Most offices are stuck in cubicleland, with uninspiring spaces that lack character and don't represent the kind of work that happens there. They're not very nice places to work. And although I question the practicality of some of the elements in these spaces featured on the Business Insider, I would much rather go to work in one of these offices than in a dull corporate space.
Gawker's steampunk-style offices
Every job you have is going to teach you a little bit more about yourself — about how you like to work and what you want out of a job. You discover more about your preferences, like how you can best keep yourself organized, the types of coworkers you dislike and your strategies for dealing with them, and whether you prefer communicating by email, instant message or by phone with the person in the next cubicle (personally, I don't understand the urge to pick up the phone and call someone sitting six feet from you).
Knowing these things about yourself will likely help you navigate the work environment, help you figure out how to either adapt to systems or introduce "your way" of doing things to make improvements for everyone.
Side note: I wonder, how much do your first "real" job experiences affect those preferences? Is one inclined to think the "right" way to do something is the first way s/he learned how?
There's an excellent post on Design*Sponge today about networking (it's aimed at designers, but the informations is quite general). In it, guest poster Sara Rosso identifies four types of networkers:
The Trendsetter: is curious and very up-to-date, and spends a great amount of time consuming and filtering information. They will be the first ones to tell you about a new idea or resource or tell you if someone else is already doing it.
The Guru: is an expert in a particular subject or subjects with in-depth knowledge at their fingertips and can serve as a source or give an expert opinion when needed.
The Node: is well-connected with other people and groups. Maybe this person doesn’t have any direct answers for you, but they probably know the right person who does, and is willing to pass along your need/request to help you get an answer.
The Giver: is generous with their time, information and opinions and can serve as a person to give you excellent feedback across a variety of subjects. They are interested in helping your cause, teaching you something, or giving feedback on something you’re working on, and they are generous contacts to have.Some people are going to be all four, or a combination of a few, or just one type of networker. What type are you? Knowing this may help you focus on and develop those skills, and make you more comfortable in networking situations.
Intern. Editorial assistant. Assistant editor. Associate editor. Etc. It's a clear path, but not one you necessarily have to take. As the examples in this Ed2010 article show, if you have experience in another field and want to get into magazines, you can. The trick is to communicate how your skills are transferable and that you "get" magazines. And perhaps your non-magazine experience is a bonus that will make you stand out among all the other applicants.
You definitely need a business card. And you should definitely carry some with you wherever you go. But you should most definitely not hand them out indiscriminately.
In an interview with WalletPop, Chris Brogan points out that handing out your business card before you've engaged with someone — i.e. have had a conversation with him/her — is pointless. How is that person going to know whether they want to do business with you? What reason do they have to contact you? "Don't collect them just to collect them," Brogan says. "There's no value in collecting business cards."
From @chrisbrogan
A roundup of some of the things I've been reading in the last few days.
• Top five resources for folks making the transition from print to online, from Phillip Smith (via @kattancock)
• What would your copy wear? Tips on giving your cover letter the proper tone. (Hint: consider who your audience is.) From The Urban Muse.
• Wise words: "The only way to make a magazine better for the advertiser is to make it better for the reader." A sign on the wall at Western Horseman magazine. Through MrMagazine.com.
• How to persuade people (including your boss). From Smashing Magazine.
• Sometimes setting boundaries is the best way to come up with good/fresh ideas. Seth Godin on traction and friction.
• How to blog almost every day, from Chris Brogan.
The Canadian Living Journalism Prize just got better. The two grand prizes now each include a paid 12-week internship, worth approximately $6,500. That's about $13 an hour. I'm not holding my breath, but let's hope this inspires other magazines to start paying their interns.
Related post: Canadian Living Journalism Prize launched
Time for another infamous Ed Happy Hour:
Join us for a night of mixin' and mingling, and get to know others in the magazine biz. From student to intern to senior to EIC, everyone is welcome — we're a friendly group! Bring your business cards, your magazines, your questions and your beefs. And $5 to enter our Chat-with-an-Editor Raffle: you could win dinner with Chatelaine Senior Editor Rebecca Caldwell (visit Ed2010.com for details). And bring all your editor friends!!
The usual time and place:
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
6:00pm - 9:00pm
The Duke of York, 2nd floor conservatory (go upstairs to the back).
39 Prince Arthur Ave. (near the Bedford exit of St. George subway station)
RSVP to the event on the Ed Toronto Facebook page.
Oh, and if you don't know: Ed2010 ("ed twenty-ten") is a purely volunteer networking group and website for aspiring editors who are looking to reach their dream magazine jobs. I am the Canadian Director. And if you would like to join our email list, please send us a note: toronto [at] ed2010 [dot] com.
If you haven't heard yet, the Canadian Writers Group and the Professional Writers Association of Canada are urging all freelancers to boycott Transcontinental over the company's refusal to make amendments to its master contract.
My heart goes out to all the editors at the Transcon publications who will have to hunt harder for contributors, or have to take on extra work to meet their deadlines. It's a horrible position to be in. Editors are the writers' connection to a magazine, and often the writers' biggest advocates, and unfortunately they are the ones who will hurt most from this action.
Transcon editors, how do you plan to cope? Do you think it will affect you much? Have you had any writers speak to you about the boycott yet? Have there been discussions in the office to develop a strategy? Will you be taking on more work yourself?
Non-Transcon editors, chime in too: how would you cope?
There's a lot of chatter these days about the the death of the current publishing model. Recent grads are looking for jobs in an industry landscape that's very different from when they entered school four or so years ago, and veterans are clamouring to keep on top of the sea change.
Some of the more entrepreneurial types are saying screw pounding the pavement, I'm making up my own job and launching my own site. (Ok, most of them aren't giving up their day jobs, but they're not relying on climbing the career ladder to get to the top, either.)
Mashable talked to five ink-on-paper pros who have gone digital and compiled their tips for creating a startup journalism site. They cover startup costs, advertising and sponsorship, tech and design, and audience development. So, if you're eager for the next entry on your resumé to be publisher/editor/writer/designer/ad manager/tech support, you might find some useful tidbits in How To Launch Your Own Indie Journalism Site.
Starting at a new company can feel a little strange, particularly because all the little daily things you never thought twice about have become a minefield of conundrums. Where is the extra photocopy paper kept? Who takes care of replacing burnt out light bulbs? Is it ok to put personal mail in the out box if you put a stamp on it?
And it's surprising how long after your first day questions like these come up. For example, start a job in the fall and you'd be well ensconced in the company by the time summer hours roll around. No one mentions the office closes early on Fridays and you could find yourself with an unexpected free afternoon the first weekend. Nice, but it would have been nice to know too.
So if someone new joins your team, consider that you may need to show him the ropes long after he's become part of the family.
If you're a full-time Canadian journalism student looking for an internship and a chance to build your portfolio, check out the new Canadian Living Journalism Prize. Apply and you might get your story published in Canadian Living, secure an internship at said magazine and even receive a little hard cash.
There are two grand prizes of $1,500 and a 12-week editorial internship each, two second prizes of $500 and two third prizes of $200. All winners will have their stories published in Canadian Living or on CanadianLiving.com.
Go to CanadianLiving.com/journalismprize for application details. Deadline: Nov. 6, 2009.
On his blog Presentation Zen, Garr Reynolds shares some advice from his experience as a designer that he feels is useful to people in all professions. Here's my editor's take on some of his tips:
"Embrace constraints." For editors, this could mean sticking to issue themes, for example. When your options are unlimited, sometimes it can be hard to know where to start. Limitations force you to focus and come up with fresh solutions.
"Practice restraint." You can't fit every idea into one article. Choose the best and perfect it. If the story is an evergreen topic, save your other ideas for next time.
"Adopt the beginner's mind." Take a step back and look at your magazine and your workflow with fresh eyes every once in awhile. Maybe that column isn't working as well as you think it is. Maybe there's a more efficient way to do things. And if you happen to have a new staff member, take advantage of it and get his/her opinion.
"Check your ego at the door. This is not about you, it's about them (your audience, customer, patient, student, etc.)." For us, it's all about our readers. Never forget this. You may love a story idea, but does it make sense for your readers?
"Focus on the experience of the design." Reynolds points out that much of design has an emotional component; how people respond to and interact with design is immensely important. Likewise, readers have an emotional attachment to "their" magazines. Nurture it. Use it to your advantage.
"Become a master storyteller." Well, that's an obvious one. But Reynolds actually concisely outlines a structure that works for many stories: "Start with the general, zoom in to the detail, pull out again to remind us of the theme or key concept, then zoom back in to illuminate more of the detail."
"Obsess about ideas, not tools." Blogs, podcasts, Twitter feeds — use them to get your content and brand out there, but remember that a cool tool is useless if it's carrying useless information.
"Learn all the 'rules' and know when and why to break them." Now is a good time to start breaking the rules. Magazines are changing, and they're changing fast. Instead of fretting about the impending doomsday of the industry, blue sky it. Are magazines still just ink on paper? Presume that they're not and start thinking about all the possibilities. This is exciting. Be excited!
Here is Reynolds' complete slideshow on how to think like a designer (click on "Full" to be able to read the notes under each slide):
Information meetings are not job interviews, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't bring your resumé to them. A good tip from Ask the Recruiter:
Have a resumé and work samples in your bag in case you happen to make a good impression and someone asks for them. If no one asks for them, send them in with the thank-you note you are going to write after your visit.
In my last post, I promised to address the question of whether not being in Toronto limits your career opportunities.
First, don't let your home base discourage you. Yes, there are more English-language magazines published out of Toronto than any other place in Canada, but there are also more people competing for the jobs at those magazines.
Research what opportunities are available in your home town by checking job boards and the member lists of publishing associations like Magazines Canada, the Canadian Business Press, the Atlantic Magazines Association and the British Columbia Association of Magazine Publishers.
Make connections with other editors through local chapters of industry associations like the Professional Writers Association of Canada.
And don't be shy about calling up other editors and offering to take them out to lunch, just to meet them and chat about the industry. I occasionally get together for brunch with magazine peeps in my hood, outside of any organized association, and it's great to just talk about anything magazine related that's on our minds. Making and maintaining friendships in the industry is important because people who aren't in it can't fully understand it, and you need those people who get it to offer advice throughout your career.
Q. What advice would you give to an experienced corporate/industry writer who wants to jump the fence into a magazine career?
My challenges are:
(1) I'm not a student, nor am I a "young whippersnapper," so the internship route may not be possible for me (although I would certainly jump at the opportunity).
(2) I don't live in Toronto, but in Ottawa, so opportunities are further limited.
A. I have no experience in it, but I can't imagine changing your career track is at all easy.
If you're looking to become a freelance magazine writer, the transition shouldn't be too difficult. You might be able to find work writing for trade publications, particularly those that cover the industries you've previously worked for. Like any writer trying to break in, you'll have to slowly build your portfolio with clippings from smaller local and regional magazines and work your way up to larger titles. You'll definitely need to do this to make your way into larger consumer titles. (Some veteran freelancers might advise you to keep your corporate gigs to supplement any income made from magazines.)
If you're looking to land an on-staff gig as an editor, your path will be a little longer and harder. First, don't discount internships. I once worked with an intern who was returning to the workforce after staying home to raise her kids for 12 years. Her career previous to having children wasn't in magazines, and she was willing to start at the bottom, as you are. Call up managing editors at places you'd like to intern and talk to them about whether they'd be willing to take you on. Check out my earlier post on How Old is Too Old to Intern? for more on this.
There's a little bit of a chance that you may be able to land a position without doing an internship. The key will be to prove that you "get it" and that you're capable of doing the job. You'll have to work harder than applicants with magazine experience to convey this in your cover letter and clippings. Figure out what your transferable skills are, why they make you valuable, and how they would benefit the magazine.
To help you from this angle, you may want to consider the information meeting. Talking to an editor in a senior position will help you determine if you do in fact get it and help pinpoint where your magazine skills are strong or lacking.
As for your question about opportunities given your location, I'm going to tackle this in another post. Watch for it.
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