Let's Go Applications Rise

The number of applications for the editor positions of Let's Go Travel Guides has risen dramatically, with 102 applicants for 29 openings, up from 45 last year.

Let's Go Publisher Benjamin H. Wilkinson '98-'99 calls the jump "very significant," especially since the job is a demanding one.

"We're excited about the rise," he said. "While we've always had an excellent crew [of editors], the job can be stressful and doesn't have quite the mystique of traveling" associated with being a researcher.

Wilkinson attributed the new interest to Let's Go's increased publicity efforts, which have included postering and on-campus information sessions. He noted that the position is "Very lucrative," with editors earning $9,100 over the course of the summer.

The newly selected editor of the Eastern Europe volume, Melissa L. Gibson '99, agrees that Let's Go's "excellent publicity for editor positions this year" fueled the rise, along with the "publicizing of the large salary, which hadn't been talked about so much in years past."

While surprised by the boost in interest this year, Gibson, who most recently served as a winter maps editor for the student-run company, said she was fairly confident that she would be selected because she had worked at Let's Go last summer and during this academic year.

Gibson added that she is looking forward to her new responsibilities, but she knows her management skills will be put to the test "because the potential for people to work poorly is pretty strong over the summer." For this reason, she said it could be awkward if she had to oversee her personal friends.

Wilkinson said the large number of qualified applicants, combined with the exacting nature of the job, made choosing editors difficult. Let's Go looked for people with experience in both publishing and management.

Editors officially begin work today and continue their term through Sept. 10, working 15 to 20 hours per week until June, and 40 hours per week after that. Each is responsible for planning and compiling one travel guide, a project that includes directing a staff of four to 14 still-to-be-hired researcher writers and associate editors.

"We were elated at having so many applicants," Wilkinson said. "Unfortunately, we couldn't interview everyone due to time constraints. Editing and writing abilities were important, along with a knowledge of the regions for which they were applying."

Managing skills also figured into the decisions. Applicants explained how they would respond if one of their researchers threatened to quit, and how they would communicate their concerns about subpar copy. Such skills are important because "it can be hard to manage as many as 14 of your own peers--people you see in the dining halls every day," Wilkinson said.

In addition, Let's Go editors have "a degree of editorial control that's unheard of anywhere else," he said.

Four of the hired applicants are graduate students, including D. Jonathan Dawid, a first-year graduate student who chose to edit Let's Go's France guide over teaching in the Harvard Summer School because "it's more money, and it provides job experience in publishing, which I'm interested in--being able to have a book with my name on it."

Dawid added that he was surprised to get the job because he had heard that the process was somewhat closed to outsiders. His only prior experience in publishing consists of some work on a student newspaper at Cambridge University.

The new editor of the guide to Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, Thomas J. Davidson '99, had traveled through Sweden and Denmark for Let's Go as a researcher-writer last summer. But though he said he knows what to expect at the office,

Davidson said he was "very surprised" at the number of applications and "pleased to make it through." Davidson, who had not traveled much and had no professional writing experience before he was hired last summer, notes that Let's Go "can be a great chance for students, even if they don't have much experience, because only college students are hired. Though there's a lot of competition, there'd be far more in almost any other situation."

Davidson also concedes that it may be difficult to "serve as people's boss, and then hang out with them on weekends. But the office is pretty laid-back, so the hierarchy can be somewhat unofficial, as long as everyone does the job."