We Want Media

Getting a job in the magazine industry can be brutal. So when Chandra Czape started Ed2010 back in 1998 after her friends kept asking her for dirt and inside information about the industry, it was no surprise that the site quickly took off.

After a few years, Ed on Campus chapters started sprouting up at colleges throughout the country to help students network their way into magazine jobs. I started a chapter of Ed on Campus at NYU this year.

Our first event took place in late February and addressed a burning question for many journalism students: How do I break into the magazine industry? The event highlighted advice from assistant and associate editors from magazines such as CosmoGIRL!, GQ, Us Weekly, and O, The Oprah Magazine. Here are some tips:

1. Utilize ALL of your potential contacts. If your cousin’s, friend’s, roommate’s sister is an editor, get her to help you out.

2. Have the right attitude. Next time an editor at your internship asks you to make 300 copies of an article and then highlight every time the word “at” appears, say, “Sure, I’d LOOOOVE to!”

3. Keep in touch. You spent four months at an awesome internship, got along great with the editors and maybe even have some clips to show for it. Don’t let them forget about how awesome you are. E-mail your favorite editors every few months and keep them updated on your life. They may give you advice you need when you least expect it.

Ed on Campus @ NYU is also hoping to plan a panel discussion in late April of online editors for mainstream magazines. Check us out on Facebook or join the listserv by sending a blank e-mail to join-ed-on-campus@forums.nyu.edu for more information.