Publishing trends survey: How did you get your job in publishing?

I found a great blog called the Publishing Trends Blog and it has a lot of really useful and interesting information. It seems like they do a lot of surveys and I thinks are extremely helpful when learning about the publishing industry.

Their recent survey asked “How did you get your publishing job?” For those interested in getting their first publishing job: The main way is word of mouth, for 33.4% of survey respondents. 18.1% of respondents got their first job through a newspaper listing. Several respondents also said that they got their first publishing positions through employment agencies, like the Lynne Palmer Agency and “Career Blazers Agency.” These are curious results and I wonder how recently this survey was given (seems like it could have just as easily been done 10 years ago!).

For those of you already working in publishing and curious about how professionals found another publishing job: 35.5% of respondents heard about their current job via word of mouth. 9.6% found their position on the job board of a Web site like Publishers Marketplace, and 6% were recruited. Not surprisingly, it’s often about who you know.

In my case, I found my first publishing job on a job posting website (I believe it was CareerBuilder). My next job I got within the company, by word of mouth.

Best of luck to all you job seekers out there… It’s a scary world out there! If you’re interested in more general job seeking advice, check out the Career Mysteries blog: careermysteries.today.com. It has a lot of really useful information with advice for writing a resume and the Dos and Don’ts of acing your interview.

Have you had luck getting a job in the publishing industry? What worked for you? What advice do you have for job seekers? If you’re a job seeker, what sort of information are you looking for that might help you in your search?