NEXT for Women Workshop with Founder and CEO Whitney Wilkerson
NEXT for Women is an online community based in Durham that serves as a trusted source for young women to learn, engage and succeed in their professional lives. It is a national organization, but it will soon be an international organization. Whitney gave us great advice for how to succeed in the magazine industry!
Q: What should I do when my job search has stalled?
A: Whitney has three tips to get through a stalled job search:
1. Schedule time every other day to keep up on your search.
2. Don’t be everything to everybody – know your specialty
-Whitney suggests limiting your job search to some specific titles of jobs that you would be interested in
3. Do a resume tune-up
-Whitney says to keep your resume short but give specific proof of what you’ve achieved
-Promote any experience you have, including campus jobs, research jobs and/or internships!
Whitney says to also go through your resume and eliminate the most overused terms used in resumes: extensive experience, innovative, motivated, results-oriented, dynamic, proven track record, team player, fast-paced, problem solver, entrepreneurial.
Whitney also suggests that you research industry resume trends and use resources such as professors, the writing center and university career services. She also says that when sending out resumes, be organized by keeping an excel chart that tracks what businesses you’ve sent resumes to, the contact information from those businesses, responses and all relevant dates (when you sent out the resume, when you received a response, etc.).
Q: What should I do if I am getting interviews but no offers?
A: Whitney gives us four tips for how to land that dream job:
1. Research the company and interviewer.
2. Build rapport when you meet with an interviewer. Have a list of questions for them (at least three), and be ready for questions.
-Whitney adds that you should research the interviewer before the interview to show that you know your stuff and have prepared. It may also lead to you finding something you have in common with the interviewer. To casually bring up what you found out about them, say something such as, “In preparation for today’s interview, I did some research to get to know you and the company better, and I found…”
3. Have a clear sense of how and when to follow up with the employer. Whitney strongly recommends sending a hand-written thank you letter, and if you don’t send it right after the interview, still do it; it’s better late than never, she says.
4. Join LinkedIn, which Whitney says is a great networking tool. When creating or updating your profile…
-Be complete and be honest
-Include relevant coursework
-Connect with people
-Join groups
-Join the conversation
-Send her an invite and join the NEXT for Women group!
Whitney also suggests asking someone to write you a LinkedIn recommendation. She says to take advantage of it now because more people will be willing to help you since you’re a student.
Q: What are some questions to ask during an informational interview?
A: Some questions to ask are…
1. How did you get into this business?
2. What do you enjoy most about your job?
3. What separates your company from the competition?
4. What changes have taken place in your profession over the years?
5. What are trends in your business?
As always, Whitney says to follow up the interview with a hand-written thank you note!
Thanks, Whitney, for such a great workshop!
Weekly Meeting: Jason Zengerle, a senior editor at The New Republic
Jason came by CAFME on Wednesday to discuss his New York Magazine piece “The Sins of the Coach" and to talk about his career in the magazine industry. In addition to working for The New Republic and New York Magazine, Jason has written for The Atlantic, GQ and The New York Times Magazine. It was a great meeting, so keep reading to see what Jason had to tell us!
Jason says the story he wrote, “The Sins of the Coach,” was difficult to write. When writing any difficult story, he says, you need a guide. A guide is someone who will be patient with you, answer your questions and tell you the basics. The guide Jason had for this story was a former friend of Oliva’s. For a story like this, Jason says the little details make it good, and a guide can help you find these details.
Q: How long did it take you to write this article?
A: It took Jason eight to nine months to write this story, even though most of it was research, and he was not working on it during all of that time. He says finding people to talk to was the hardest part, and the last month of reporting was the most intense because things were coming together. Usually, though, it takes Jason two to three months to complete a piece.
Q: How did you convince Oliva to talk to you?
A: Oliva at first said no, but Jason says he was able to get in touch with a friend of Oliva’s who told Oliva that Jason was an okay guy to talk to.
Q: What kinds of questions do you ask people when it’s a tricky or sensitive subject, or do you just let them talk?
A: Jason says he just let one of the interviewees for this piece talk, and when Jason would hear something particularly interesting, he would ask this person to go into more detail. Jason says it also helps to ask a lot of open-ended questions, and the more time you have with your interviewee, the better.
Q: How did you get around the legal issues surrounding the story?
A: Jason says this was tricky, but after Oliva had been indicted, it was easier because he no longer had to worry about being accused of libel. Jason also didn’t want to prejudice the reader against Oliva.
Q: At what point in this process do you pitch the story?
A: Jason says it’s different depending on the publication. For this story, he had read an article on the topic in The New York Daily News and sent it to the editor. His editor thought it was interesting, so Jason got to write a piece about it. He says it’s not always like this, though. Jason says The New York Daily News and GQ are very editor-driven, and there is a meeting every day that produces at least one story idea. At The New Republic, Jason says he had more control over what stories he wrote, and there was a meeting maybe once a week that produced one or so story ideas.
Q: With a story like this, do you have any fear that someone will beat you to it?
A: Jason said he wasn’t too worried about this. He knew his guide was only helping him, and since no one had been able to talk to Oliva, he knew that even just an encounter with Oliva would add to the piece. Plus, Jason says that with the way budgets are these days, not many publications could afford to cover a story like this over such a long period of time.
Q: How do you approach the person in the center of a controversial story?
A: Jason says it’s not a great idea to just ambush this person with questions. Instead, he recommends trying to get into contact with that person or talking to someone that person knows. In Oliva’s case, he knew Jason was contacting his friends, and he knew Jason had tried getting into contact with him. Once you have access to that person, Jason says to come to the conversation with a lot of knowledge about the story because no one’s going to “spill the beans” unless you know what’s going on. Jason also says to not approach the subject until you are further along with your story.
Q: Are you assigned stories, or do you get to create them?
A: Jason says this depends on the story, even though he can say no to an assigned piece. Jason says that it can be bad if he’s assigned a story that turns out to not be true, but he likes his current assignments. He adds that his editors are good at assigning him articles that he would be good at.
Q: Do you work on one story at a time?
A: Jason says he usually works on two or three stories at a time, but he will focus on one more than the other; the other is just kind of in the background, he says, until he finishes the one and can concentrate more on the other. But he says that when you finish one, you never want to be just starting the other. Even if it’s just having done some research on the other, it’s better than starting from scratch. He also says it’s very rare that he is only working on one story.
Thanks so much for a great visit, Jason!
First Amendment Day Exhibit: ‘Selling Scandal’
For First Amendment Day, CAFME put together a display called ‘Selling Scandal,’ which you can find in Carroll Hall, behind the auditorium. This exhibit showcased the 10 most scandalous, controversial magazine covers of the past 50 years. From God to grinders, the exhibit is sure to make you think about the First Amendment. Make sure to check it out before it ends this week, and check out the pictures below.
Thanks to Brittany Bass and Emily Nycum for the photos!
We had a great week, and we hope to see you all Wednesday!
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