Resume: Check. Perfect interview outfit: Check. Remembering to read the masthead before the interview? Whoops! In this competitive industry, it’s hard enough to land a meeting, let alone the job, and the last thing you want to do is look unprepared. Ed feels your pre- (and post) interview pain,so he put together this list of things to know before you go.
Last Wednesday, Rodale announced that its popular men’s magazine, Best Life, would close; its May issue (on newsstands next month) will be its last and, according to AdAge.com, the website will be going dark as well. The five-year-old title, a spinoff of Men’s Health, actually had a 6.6 percent increase in ad sales last year and an average circulation of about 520,000. But, after reporting a first quarter drop in ad sales of 36.3 percent, the decision was made to fold the magazine.
Adam Raymond, 23, is a recent casualty of what Gawker deemed the Great Magazine Die-Off. He was an associate editor at Radar, a magazine that unceremoniously folded, possibly for good this time, the week before Halloween.
Did you always know that you wanted to work at a magazine?
I went to Williams College fully intending to go to law school. But when it came time to apply, I realized that’s not what I wanted to do. So after I graduated, I moved to New York and got a job in finance because I figured I should learn about business…
Love it or hate it, networking’s a big part of making it in this industry—the more people you know, the more word-of-mouth jobs you’ll find out about. So how do you expand your network? Gain amazing contacts and, more importantly, learn how to keep them, with these dos and don’ts:
As if you needed reminding, breaking into magazines is tough, but doing it as a minority applicant can be even tougher.
“People still believe that blacks don’t read magazines, as evidenced by who’s on magazine covers,” says Wendy Wilson, a staff writer at Essence. “Editors and hiring managers need to realize that there are more minorities who are highly educated and have the experience and the pedigree needed to get the job done.”
Do you need to get a thank-you clue or are you an etiquette expert? Take this quiz to find out if you need to brush up on your thank-you note know-how.
1. When you’re done with an interview, you:
A—Wait and see if they hire you.
B—Send the editor a box of chocolates to show how much you want the job.
C—E-mail her and tell her how nice it was to meet her, and that you’re looking forward to working on the edit test.
D—Write a nice, handwritten thank-you card and drop it in the mail that day or the next morning.
CORRECT ANSWER: C, D, or both.
What is your best piece of advice for recent graduates?
If you’re interviewing with a magazine editor, make sure you’ve read her magazine! Have some thoughts and questions about it, and be able to talk about where you think you’d best contribute and where you’d like to fit in down the road. Keep your mind open about job possibilities when you interview with people. …..
Sure, they’re all happily employed now, but the members of Ed’s staff were once jobless college grads trying desperately to make it in the magazine world. Read on for some inspiration:
The story ideas that you pitch can make or break your test. Find out what stands out—and what gets you taken out of the running for a job.
GET TO KNOW THE MAGAZINE
Head to your library and dig through the past six issues. “That will help you conceptualize and package ideas for the sections that you’re pitching and get you on the same wavelength as the magazine’s editors,” says Wendy Naugle, Deputy Health Editor at Glamour.
Ah, summer, the season where flocks of interns hit the city and start (or continue) their magazine editorial careers. But there are some things you should know before you start so you keep your editors happy. (Warning: Ed’s going to give it to you straight. He still loves you and all, but this isn’t for the faint of heart.)
Always complete an assigned task
“It’s a tough climate. The amount of jobs is shrinking. The best thing you can do is get your foot in the door as an intern. That’s how you meet all the possible people who can bring you back as an employee. And if you want to write, our editors are always up for suggestions, ideas, and reading your stuff. We’re always looking for talent. Take advantage of where you are [as an intern] and try to make those contacts.”
- Jann Wenner, Founder and Editor of Rolling Stone
For the subway-riding, cocktail-drinking among us, it can be tough to remember that magazine journalism exists—and thrives—outside of New York City. But it does and, as it turns out, there are lots of advantages to magazine life outside of the Big Apple. Ed’s recent survey reveals how the other half lives.
With happy hours around the corner in both New York and Chicago, Ed wanted to give you some pointers so you get as much out of them as possible.
1. If you’re shy, come with somebody.
Whether it’s a co-worker or a friend at another magazine, having a buddy will make it easier for you to approach other happy hour-goers. Don’t know anyone? Find a new pal on the message boards, meet a few minutes before the happy hour, then tackle the get-together.
2. Go with the right goal in mind.
What is your best piece of advice for recent graduates?
Don’t worry about finding the perfect job. If there’s one thing you really like about a company, you’ll get something out of working there. Maybe it’s exposure to the workings of a mega-circulation national magazine—even if you do nothing but make photocopies all day. Or you could be a vital part of a small staff at a title no one’s ever heard of. Maybe you’re really into chess; take that receptionist job at Chess Weekly. Or you might know someone on staff at an obscure medical journal who will look out for and mentor you. Chances are, your first few jobs won’t be all you ever dreamed of, but you can still meet great people and learn a lot.
Ed knows that not all of you want to work at a women’s magazine, so we got in touch with Jim Meigs, EIC of Popular Mechanics, the Hearst men’s magazine about science, technology, cars, and electronics. Meigs, who has spent his last five years in this post, told us about how he worked his way up the magazine ladder, the merits of working at trade magazines, and how a lack of typing skills almost got in the way of his success.
Did you always know you wanted to work in magazines?
Kate White, editor-in-chief of the most successful women’s magazine in the U.S. (Cosmo, in case you didn’t know), recently cleared her busy schedule to talk to Ed. Read on to find out how she got her start (by winning a contest to work at Glamour), how to get a promotion, and what her biggest pet peeve is.
Did you always know that you wanted to work for magazines?
The recent Ask Ed column advising against grad school struck a chord with a number of Edsters and started quite a debate on the message board. To get to the bottom of this, we decided to investigate the question further: Is it worth it to get a master’s in journalism?
What advice can you give recent graduates?
Try your hardest not to get discouraged. You’ll see your [non-magazine] friends landing jobs at big companies, entering sales training programs, making pretty good salaries, etc. You are not in the same kind of business so don’t compare yourself to them. You may not get a job right out of school and you may not even have a staff position a year after you graduate. But that doesn’t mean you can’t work in the industry as soon as you want to.
Freelancing while on staff can lead to more money, better clips, and even a new job, but every opportunity has its risks, most notably losing your day job. Read on to learn from the mistakes and successes of our most byline-weary Edsters!
Not to get all biblical on you, but whenever Ed sees someone commit one of these sins in her cover letter, that applicant will need help from a higher power before she gets called in for the job. So keep these in mind the next time you apply for a spot, and thou shalt receive an interview:
1. Thou shalt not address her cover letter to “Whom it may concern.”
Ed’s friend just put a call out for interns, and she included her name in the job post. She intended to get cover letters addressed to her, but instead, there were some who were addressed to “Internship Coordinator,” and worse, “Whom it may concern.”
Ed loves giving you info about getting your foot in the door straight from editors who’ve done it, but now he’s offering you a new perspective. Check out what Jayne Jamison, Vice President and Publisher of Seventeen, thinks you ought to know:
What should junior editors know about the publishing side of magazines?
OK folks. Let’s end the confusion on what makes a good resume here and now. Ed’s seen a bazillion. And if you don’t trust his judgment alone, trust the judgment of editors of top magazines in New York City and the reps at the HR departments of the top magazine companies ‘cause Ed talked to them about what they like and don’t like, too. (Yeah, Ed has boring conversations, but he does it all for you.)
Here you go:
• Keep the thing to one page. When you become editor-in-chief one day, maybe then you can make it two pages.
Follow this advice for a resume that gets read—and gets you interviews.
1. Make it easy to read.
Most editors don’t have time to decipher an illegible, disorganized resume, so keep yours neat. Don’t use colored ink, more than two fonts (and avoid crazy ones!), or big font sizes (your name can be slightly larger, but making it HUGE looks juvenile). Italicize all publication titles and spell out the months in your dates of employment, instead of using numbers. “February 1999-present” and “Feb ’99 to present” are both fine, but be consistent throughout.
At last week’s Dot-Com Panel, edsters heard panelists discuss the death of print, love of self-promotion, and why top ten lists get the most traffic. Read on for more advice from panelists (from left) Marc Boxser who has worked as a Digital Media Consultant at grist.org and several other sites, Dodai Stewart, Senior Editor at jezebel.com, Julia Allison, co-founder of nonsociety.com, and Julie Hochheiser, Senior Web Editor at seventeen.com.
