We caught up with Jessica Green, who joined Oxford University Press in October 2016 and is currently a Marketing Assistant for Global Academic, working across Humanities subjects including Literature, Music, and Linguistics. She talks to us about her favourite authors, her role, and OUP journey so far.
When did you start working at OUP?
The end of October 2016 – which already feels like a lifetime ago.
What was your first job in publishing?
This is actually my first job in publishing, post-graduation. I graduated in 2015 and spent some time travelling for a while, and more recently I worked for a small media company based in Birmingham.
What’s the most enjoyable part of your day?
Whenever I’ve completed or made progress on a particular project.
What’s the least enjoyable?
Waking up – I’m not particularly fond of early mornings as it is, but I’m currently commuting from Birmingham so my day starts very early!
What is the strangest thing currently on or in your desk?
An odd print out of a pug dressed up as Princess Leia – I’m really not sure how it ended up there, but I have zero plans to remove it.
What one resource/site would you recommend to someone trying to get into publishing?
I found the Bookseller really useful when applying for roles – it’s super easy to navigate, with advice and tips on breaking into the industry as well as general insight for casual reading.
What’s your favourite book?
Ask any bookworm this question and I’m sure they’ll struggle to answer. I don’t have a favourite but I’m a huge fan of Neil Gaiman – I’d read his shopping lists.
If you didn’t work in publishing, what would you be doing?
I would be in an industry where I was utilising my creative writing skills, such as Journalism or Advertising.
What’s the first thing you do when you get to work in the morning?
I head straight to the canteen for my daily dose of porridge.
Open the book you’re currently reading and turn to page 75. Tell us the title of the book, and the third sentence on that page.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari: “Large animals – the primary victims of the Australian extinction – breed slowly.”
What will you be doing once you’ve completed this Q&A?
I will be completing Google ad training, a practice that I’m soon to integrate into my role. I’ll also be putting together flyers for authors and working towards social media projects for our 2017 titles.
Tell us about one of your proudest moments at work.
I recently created an interactive map of names for The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, I was quite proud of it given that it took such a large amount of time to code!
If you could trade places with any one person for a week, who would it be and why?
Hilary Clinton – because it would be a very interesting week, undoubtedly.
What is your favourite word?
I usually have a word of the day, depending on how often I say it or the uniqueness of the word itself. But I’m a big fan of slipping archaic words into everyday conversation; I’ll often use “forsooth“, “hence”, and “thus” regularly and I even called somebody a “flibbertigibbet” the other day.
Longest book ever read?
The Lord of the Rings by the great Tolkien, if you consider it as one extended epic novel.
Favorite animal?
Foxes – they’re often labelled as miscreants but I believe that they’re simply misunderstood.
What drew you to work for OUP in the first place? What do you think about that now?
I was attracted to its prestigious reputation and the potential for career progression – which is fantastic for a recent graduate starting out in publishing.
How would you sum your job up in three words?
Eclectic, progressive, satisfying.
Featured image credit: Oxford, Street, England by keem1201. CC0 Public domain via Pixabay.
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