| Back to Home > Bulletin Board > Media Issues > Topic: Am I being unrealistic? |
Topic: Am I being unrealistic?
| Author | Message |
| Nutmeg | Posted – 7/24/2006 12:29:57 AM | show profile Hello everyone. I am new to these message boards, and I have found a lot of useful advice. I am still in college majoring in communication arts with a concentration in journalism. I am a single parent of one and my parents are supporting me until I finish my education. I really want to work for Conde Nast. My interests lie in fashion and pop culture. I live 15 minutes away from DC. I plan on applying for an internship, though I don't have any connections. I have heard that the starting salary is low. Would I be able to support my daughter if I did get a job? Do they have good benefits? Does anyone have advice on how to get the internship, or how to get my foot into the door? I have also heard of a rover program. Could someone explain that? Any advice is appreciated. |
| Newsy | Posted – 7/25/2006 5:58:13 PM | show profile I say go for it! |
| valentine | Posted – 7/25/2006 6:41:51 PM | show profile Nutmeg: Connect, connect, connect! When you have circumstances that place you in the 'nontraditional' student-intern category, you have to find creative ways to make sure you get your dream job but also meet your responsibilities. Hopefully you have taken advantage of your student status to obtain internships already. You also should have a portfolio of pieces you've been doing for your school paper/local pubs that demonstrate your interests in fashion and pop culture. Setting up a blog is a great way to have on online portfolio and following and establish your tone and authority in those areas. Use your friends/teachers/local writing-based organizations to gain connections and find out what the groups are in DC that you can use to make your connections now. Pave the way before you graduate! |
| deadline | Posted – 7/26/2006 12:26:39 AM | show profile I am wodering why you want to really work at Conde Nast. You are a single mother and journalism is hard and not always family-friendly. I know that it can be done, but it worries me that your goal seems to be to work for a big name pub, thinking that it may fit in with your life. In journalism, you will work long hours and be under paid. That is a given, and there really isn't a way around it when you are starting out. You are going to need friends and family around, and if you don't have that close by, you are going to have a really hard time. Conde Nast is a dream for many young women breaking into the biz. It will be hard. And if you get it, it will be twice as hard for you. I am not trying to sound too harsh, but I think you should really think about what you are really after and at what cost it might come. I am not trying to tell you not to go for it, but just think about what you really want and why. You didn't say you really want to be a journalist and cover such and such. You said "I really want to work for Conde Nast." Still, good luck with everything. |
| grammarqueen | Posted – 7/26/2006 9:24:05 AM | show profile Tough going... Definitely give it a shot, but as someone who formerly worked at Conde, I'll tell you that you'll have big challenges ahead. 1. Pay for assistants is remarkably low. I was lucky enough to arrive at CN after I'd already moved up the ranks. Starting salaries there were in the low to mid 20s when I was hiring staffers there two years ago. Given the long hours you often have to put in and the price of local rent/mortgages, it's barely enough to support one person, let alone two. 2. The magazine biz in general isn't very family-friendly. When I had my daughter, my supervisor (who has children of her own) wasn't very supportive of my need for a flexible schedule?even though I was a department head. Doubtful that you'll find a boss willing to let you leave at 5:30 to pick your child up from day care. (Assistants there generally don't leave until after their bosses do.) The benefits there are pretty darn good, but the lack of flexibility made it impossible for me to stay on?even with a husband who's an eager partner in the child care/chore dept. and an excellent day care provider who doesn't charge obscene amounts if you show up late. (Some day cares around here charge $20 for every five minutes beyond "closing time.") Internships don't pay, either, so you'd need to have the funds to support yourself (and your daughter) during your internship. You might try setting up an informational interview with an editor at a magazine you'd like to work for...if you develop a good rapport with him/her, s/he may be able to help you get your foot in the door. The rover program is for recent grads. It's basically a glorified temp pool...the rovers fill in if someone's assistant is sick or quit, and they help out with special projects (i.e. putting together media kits, getting big mailings put together, etc.). The idea is that you might develop a rapport with someone during one of these assignments, and end up getting hired on full time at one of the magazines. It's not a bad idea actually, but again, the pay's not great. I know of a few former rovers who got full-time gigs through the program. Good luck! |
| Nutmeg | Posted – 7/26/2006 11:32:45 AM | show profile Thanks everyone for your replies. Grammarqueen do you mind if I get your email so I can talk to you if I have questions later? To deadline, I have always had big goals. No matter what I do in life I want to be/work for the best. That is just the way I am, and to me Conde Nast is the best. Don't get me wrong. I always look out for the best interest of my family. I just don't think that means that I have to give up my goals. Thank you for the warning though. |
| MedScribe | Posted – 7/26/2006 5:22:18 PM | show profile I think if you're going to break into this field with a major publishing company like Conde Nast, it will mean relegating primary parenting responsibilities to your parents. As someone pointed out this is not a 9 to 5 position. I think you want to make sure your parents are OK with being the primary caretakers ... and you are too, of course. Working for a company like Conde Nast would mean, what, leaving maybe at 6 p.m.? Home by 7? Giving you just an hour or so to be with your child before bedtime, most nights. I think that could be tough on many moms. I think I'd probably put my goals on hold at least until my child was at kindergarten, but I don't have active grandparents in the picture; it sounds like you do. |
| Nutmeg | Posted – 7/26/2006 5:58:09 PM | show profile I don't think I know of any job that is 9-5. Yes, I have active parents, and I still have 3 years until I get my degree. My daughter will be in school by the time I start looking for a job. |
| beenthere | Posted – 7/26/2006 6:56:43 PM | show profile re 9 to 5 There is a big difference in worling a little overtime and working major overtime. I've been in publishing for more than 10 years. Are you willing to work 8 to midnight/2 am just to say you work for a certain company? Do your research COMPLETELY on corp culture and bennies before commiting yuorself to working for one company. Are the tradeoffs worth being able to say "I work for [insert comapny name here]"? I would suggest really researching the industry and pinpointing the type of education/experience that make you employable rather than cherrypicking your education/experience trying to get hired by one and only one company. The latter approach will bite you in the ass once you've gone through a layoff. Have at least one plan B. |
| MedScribe | Posted – 7/26/2006 7:17:27 PM | show profile Good point Beenthere! I remember visiting a friend who works for one of the major parenting mags in NYC a few years ago. Guess what, out of the entire editorial department, only two were parents(!) |
| clare04 | Posted – 7/26/2006 7:35:45 PM | show profile single moms can be a pain to work with Journalism isn't getting a first job at Conde Nast. Conde Nast produces it, but what you are talking about is something like what is superficially presented in the popcorn movie 'Devil Wears Prada - which showed its protagonist coming to that realization. I've known some single mothers who made a great career out of just that - being the single mother with lots of supporters, cheerleaders and servants (workplace and out). Whatever else they did was totally secondary. |
| Nutmeg | Posted – 7/26/2006 8:39:30 PM | show profile I am getting a little disappointed that there is so much negative feedback. I was in the military where I worked 12 hour shifts everyday and I also was a biochem/premed major. I decided to go back to college, and not pursue medical school b/c doctors work 32 hour shifts on a 30k salary. So working until 6-1 sounds fine to me. Thank you for the warning though. Also I wish I could make a living just being a single mom and working secondary but that is impossible. If I want to support my daughter I have to work. I know there will be sacrifices and I do have a plan B in case this one fails. However, this is still my goal. I don't think I want anymore replies to this thread since they are mostly negative. Thanks again. |
| clare04 | Posted – 7/27/2006 2:18:52 PM | show profile apology Nutmeg, sorry to sound negative. Whoever I meant is not you of course. I did know one cool single mom who had a live in b-friend who had to drop her journalism career after starting it with a good internship and job that was lost around 9-11 and go back to her earlier social work career. >>>> I decided to go back to college, and not pursue medical school b/c doctors work 32 hour shifts on a 30k salary>>>> Okay, so this is not too unlike a life as a Conde Nast editorial slave close to a magazine closing. For a long while. And they don't even get that much. I think that's all people were trying to say here. |
| MedScribe | Posted – 7/27/2006 2:56:31 PM | show profile Nice of you to have apologized to her (hope she reads it!) The thing is I don't think anyone was implying she wasn't capable of it -- she may well be -- but my point at least was that as a single parent, her situation would be far more complicated. |
| flipflap | Posted – 7/27/2006 3:16:40 PM | show profile Interesting thing is the original question was framed as a negative--*am I being unrealistic?*--and not *is this realistic?* The OP probably hoped the replies would sweep away doubt, not confirm it. |
| karen20 | Posted – 7/27/2006 4:47:46 PM | show profile Nutmeg - - if you can't take some well-intentioned and cautionary feedback from those in the industry who have the experience and insight, I don't think you're cut out for the kind of work you're looking for. You need to be much more thick-skinned to make a go of it in this industry. It's good for those of us who have been there to be upfront about things like this. Most of your initial questions were answered squarely. Good luck but it sounds like you need another dose of reality. |
| deadline | Posted – 7/27/2006 8:32:10 PM | show profile With three years of school to go, you have plenty of time to think about what you really want. Dreams change, and if yours don't than you will find out one way or another this is a hard business. I am not trying to be negative, just as I don't think the others are. It's just the truth. You have some things to think about.There is a life style that comes with the biz and it's not always pretty. But at the same time for many people it's worth it. Again, what I find most troubling about the most is the need to be part of conde nast sounds like the biggest part of the dream. Bragging about where you work gets old as soon as the job gets real. And you really do need to have thick skin to make it. Again, this is not to say don't go for your dreams, just think them through. Good luck |
| Nutmeg | Posted – 7/27/2006 8:33:09 PM | show profile Thanks for apologizing Clare. To readdress the original issue, I am not too concerned about working hours. I am more concerned about money, benefits, and getting my foot in the door. (As you can see from my original post.) I think only two people (valentine and grammarqueen) answered my questions. Everyone else spoke of things that are not an issue for me. But like I said many times before thanks for the warning! |
| Nutmeg | Posted – 7/27/2006 8:41:10 PM | show profile Thanks deadline. I agree. |
| Marie | Posted – 7/28/2006 12:16:19 AM | show profile You also asked quite pointedly if you could support your daughter on the salary you would initially have at Conde Nast, and the answer is a flat no. And I'm sure you can gauge that yourself from the posts that addressed entry-level editorial salaries. But if your parents are willing to give you significant financial support, you probably could. You would definitely have to hire someone to pick your daughter up at school (you can often find a reliable college student to do this, but you're still going to have to pay something). But you have a lot of time to think all this through. It's good, though, that you're beginning to plan and think about this now. Good luck to you. Please remember that there are other publishing possibilities, and you might do well to consider options right in D.C.? Doesn't the city magazine have some kind of style/fashion section? |
| arewrites | Posted – 7/28/2006 5:32:10 AM | show profile There's another unhappy reality that seems to be missing here: the likelihood that CNP, which has total pick of the draw, will hire a single mother for a beginner slot is virtually nil. Why should they deal with someone who is going to be concerned about picking her kid up, or having to stay home when the child is sick/on school holiday? Corporations in general are not keen on getting themselves into situations like that, even when it's for executives -- people who are more difficult to find, whose experience and background can be otherwise perfectly suited to the job. I can't see CNP taking someone who has outside responsibilities when they have the option -- and they do -- of finding someone equally well-suited who doesn't. I realize this is going to be read as "more negativity." But reality is what it is. None of this means, though, that you shouldn't try. You absolutely should - IF you're willing to make the sacrifices that will be demanded of you in the event that you do get the job. |
| byword | Posted – 7/28/2006 9:04:47 AM | show profile Some of these people on this thread are in the industry and made it, so I would listen to them; I am in my early thirties, in the industry, never *made* it, and plan to go back to teaching. You should read the book Freakonomics, an easy read that talks about the economics of the tournament. That part really clarified the writing world for me. When I lived in D.C. in 2003 I had two jobs and as a single guy eeked by on $31-32,000 per year. At Conde Nast, you'll be in the 20,000s to start (and isn't that NYC?) On the other hand, a friend who also was a single mom got her physician's assistant license on student loans in a year-long program and just moved to California with a job starting at $60,000K. You have three years to investigate: Do so. Doctors in the U.S. do not make 30K. Public school teachers start at salaries between 30-40K, and their contracts have annual, built-in raises. |
| byword | Posted – 7/28/2006 9:09:42 AM | show profile On the Positive Tip Start a fashion blog now. Do it for 2 years, posting at least weekly. Develop a style. Make a name for yourself. |
| grammarqueen | Posted – 7/28/2006 9:42:39 AM | show profile reality check I'm sorry that you were so disappointed with what people posted, Nutmeg. You did ask whether you were being unrealistic, and I think this could be a very hard road for you. I interviewed people from several other CN magazines for openings in my dept., and they regularly reported staying until 2 a.m. at close, etc. The place where I worked was considerably more sane, but I still didn't find it doable with a child, a husband and a decent support network. I spent too many nights crying because I hadn't seen my daughter that day. Don't feel too bad for me though...I left to go freelance, which was the best decision I ever made! Best of luck. -GQ |
| Nutmeg | Posted – 7/28/2006 9:49:54 AM | show profile Very good points. I do not want to struggle and on a 20k salary. Thanks. It looks like I do need to explore other options. Oh and byword to be a doctor you have to go through the basic four years of medical school then you have to go through residency which is 3-5 years min. Residency is called that b/c you basically live in the hospital (32 hours straight, 5 sick days a year, and 1 day off a week) and salary is only 30-40k. On top of that you will have accrued 200k of debt from student loans. If you hope to make it as a specialist (and make more money) then more residency is required. It is a very looooong road with a lot of labor and low pay. When you finally finish that you get to look foward to starting private practice, paying malpractice insurance, and bringing home 150-350k. (By then you are so old you wish you could retire haha!) But I have also thought about taking the PA route. I think I'm just going to finish this communications major with a concentration in pr and get my mba. I'll probably do occasional freelancing (glamour?) and blogging for fun. |
