Unsolicited Advice

By Anonymous

If you think getting fired from magazine job will turn your world upside down, you’re right. But that devastating feeling is only temporary. Even if you can’t look back and laugh about the day Susie Smith didn’t invite you to birthday party, you will be able to laugh about this one day. But first, there will be some tears.

I had recently been promoted to assistant editor after about a year on the job. So when the editor-in-chief called me into her office less than a week later, I didn’t think she was going to tell me she was thinking of firing me. After a search of the staff’s emails (yes, they can—and do—do that), an email I sent was deemed to be inappropriate, and I had signed a contract my first day on the job promising never to use the company email system inappropriately. I had violated a company policy.

When Ed heard about the “Intern Queen,” who had a total of 15 internships during her four years of college, he knew she had to have some interesting advice to share. When you intern 15 times, you’ve clearly seen it all. Here, Lauren Berger, the self-professed “Intern Queen,” tells you her top 15 things she learned from all her internships.

Brooke Parkhurst, author of Belle in the Big Apple, recently spoke to Edsters about blogging, book deals, and how to succeed in NYC. Here’s one of our favorite tips:

In our first-ever salary survey, Ed got the scoop on the skeletons in your paycheck…

Most of you are making $31,000-$39,000 a year—and 70% of you think you deserve more. Over 300 Edsters took the survey: the average is 23, female, working entry-level jobs in New York, and graduated in 2006 sans j-school. And until you get promoted, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything you can do about it.
An HR representative at a major publishing company (who requested anonymity) does not think entry level is in any place to negotiate. “A lot of kids are dying to get this position. Provided that the salary is in the range that they’ve heard, they should be happy about that opportunity,” she says. “Most of the time the salaries are fixed.”

Ed’s Guide to Not F***ing Up

Warning: This is for the Thick-Skinned Only

Before Ed gets to what you want to know, he has one point to make. Indulge him.

For those of you already in the biz, you know that one of the rules in magazine
service writing is to never be negative. You shouldn’t point out the bad
behaviors of your readers—like that the vast majority of them are gorging
themselves with fast food, and therefore dying of heart attacks and complications
from diabetes. As an editor, you must find a way to spin the story so your readers
aren’t inadvertently offended by the messenger (your magazine), but will still take
the steps to improve themselves. For instance, the story about obesity that
should be “Why You Need To Stop Eating Like a Pig or It’ll Kill
You” would be more likely titled, “10 Ways to Feel Better About
Your Body.”

That said, the service article Ed is about to write here would be titled “How
To Get Ahead in the Magazine Business,” but Ed feels that unlike the mass
market of consumer interest magazines, you can handle the truth. So the title
of this service piece is,

Hed: What You Are Doing Wrong

Dek: How To Know If You’re The One That’s Annoying An Editor
or Potential Employer

By Erin Quinn

After two years, one month and 12 days as an editorial assistant, I am free of that lowly title. I have finally—finally!—gotten a promotion. Pleaseallow me to introduce myself: I’m Sunny Sea Gold, assistant editor at Glamour magazine. I’d give you my card, but they haven’t come in from the printers yet. You’ll have to take a rain check.

So, how’d I make it happen? First of all, I put in the time—about twice as much as I thought I’d have to. See, my mentors—all in their late 20s and early 30s—were leaping from magazine to magazine in the bull market of the ‘90s, climbing another notch (or two) up the masthead every year. Naturally, I thought I would too. But things have changed, honey. There’s lesson number one: be patient. The economy sucks and the competition for jobs is seriously stiff, which means no one’s moving around and your employer knows you’re not in a huge hurry to quit if you don’t get a title change.

After a few months of pitching stories from home in my pajamas and slippers, a friend told me about an opening for an Associate Editor at a women's magazine. I had left an Assistant Editor job at another women's magazine to freelance-and I did enjoy the schedule-but I was ready to return to an office where I could talk to people instead of the squirrel on my window ledge. I sent in my resume and a few clips, and I had a meeting with the Managing Editor the next week.

“Instead of trying to connect with an EIC, try connecting with the senior editors—make yourself memorable to them. Can you get things done quickly and well? Do you complain?

A website offers practical tips for magazine editor wannabes and other new journalists

By: Jaclyn Greenberg
Date: Nov. 24, 2006

In a competitive industry, paired with a crappy economy, how is anyone supposed to nab a job around here?! Columbia Publishing Course’s resident job hunting expert (she’s also Senior Editor at change.org and a career advisor for jobs.change.org) Ellen Gordon Reeves has an idea.

Now, she’s sharing her expertise in her new book Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview? A Crash Course in Finding, Landing, and Keeping Your First Real Job—and giving Ed the inside scoop!

Q: So why are you the job-hunt expert?

In a recent Ask Ed column, Ed advised undergrads to forego grad school in favor of real-life experience. Clearly not everyone agreed with Ed’s advice, as he saw on the message boards.