In scholarly publishing, everyone has a unique story about how they’ve ended up in their role. This webinar will focus on how early career professionals might approach their career decisions and “get to the next level,” be that pivoting to a different area of publishing, moving laterally, or transitioning to a position with more responsibility. Panelists will share their experiences and the resources and tools they found helpful in their career journeys.

Using strategic planning principles for your personal career can create direction, clarity, and focus that ultimately leads to a more successful career. This Interactive Session/Workshop focuses on strategies that university press professionals, in a wide range of career levels and job functions, can take to plan, manage, and advance their careers. We will explore principles of strategic planning, goal setting, prioritization, and more toward personal career development. We'll also discuss the SSP Skills Map and key skills that will be needed in 2030 and beyond; how these skills might differ for editorial, marketing, production, and management; the value of professional certification and advanced degrees for publishing professionals; and awareness of the need for publishing to be accessible and to include people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. The strategies, tools, and action steps we'll explore in this interactive session will aid you in mentoring others, benefit your team and your organization, and help you to advance through the profession and achieve your goals. || Speakers: Randy Townsend; John W. Warren; Danielle Galian; Ashley Warren

Publishing can be a tough industry to break into, and scholarly publishing can feel particularly insular and unwelcoming to newcomers. In response, many industry organizations provide mentorship/development programs to support early-career professionals. This session will provide viewers with the information and tools they need to identify and participate in mentoring programs and strategies to develop a replicable framework for career development. To frame our conversation, we will review SSP's Professional Survey and Skills Map to help viewers understand how to use the map. Panelists representing several mentorship programs will discuss how to get the best out of a mentor/mentee relationship, discuss approaches to developing your "elevator pitch," and share ideas for less formal networking. Viewers will hear from individuals who have participated in various programs to help further demystify how mentoring works and how it helped their careers. The session will run as a lightly scripted live podcast. || Learning Level: Mixed-Learning