If you’re in journalism, you may always be thinking, “How many clips can I add to my portfolio to show a future employer?” While that is important, you’re missing multiple steps, and that will put you behind your peers when you graduate.
I attended the magazine club’s annual New York City trip in mid-April, thanks to the University of Missouri. On this trip, I gathered insightful information at these magazine publications from different roles, such as art directors, staff writers, editors, social media managers, reporters and more. These publications also included a handful of Mizzou alumni.
You may ask, “What are these steps?” Here they are.
Read and read some more
We’re all busy, but we need to take the time to read anything we can get our hands on. This may come as a shock, but if you have a specific genre you like to read, choose something different this time. It’s important that we switch up what we read from now and then. If you keep updated on the news, employers will appreciate that you’re knowledgeable.
Reach out to the hiring manager
This may sound odd, but a lot of the magazine publications we visited mentioned this advice multiple times. If you’re interested in the publication you’re applying for, you have probably read the hiring manager’s work. Find your favorite article or work of theirs and give them a compliment in an email. You can also ask the hiring manager for 20 minutes of their time to take a look at your portfolio as a second opinion. This shows you are interested in the job and you’re willingly going against the standards to make yourself stand out instead of just waiting for a job result. Give them a month or two to respond, not a week.
Magazine publications are owned by different companies
I was surprised to hear this advice given during our trip. If you’re applying for a job at a publication that is owned by a company, make sure you know what company the publication is associated with. Do your research and trust yourself. If you don’t, look it up — it’s on the internet.
Passion in your cover letter
I think we all dislike writing a cover letter. How can you give it more passion? For starters, if you’re applying to multiple jobs and are just replacing a couple of words, stop. Give each cover letter your respect and add passion to show that you care for each position. Make each cover letter stand out from the others so that if you read them side by side, there would be a huge difference instead of copying and pasting.
LinkedIn and portfolio on email
You have most likely been told this many times by now, but if you haven’t added your portfolio or LinkedIn to your email, do it now. While you’re at it, make an email signature to show recognition for when you’re emailing different people who work at a business. By adding your socials, you give a hiring manager easy access to your LinkedIn without having to search for it.
Keep in contact
It’s important that you keep in contact not only with peers that you meet in college, but also keep four to five contacts of people who work at the publication you’re interested in. This doesn’t mean hanging out every day — more like grabbing a cup of coffee if you’re in the area. Keeping in contact with both your peers and these individuals helps build a strong connection when you start applying for different jobs. A connection of yours could put in a good word for you about an open position. Multiple magazine publications mentioned this, and if you meet another Mizzou alumni, they’ll for sure reach out to a fellow Mizzou alumni.
Now that you know the skills that can help you find your future career, spread the word. It’s important that even though these are simple skills, you try to remember them because they will help you succeed in your career path. The magazine publications on the trip included: The New York Times’ Wirecutter, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Women’s Wear Daily, House Beautiful, Delish, New York Magazine, Glamour, Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, ELLE and Highsnobiety.
Going on this trip twice has given me more knowledge of the realities at these publications. This trip was extremely beneficial, and I recommend that those interested in any form of magazine journalism, strategic communication or news journalism attend next year’s trip. Thank you, Mizzou Magazine Club.