns at one time (which they did) and the two interns would alternate days providing reception cover. For some reason this never happened, so for two weeks I was there as a receptionist first, and then doing odd bits of reading and writing reports when I could grab some spare time between phone calls and dealing with the post etc.
So that was unfortunate. But most of the people there were very lovely, and I did get to read a couple of fabulous manuscripts that I need to make a note of. One was the first book in a longer series, and of course I now want to know what happens in the rest of the series, so I'll have to keep an eye out over the next couple of years, I guess...
But now I'm finished with internships, and I don't really know what to do. I've got about four months worth of experience in total, and am keen to find a full-time job, but there aren't many out there at the minute and so I'm back home looking for other work. We'll see what happens. I'm still waiting to hear back from a couple of jobs in the industry, so I'll keep my fingers crossed. And if nothing happens there I'll have to find myself something else to be doing in the meantime, and also keep my eyes on the industry so I know if/when the vacancies open up.
Lots to think about. My brain is currently very scared by the big expanse of time that's opening up in front of me, with nothing to fill it.
Hmm. Something will turn up.
It is quite frustrating when companies try and exploit their work experience staff - hopefully some paid work will come along soon!
ReplyDelete