Hi Ed. I am graduating in May and am freaking out about it. Like everyone else, I am planning on moving to New York after graduation. I know that for posted, specific job openings, my best bet would be to apply to such only when I am living in NY and ready to start work.
A mentor at a recent internship, however, told me that the HR department of many publishing companies (Hearst, Condé Nast, etc.) conduct 'introductory' interviews, and that she eventually got her current job as an editorial assistant through these interviews.
Could I (or should I) send my resume out to these HR departments now in hopes of obtaining such and interview, or do I have to wait until I graduate to do this, too?
2.) Also, what is the best way to contact the West Coast branches of New York-based magazines concerning available jobs out there? Would it be best for me to go through the NY office or to the CA address listed in the masthead? Again, when would be the right time to send these resumes—now or later?
Thank you so so much for your help. Your website has taught me everything I needed to know about getting and landing internships, and I am going to pray it does the same for me in the absolutely terrifying process of job-hunting.
Nicole
Boston, Massachusetts
Dear Nicole,
Try not to fret just yet. You have plenty of time to find your first magazine job. In fact, the one luxury of looking for magazine jobs (over say some boring spot in an accounting firm) is that you don't have to really work it until a month before you move to New York, or even until after you move here. Like I've said in previous Ask Ed columns (and you should read those; they're all listed at the bottom of the current Ask Ed column and are down-loadable), you can't
get a mag job unless there is a spot open. And since you can't even start till June, it doesn't make much sense to send them your resume in February.
Yes, most HR companies, including Hearst and Conde Nast, do "informational interviews" which is basically a job interview for when there is no specific
job available. You and the company are just feeling each other out. It's a great way to learn about what you want and for them to learn about where you will be the best fit (what kind of mag, what position, what personality you're best to be matched with, etc.). It's a good idea to try to meet for informational interviews with HR reps at all the publishing houses in New York when you move here (so that's not till June!) so maybe start setting up appointments in May.
The best way to contact any magazine is to, well, call them up. Be assertive, not passive! The jobs ain't coming to you. Go to Barnes & Noble (or your friendly independent book seller if he's still in business) and pull out all the magazines you want to work for. Look up the name of the managing editor
in the masthead (usually the ME is the one who hires, especially at smaller magazines) and ask him/her if 1) there are any jobs open at the magazine and 2) if not, could you come in for a 10-minute informational interview? They may surprise you and say yes to either question. If they say no, ask if you can send them a cover letter (keep it to 1 page and be clear about when you're going to be living in NYC), a resume (also one page!!!), and two or three of your best clips (ideally from your internship at a magazine or from your college magazine) so they can call if anything does open. I wouldn't do this until May, or a month before you graduate. Any earlier they'll forget about you when it comes to hiring.
I think you really should decide first where you want to live … like I've said in other Ask Ed columns, you really have to live where you want to work. No one is going to hire you if you're out of state. So decide now if you want
to go to California or New York and focus only on one. If you want to work in California for a New York based magazine as you suggest, you can find the name of the West Coast editor in the masthead of the magazine and email her directly about any entry-level spots that are open there. I'd say the best way to reach them is email since it's going to be hard to geta phone number for them. One trick that freelance writers seem to have caught on to well is learning the email address format of all the major publishers. For instance, at Hearst it's usually firstinitiallastname@hearst.com. At Condé Nast it's firstname_lastname@condenast.com and at Time Inc it's firstname.lastname@timeinc.com. Usually magazines include their email addresses in their mastheads or reader letter pages. You can steal their format from there. You can also use this trick to contact the managing editors for informational interviews, but be careful: A lot of editors see unsolicited emails as an invasion of privacy. The last thing you want to do right now is piss anyone off!
Of course, it goes without saying that when you do move to New York (or wherever you want to get your first magazine job), you have to apply to every EA job
that you hear about. Check all the journalism job websites (click on JOBS on our site for many of them). Tell everyone you know that you're looking for a magazine job and start going to happy hours (go to our EVENTS link). Apply for jobs you're not even crazy about—it'll give you good interviewing practice for when your dream job pops up.
Best of luck,
Ed
