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I've now been at the RSC for over four months and I am learning new skills every day...

I was debating whether to begin a PhD in toxicology or get started with a career when I stumbled across an advertisement for the RSC Graduate Scheme in Publishing. Right away, I knew it would be the right career path for me so I was ecstatic when I was offered a position as a publishing editor.

I joined the Organic Applications team in October and I have felt welcome since day one. To start with I began training in proof reading and after a month or so I began publishing articles without any supervision. Since then I have undertaken my editing training which is really interesting and totally different to anything I’ve done before. I will also begin my peer review training this week so the pace is beginning to quicken and I’m enjoying every minute. The skills that I am learning each day will be vital to my (hopefully) successful career in STM publishing.

My favourite thing about working at the RSC is that I have the opportunity to read exciting research every day and play a part in making it accessible to the world.

The people at the RSC are great. We have a true mix of characters from all walks of life and it really feels like a tight-knit organisation. There are always activities and social events being organised which is not something that can be said of many employers right now.

I feel completely at home at the RSC; there are so many opportunities and new things to learn that I am sure that I will be here for a long time.

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Brad is a Graduate working in the Royal Society of Chemistry's Science, Education and Industry/Publishing Department. To see if there are any current vacancies go to 'RSC: Latest Vacancies' Blog or subscribe to 'RSC: Latest Vacancies' by Email

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Just over six months into the Science Education and Industry (SEI) Grad programme and I am still enjoying every moment. I spent five months in the Education team and I’m about one month in to my Communications rotation.

The SEI Graduate programme has been a fantastic experience for me. Having had two years job experience beforehand, I wanted the chance to find something that I felt passionate and, more importantly, something I enjoyed doing. I instantly found this in the Education team, where I have been working on a series of projects and resources that form part of the RSC brand new education website Learn Chemistry website.

As I said to my colleagues within a month of joining the RSC, “I have learnt more in the last month than two years working in other jobs!” The experience and diversity of projects that graduates work on is second to none and I am continuing to develop and learn more every day. The Communications department is no exception. I have worked on a diverse range of projects from project managing our 2012 Policy lecture series to putting together articles for our internal newsletter.

Life in Cambridge has been great! I have been living here for about a year now and it’s a beautiful city to live in. Having previously lived in the picturesque town of Heidelberg in Germany, Cambridge was a nice transition.

Today is an exciting day for me as I have moved back to the Education team to take up a permanent position working on Learn Chemistry. Although I’m sad to leave the Grad scheme, this opportunity was too good to turn down. 

On Friday, I am going to Germany to film a new Faces of Chemistry video with BASF – watch the space!

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 Richard is a Graduate working in the Royal Society of Chemistry's Science, Education and Industry Department. To see if there are any current vacancies go to 'RSC: Latest Vacancies' Blog or subscribe to 'RSC: Latest Vacancies' by Email

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Some of you may have noticed that I blogged before as a summer intern at the RSC (http://my.rsc.org/blogs/87/486) and now I'm blogging in the Graduate Blog. Well, having really enjoyed my summer position here, I applied for the graduate scheme and joined the RSC as a permanent member of staff in early October. So I've now been here for four months full time (almost seven months if you count the internship!!) and it really has flown by.

Since October I have completed my Proofreading training, quickly progressed onto Editing training and now that is drawing to a close I am just about to start my Peer Review training. Along the way I have adopted a journal of my very own to look after - Integrative Biology (http://pubs.rsc.org/en/journals/journalissues/ib) - which involves co-ordinating the covers and building both the print and online versions of each issue.

I think organising the covers for the journals is one of my favourite jobs (so far) at the RSC, I get to invite authors to submit artwork for the covers of the each issue, and then choose which ones appear where in the journal (front cover, inside front cover, back cover). It involve
s a lot of communication with the authors, which I really enjoy, and it's always exciting to see the final product when we receive the first print copies of the issue.

Opporunities for career progression is something the RSC does really well- in just four months I have been given duties involving a lot of responsibility and roles which have a visible impact on the RSCs portfolio of journals. We are given lots of opportunities to take on new things, whether it's running journal covers or organising team events. It's a really good way to learn new skills and it looks really good on your CV if you've been proactive and really got involved. Certainly, it will help when it comes to moving on from the graduate positions and progressing through the company.

In other news, I'm running a stand at a careers fair at the University of Birmingham on the 29th of February, if anyone out there is interested in Graduate roles at the RSC, do come and ask me some questions. I'll be happy to talk about anything- about the graduate roles, about living in Cambridge, or even about what I'm having for dinner that night (probably a KitKat at Peterborough train station). I hope to have a lot of leaflets and information with me so if you're wondering what you are going to do after graduation, come along and find out about working with the RSC.

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Alicia is a Graduate working in the Royal Society of Chemistry's Publishing Department. To see if there are any current vacancies go to 'RSC: Latest Vacancies' Blog or subscribe to 'RSC: Latest Vacancies' by Email

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PhD student to Publishing Editor

Towards the end of my PhD, after a few months of indecision, I finally accepted that academia wasn’t for me and in the hope of gaining some direction and I attended an RSC postgraduate careers day. I learned about the graduate publishing scheme there and it sounded perfect for me, so I applied.

I was invited to the assessment day in Cambridge and I knew pretty much  as soon as I arrived that the RSC would be somewhere that I’d enjoy working; everyone I met was relaxed, helpful and friendly, plus the food we had for lunch was excellent! Even though I was very nervous to start with, I had a great day and got to meet some senior staff members as well as some current grads.

I’m now in my seventh month of the grad scheme and I’m fully trained in peer-review and proof reading. I’ve learnt so much since I started and there’s still loads to come. I’ve recently started my editing training which I’m really enjoying , I’ve also been assigned two associate editors to look after and given the task of putting together whole issues of journals.

As you can see, there’s quite a variety of skills needed to do all the different tasks of a publishing editor, which is all part of the fun of the job! I arrived here never having had a professional job and as well as learning all the specialist skills needed for this job I’ve gained general professional skills. On top of the work-related benefits, I’ve also met some great new people and have got to know a new city having moved to Cambridge from Bristol to start at the RSC.

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Lucy is a Graduate working in the Royal Society of Chemistry's Publishing Department. To see if there are any current vacancies go to 'RSC: Latest Vacancies' Blog or subscribe to 'RSC: Latest Vacancies' by Email

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Four and a bit months in, I have just completed a rotation within the Education team, and am 5 days in to my new rotation in Science.

The last 4 months at the RSC have been a non-stop learning process. It seems infinitely long ago that my working days were concerned with the operating properties of lasers and the intricacies of lab mug use etiquette, and it's a change that I don't regret in the slightest.

Working in the Education department I was lucky enough to be involved in a wide variety of projects. From helping put together the data for our Visual Elements Periodic Table, to managing the production of a new interactive game, and even getting to spend a day in North London video production suite working on the promo for our Faces of Chemistry videos.

Leaving was sad, especially as the new Learn Chemistry site is launched, but more than anything I'm looking forward to my time in Science. I'd been hoping to get involved in policy work, and by the looks of it, there's a lot to come.
 

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more...

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I have now been at the RSC for 2 months working as a development editor in the Inorganic Team (Dalton Transactions, CrystEngComm and Catalysis Science & Technology)
 
I joined the RSC straight from University having finished the experimental work for my PhD in August, so I’m now balancing working life with writing my thesis. The RSC is a very friendly place for graduates to join as there are a great number of us in the same boat!
 
The role as Development Editor is very varied and every day I am doing something completely different. For example yesterday I wrote blog posts for ‘Hot Articles’ in Dalton Transactions and liaised with board members about promoting the journal at different conferences. Today I’ve designed journal flyers and found some leads for commissioning review articles.
 
So far one of the most exciting parts of the job is having leading authors accept review invitations. It can be really time consuming looking for suitable authors and topics and then inviting them to submit a paper, so it’s great when they accept.
 
Switching from research to publishing has been a great change and I’ll keep you updated as I progress through the Graduate Training Scheme 

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Matthew is a Graduate working in the Royal Society of Chemistry's Publishing Department. To see if there are any current vacancies go to 'RSC: Latest Vacancies' Blog or subscribe to 'RSC: Latest Vacancies' by Email