Heather Lamb

Earlier this month, I travelled to New York with a group of students from the Missouri School of Journalism. We spent three days traipsing around Manhattan and visiting the offices of magazines and other media. We visited Cosmo, Glamour, Teen Vogue, Mashable, Men’s and Women’s Health, Hearst Digital, Martha Stewart, Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, US Weekly…and the list goes on. We became well versed in the subway system and flew back to the Midwest knowing a lot more than we did a scant four days earlier.

We met with editors at all levels — editorial assistants who had not long ago been students themselves, senior editors who shared stories of how they worked their way up, and the firebrand Amy Odell, head of Cosmopolitan.com, who is bringing refreshed digital verve to an iconic brand. When I returned I realized I’d taken pages and pages of notes about job advice in conversations with these editors. And so I typed them up. Turns out, the list was 59 things.

The one question I get asked by my students more than any other is “How do I get a job?” While there certainly are a lot of lists out there, and written from all different perspectives, I thought this compilation was helpful and shared it with the students I teach in the weekly magazine lab of Vox Magazine. And now I’m sharing it here. If something is repeated on this list. It’s because it was repeated by many editors, so take note.

This is the advice from editors working in Manhattan magazine offices in the media climate of 2016. Many of these have a distinct New York bent, but many others apply to any magazine or journalism job. As someone who spent a decade in the position of hiring interns, writers, reporters, designers and editors for Midwestern publishers, there is much familiarity here for me, too.

1. Look up talent/hiring managers at companies where you’re applying and email them directly.
2. Be active on social media, especially Twitter and Instagram. It’s important to show you’re engaged in the industry and/or with content area.
3. Don’t be afraid to start somewhere outside your comfort zone. Find a digital company that is growing.
4. Cover letters shouldn’t be too long.
5. Show you’re digital savvy (include all handles on resume).
6. Cater resume to the job.
7. Show off your experience — emphasize that you’ve done these things, not just that you learned them.
8. Emphasize that you’ve worked in a publishing environment with meetings, planning, deadlines, etc.
9. Show some personality. Hiring managers are looking for people who mesh with the group at large because it’s a collaborative environment.
10. Do research about company to see what the culture is like and reflect that in the interview.
11. Here’s a way to get in outside of job applications: Become a known entity by pitching stories to editors, especially to digital editors. Pitch ideas editors in NY wouldn’t have heard of (the Budweiser Clydesdale farm isn’t old news to a New Yorker). Don’t pitch ideas that have already been published on a lot of national sites.
12. Be reading where you want to work.
13. To be a fashion market editor: Read up on fashion credits in an issue and get to know the designers and the different aesthetics.
14. Send a hard copy of your resume in addition to online application. Managers don’t get a lot of snail mail. (Some editors say this could help; others say they never check their mailboxes.)
15. Especially if you’re moving to NY, don’t turn down opportunities. You have to have some bad jobs to get a better job. “It’s easier to get a job once you have a job.”
16. When dressing for an interview, err on side of conservative. Wear shoes you can walk in. Bring some sort of portfolio. Be yourself.
17. Always send a thank you note after an interview.
18. Writing is important, but so are devotion and organization. Intangibles really are vital and are harder to teach.

19. At New York mags, for internships and entry-level positions, there often are 300 to 400 candidates to screen. Follow all the application directions. Format the attachments correctly. Meet the deadline. Those who don’t are automatically culled.
20. Many New York mags are looking for NY experience. That’s why important to take opportunities at any NY outlet if NY is where you want to be. They want to know you can cut it.
21. Always, always send a cover letter.
22. Don’t just change name of the magazine in the cover letter. Editors can tell.
23. Bring a copy of your resume to the interview.
24. Always write a thank you note.
25. Be on time for the interview.
26. During an interview, feel comfortable talking about yourself and your accomplishments.
27. Pay attention to file name of resume and other attachments. Good: FirstnameLastnameResume. Bad: Resumeversion4. Worse: MyRezzie
28. In an interview, maintain professionalism even when you’re feeling really comfortable and relaxed. It’s still an interview.
29. As you work toward your dream job, find ways to work with the content you love. It’s better to work at a small food site if a food magazine is your goal. Get to know the content and the players.
30. Internships are key. Use your Journalism School skills and track down who’s hiring and their contact info and email them directly.
31. Networking is crucial. People are quicker to hire someone they know.
32. Be on LinkedIn.
33. Use LinkedIn.
34. It really does matter that you follow-up after an interview. Be gracious. Be thankful. This helps build relationships.
35. As new graduates, it’ll be your second-, third- and fourth-degree connections that will get you into jobs. (Because the first-degree ones are fellow grads.)
36. Lots of people who apply for these jobs have the basic skill sets of writing and editing. Emphasize what other things you can bring to the job.
37. Having digital experience is important.
38. Talk about skills you have that others might not: fact-checking, InDesign, coordinating photo shoots, writing the table of contents and calendar pages.

39. There’s never going to be a perfect time to move to New York. If New York is where you want to be, just do it. “You can’t sorta want to live in New York and you can’t sorta want to be in this business.”
40. If you’re applying to a place that is the right fit, the cover letter will be easy to write.
41. You need to set yourself apart in the cover letter. Be specific when talking about your affinity for the content. Not just that you love food, but you love cheese. Not just that you love pop culture, but that you adore Game of Thrones.
42. When applying for design jobs, absolutely include a link to a portfolio site. You likely will be disregarded without one. You should show you have a good balance of work.
43. Before interviewing, research the magazine and recent issues so you can have a good conversation about them. Also do research about the person you’re interviewing with.
44. Send pdfs unless otherwise specified.
45. To understand the audience a magazine is going after, look at what it is doing marketing-wise. What advertisers are they partnering with? How are they framing the brand?
46. Have a good answer to this common interview question: Where do you see yourself in 5 years? (Managers want to know you have goals.)
47. In an interview, be ready to address anything you don’t know how to do. Know the job description inside and out.
48. Good questions for interviewee to ask: How do you see this position evolving? What did you like about the previous person in this role and what would you like to see done differently? Whatever questions you ask should be insightful. Definitely don’t ask about salary, vacation, other such policies.
49. Positive self talk during an interview: You have skills. You have your shit together. The person sitting across from you is human.
50. When just starting out, don’t be overly concerned about getting that dream job. It’s about getting experience at a junior level and using that experience to figure out what you want to do.
51. It’s hard to get a job in New York without living in NY. Hiring often moves very quickly. Interview one day, start four days later.
52. Managers want someone who has good energy, is passionate about the content and is detail-oriented. And for goodness sakes, bring joy to what you do.
53. Apply to everything. Interviews are great practice and a way to start networking.
54. Don’t be afraid to work with money. Shying away from budgets will remove you from rooms that you don’t want to be removed from.
55. Write a thank you note after an interview.
56. When it comes to job changes, run toward a job you want, not away from the job you have.
57. When applying, never ever say you aren’t a reader of that magazine or website.
58. Know how to use a comma.
59. Go all in. If you want the job, go above and beyond expectations for the interview. Bring a list of 50 story ideas perfect for the brand. Redesign a section of the magazine in your aesthetic. Bring a tabbed copy of the recent issue and have an insightful discussion about the content. Show you really want it. It matters.