Insider Q & A: Adam Eisenstein takes us inside McGraw-Hill

Think of publishing and you may think of the Devil Wears Prada. Or educational textbooks. But, there’s a lot more to it. Hear we learn the scoop on working in the industry from Adam Eisenstein,a Marketing/Branding Specialist for Talent Acquisition at The McGraw-Hill Companies, working across all business lines to connect recruiters to talent and vice-versa. 

If, after reading more about Adam’s work, you want to learn more…you can search & apply for jobs at the McGraw-Hill Career site, connect with Adam & McGraw-Hill recruiters via @McGrawHillJobs on Twitter & Facebook.  Or go old school email at adam_eisensteinmcgraw-hill.com.

What do you say to those who’ve declared the publishing industry dead? What types of jobs are you hiring for right now?

The biggest thing that I say is “it doesn’t really matter.” We are not really a publishing company anymore and haven’t been so for a while. We are in the business of delivering information.  If people want to see information in books, we’ll give them books; if they want it on their desktops or on an iPad or mobile, we’ll do that!  We use the tools and technology available today to help people succeed.

The thing people don’t know about McGraw-Hill is that Standard & Poor’s and Platts are huge parts of this company. Energy and financial services are our biggest growth sectors. We are a lot more than education. We still have jobs that are in Editorial, but editorial here spans from educational publishing to writing for Aviation Week or covering European energy markets.

If there’s one thing I wish every job seeker knew about McGraw-Hill, it would be the huge range of businesses, and that there are more opportunities in different fields and job functions than you have ever thought of.

How does a candidate get your attention?

You have relevant skills and experience – and you are passionate about the specific industry you are applying to work in. You have to care about the sector you are covering, show curiosity, and possess an understanding of the needs our products serve. If you don’t care about it, you won’t be good at it. When I talk to people at McGraw-Hill about their jobs and what they’re working on, their eyes light up.

If we’re looking for someone to work at Standard & Poor’s, we want to see candidates who are passionate about financial analysis. Candidates for jobs at Platts should be as passionate about energy as people are at J.D. Power about customer data and market research. McGraw-Hill Construction employees love building and architecture. And people at McGraw Hill Education are naturally passionate about education. It’s not about textbooks, it is about coming out with ideas – like McGraw-Hill Connect’s interactive platforms for high school teachers like McGraw-Hill Connect’s assignment and assessment platform, for example.

Do you have any “never do” tips for individuals in working with recruiters?

I understand what it feels like to be between jobs. It is a numbers game to some sense. But you’re not helping yourself by rolling through things and doing cut and paste. Don’t use the wrong company in a  cover letter, for example.

The biggest thing that my recruiters have as a pet peeve is when applicants don’t pay attention to the job description. Show that you’ve read it. If you’re not taking the time to assess whether your experience meets the role; it’s a waste of everyone’s time. People are upset when they don’t get follow-up. But the fact is on the other side of the equation, recruiters are working on up to 30 jobs. Don’t waste our time.

We have pre-screening questions; it’s easy to figure out what we’re looking for…Pay attention to those. Apply for the jobs you are qualified for; don’t pick the answers we want to hear.

Any bad assumption that you’ve seen job seekers make in applying for jobs with McGraw Hill?

McGraw Hill is known for educational publishing.  Many people remember using a McGraw Hill textbook for U.S. History. But publishing textbooks is only a fraction of the work we do. Only a minority of our jobs are in book publishing. Even in publishing, there are diverse jobs from social media marketing to public relations.

We are a global company with 20,000 employees and multiple business units. You need a lot of infrastructure to support that. We hire international employees in China, Brazil, the UK, and more.  More and more, we are looking for employees to start their careers in the U.S. with an eye to eventually move abroad.

Are there any questions I haven’t asked that I should be asking? What’s the question, and what’s your answer?

Why are you blogging? (McGraw-Hill has a Careers blog called The Virtual Cooler.)

Not just because everyone says you have to do it. For me, it’s about helping people help themselves get hired. We want to help people know how they can fit in. You look at job description after job description, sometimes it’s hard to know what applies to you. There’s always a gap between a job description and what the job is like in actuality – in a workplace culture. We like to fill in the gaps. We want to show you what it’s like to work at McGraw Hill and help you understand how you can fit it and what you could do with us.

Use it now—actionable—advice for job seekers:

Find a way to get introduced. Over 30% of our hires come from referrals. The biggest advantage you can have is when people know you. Get someone inside the company to advocate for you. Find the job, than find someone who can vouch for you, and apply for it. By the time the job is posted, it is almost too late. Hiring success often comes from someone you know.

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