Editorial assistant — Elizabeth So

Although Elizabeth doesn't have a scientific background, she was still able to secure a job with the Royal Society of Chemistry due to her English qualifications

What degree did you study?

I studied English at Durham University followed by a Masters in creative writing (poetry) at the University of St Andrews.

How did you get your job?

I had significant administration experience and related qualifications and professional experience, such as in copy-editing. This stood me in good stead for the organisational rigors and high level of communication required at the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).

What's a typical working day like?

I manage my allotted journals' inboxes, responding to scientists' queries. I organise my time around various tasks passed on to me by my team or that come in on an ad-hoc basis day-to-day including scheduling meetings, issuing payments and updating the webpages among many others.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

The RSC is full of lovely people, and I have always had good relations with my team members. The role itself is varied and contains lots of systems and tasks that sometimes only come to the fore annually or quarterly, so week-on-week there are always new challenges and things to learn.

What are the challenges?

Time management is essential for the role, and having a good handle on your workload and the various relative priorities of tasks is a must to make sure you are as efficient as possible. Thankfully, in my experience, teams are proactive about streamlining tasks and encourage feedback to make sure that workloads are feasible.

In what way is your degree relevant?

The role requires a high-level of written English as you need to independently compose or copyedit correspondence to professionals around the world. As such, it is quite common for this position to be filled by people with literature, language and arts backgrounds, despite this being a scientific publisher.

What advice can you give to others wanting to get into this job?

• Keep an eye on the RSC website, as this role is often advertised multiple times throughout the year.
• It is possible for people who fill maternity leave positions to be kept on permanently, depending on arising vacancies across the department, so applying for a temporary position could be advantageous in the long run.
• Computer literacy is intrinsic to the role, so brushing up on your typing speed and learning a key code or two could give you an edge at interview.

Find out more

• Read all about being an editorial assistant.
• Take a look at the marketing, advertising and PR sector.