You’ve heard it over and over again: Magazine jobs are scarce thanks to publishing companies shuttering titles and scaling back staffs on the pubs that thrive. Still, there are openings, and Edsters are snatching them up. Here, three success stories to inspire you:
Chandra Turner, former Executive Editor at CosmoGirl, prospective Executive Editor at Parents
“We had just done a redesign of CosmoGirl which garnered great feedback from advertisers. I wouldn’t have been as surprised if CG folded six months prior or six months later, but October, when it actually folded, seemed to be a good time for CG.
After I heard the news, my mind was reeling, ‘What can I do to get a job now?’ I was eight and a half months pregnant. I knew I’d never find a job if I waited til after the baby was born. Plus, the economy was only going to get worse, and I’d have more competition and less sympathy if I stalled. I returned to my desk and started emailing my resume to my magazine friends. I had three HR interviews by day’s end — at Conde Nast, Time Inc, and Rodale. No one had jobs, but at least I had interviews.
Still, I thought it’d take me a year to get another full-time job at my level. I assumed I’d have to work as a freelance editor; ironically, as soon as I was able to, I’d be filling in for other editors’ maternity leaves. Executive Editor and EIC jobs just don’t open up every day — not even in a good economy. So I was ready to take whatever I could get to pay the mortgage and feed two kids. My husband’s salary simply couldn’t cover all the expenses — and in this economy his job wasn’t a sure thing either. Three weeks after I lost my job, they laid off 20 percent of his staff. Luckily he survived. I nearly died from a nervous breakdown though.
Before anything happened at CG, I was watching the situation over at Meredith unfold. I had friends there who predicted the Exec at Parents would be placed elsewhere in the company. And then when it became official that there was an opening — the same day CG folded, amazingly — I jumped on it. But even without that, I saw on Mediabistro that the job was open that Saturday. At least a dozen people emailed me the posting. Any other job I wouldn’t have been as right for, so this was really serendipitous. I wrote a cover letter on Sunday. Dana, the EIC, called me Monday. We met Wednesday. She gave me an edit test Friday. I turned it in on Monday morning.
The biggest differences between job-hunting in the past and job-hunting in this economy is that you can’t wait a second to apply. You also have to be willing to change direction, get out of your comfort zone, look at jobs you may not have before. Luckily I found something that was a natural fit. But if I hadn’t, I would have been pursuing men’s muscle mags and gardening mags with just as much fervor.”
Abbe Wright, former Teen Vogue intern, current assistant to the EIC at Elegant Bride, Modern Bride, and Your Prom
“I was recently offered my dream job as an assistant at Conde Nast, and I couldn’t be more excited! Sure, I graduated in ‘07, but Ed helped me find my internship at Teen Vogue, which got me an interview with HR, which resulted in me receiving this job, my first step in the world of magazine editorial. Ed has not only been a wealth of interview and resume knowledge, but also a forum for networking and a resource for all of us out there hunting for jobs. Ed, you gave me sanity, if only because I knew everyone out there was having an equally frustrating time!”
Meredith Bodgas, former Senior Editor at Babytalk, current Weddings Editor at The Knot
“After multiple rounds of layoffs at The Parenting Group, I knew I was lucky to have survived, especially since I was in the middle of wedding-planning and buying a home. But with the economy growing worse, I didn’t want to be around if my luck were to run out. I saw a posting on Ed for a job at The Knot. I had worked at a wedding magazine before, and this job would be a mix of online and print work — it sounded too good to be true. I sent over a cover letter and my resume, and I had a response in an hour.
It turned out, the editor hiring was one of the editors I assisted as an intern over six years ago, yet another reminder of how small this industry is! The interview went well, but I knew the competition would be stiff with so many talented editors out of work. I worked my butt off on the edit test. A little over a week after I turned it in, I had an offer.
I felt guilty accepting a new job when I already had one and so many people didn’t, but I figured I’d be leaving an opening at Babytalk. I was wrong; they decided not to fill it. Sure enough, there were more layoffs the day after I gave notice. I can’t help but wonder if I would have been one of them.”
