Life as Production Assistant at OUP

Six months ago I received an email that changed my life. We had to start this with a dramatic opening. I have been celebrating the half a year mark at Oxford University Press lately and the nostalgia, mixed with SHEER RELEIF of passing my probation period got me feeling reflective and so, here we are. I thought I'd share a few highlights/shocking revelations/epiphany's I've had over this past half a year.

You will be trusted to form and sustain relationships with core suppliers. One aspects of my current role that never fails to blow my mind just a tad on a daily basis is the sheer reach of people I get to engage with. My position can often lend itself to a lot of solitary work, which can be the best thing in the world on those days when you're feeling duff and have zero meetings for hours so just want to work from bed or the sofa with a bowl of yellow-sticker soup (a description, not a brand...unless?). It always makes me feel better about my lack of meetings when the people I'm emailing are from China, India, Italy etc. As someone who has travelled a very limited amount, I find this experience super inspiring and never stop picturing what their offices may look like and I am forever jealous of the people who get to visit them. Holding out for an invite to join them. *wink* Internal Social Media is a thing My previous role was with a super tiny spirits company that produced a lot of gin and was edging its way into the whisky market (or whiskey...you decide). We were composed of around 8-12 members of staff at the best of times which covered all manners of roles from senior leadership to distilling to labelling. This meant I wore around three different hats during my time there. Naturally, moving to working for the largest university press in the world was going to be a culture shock but nothing prepared me for quite how different it actually is. One thing that put it heavily into perspective for me was the use of our internal social media. Which, to be honest, is mostly littered with images of cats and cakes and sprinkled with the odd chance to find a volunteer day or product launch. The use of this does mean OUP employees can ostensibly be divided into two types of people: those who avidly scroll through the 'social media' platform throughout the work day, reposting articles from The Bookseller and chipping in their two cents as to what's on the canteen menu for that week and then there are those who avoid it like the plague, forgetting it exists for months at a time. I adore this culture and trying to spot in the line at the coffee bar which category people may fall into based on the way they look. On that note, I often play a similar game with a close colleague of mine, where we attempt to guess over our Americano's which division and department people who flit past may belong to. It IS possible to find a bucket load of nice people in one place Now, I can't decide if it's because of a common interest in the bookish realm or if there is something funky in the restaurant food but practically every. single. person I have encountered so far at OUP has been completely wonderful. Lord KNOWS it's not due to the industry salaries. So many of them seem to be well skilled in the art of keeping their personal frustrations away from seeping into emails to internal customers and appear to have levels of patience I HEAVILY aspire to. You can walk around one wing to another and everyone you will pass will likely smile and say hello, ask you how you are. Perhaps not too mind-blowing to some but this is not something us English people typically do, unless we have just had the best day of our lives or received the news McDonald's Monopoly is back on. My team are especially lovely and such a dream to work with. It has been such a lovely start to my publishing career knowing them.

This building is serious The OUP Oxford office is quite possibly the most stunning building I have laid my (partially impaired) eyes on. It does mean when you first start and have in-person meetings somewhere other than reception or the coffee bar you will inevitably get very, very lost. I have since met members of staff who have been with OUP for decades who still claim not to know their way around the entirety of the building. It is filled with so many cool features too. From a sizeable library littered with OUP publications to a mysteriously deep fountain that is rumoured to be filled with old printing presses. There is even an old pub I'm desperately hoping they will decide to reopen. A personal highlight I have failed to get over is the fact we have a museum on the ground floor. It has so many fascinating aspects but the most treasured, by far, for me is the small collection of definitions for the Oxford English Dictionary's that were handwritten and submitted by Tolkien. The day I first came across these, I got down on my knees and marvelled for about 15 minutes until I decided I should probably get back to doing my actual job. It is truly a very special place to work, and I can see why so many people stay for decades.