Hot weather reading in Paris. Image – Getty iStockphoto: Olivier Djiann
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
See also: French Publishers: New Titles Down 18 Percent in Five Years
So Far: 900 Registered Job Candidates
In our Thursday report (June 27), we had news from the Syndicat national de l’édition (SNE), the French publishers’ association, and while much of that report was focused on the organization’s annual meeting, its new slate of officers, and some very helpful statistics about France’s book business, one footnote we included was about SNE’s merger with LivrEmploi, a publishing-employee recruitment platform.
Just opened in April during the Festival du Livre de Paris, the LivrEmploi (book employment) site is not unlike job sites and programs in many parts of the world and in many sectors of industry. But it’s focused on publishing and publishing careers.
Today (June 28), the association reports that LivrEmploi has:
- 900 registered candidates
- 300 job offers
- 10,000 visitors
Sending ‘Qualified Labor to the Publishing Industry
Operated free of charge to those using its services, LivrEmploi’s organizers and the publishers’ association report that its stats so far (above) are particularly good for a program that’s been in active operation for “barely two months.”
The cover of the LivrEmploi’s 59-page “map” of publishing careers. Image: SNE
Several sections of the site are familiar to those who know standard job portals:
A job exchange area in which publishers are listing openings. Here’s a bookstore and trade fair relations assistant at Gallimard Jeunesse, for example. And an opening for a digital content and community manager at Cambium Media. There’s an opening for an international rights sales assistant at Éditions Larousse. And at Flammarion, Madrigall Diffusion is looking for a distribution manager.
A CV library (curriculum vitae), for the submission and storing of a CV. This area has a note that a third of recruiters using the site to find potential hires are using the CV library before they post a job, a signal to job-seekers that their participation may get them the jump on a position.
A “Who We Are” section says that LivrEmploi is “an interprofessional association under the ‘1901 law’ under the aegis of the publishers association.” Its intent “in France and abroad” is “to support research and the advancement of professional excellence in all publishing professions, present and future.” The program, according to its introductory copy, helps to promote the publishing professions, raises their attractiveness, and funnels “qualified labor to the publishing industry.”
Pierre Dutilleul is president and Juliette Boué is the program’s development director.
A publishing sector part of the portal lists some statistics from the business, mentioning that the publishers association itself has 700 members and that France’s publishing workforce numbers more than 14,200 employees.
The book publishing business, in the French association’s estimation, comprises 35 occupations in eight sectors. A listing and descriptions of those occupations is here, and the program has created a “Map of Occupations” here, a PDF with graphical representations of various jobs.
And in its content area devoted to the industry, one section that’s well positioned for careerists who may be looking for entry points features very short mentions of “Issues and Challenges in the Publishing Sector.”
More information focuses on what educational requirements are common for various career classifications in publishing, and the association offers looks at its reports–as covered in Thursday’s story—on industry statistics and trends in the association’s annual “key figures” series.
The Merger and Potentials
In conjunction with the merger of the LivrEmploi portal with the SNE, the program plans to feature activities that feature outreach to educational institutions and a wider community of trade fairs; special professional meetings organized during such events as the Festival du Livre; and discussions, especially with the National Joint Employment Commission, on recruitment and skills development.
And one thing that may be of interest to other markets’ publishers’ associations considering the creation of such a portal is the fact that the LivrEmploi is not only for younger job seekers. Fully experienced and accomplished careerists are able to avail themselves of its offerings as those looking for entry-level positions.
Many publishers in pursuit of deeper diversity in their ranks in many markets have worked well on projects that introduce college-level potential candidates to the publishing. And while those programs are admirable and can yield solid candidates, they’re relatively slow because they are created, by definition, for younger people still working through their education.
The LivrEmploi can attract and spot a mature, experienced careerist just as easily as it can engage a younger person who may one day enter the publishing field. And that can only help, in some cases, to accomplish more diversity at a quicker rate, where an opening and candidate match up.
More from Publishing Perspectives on the French market is here, and more on industry statistics is here.
About the Author
