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Topic: the importance of connections
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| PW | Posted – 7/23/2007 6:40:04 PM | show profile I recently moved to New York for my first internship at a national magazine, and it gave me a much-needed shot of optimism to know that I had the skills to get there. On my first day, however, I learned that most of the other interns were, in some way, connected to the magazine's top editors. I also found out that a friend of mine, who used to work at the magazine, put in a good word for me without my knowledge. So basically, connections seem to have gotten me the internship, not merit. Many of my friends who work in media told me this is a fact of life. I always knew networking was important, but I'm now being told that the only way to land a job at a big magazine (Condé Nast, Time Inc., Hearst, etc.) is to know someone. To what extent is this true? I'm not from the East Coast, and I know very few people here, so I can't fathom how I'm going to "get to know" people at the publications I'd like to work for. And just to clarify, I'm not setting my sights on a magazine like Vanity Fair or the New Yorker, but I would like to work for a somewhat reputable and recognizable publication. Any thoughts? |
| seeattleme | Posted – 7/23/2007 7:20:16 PM | show profile Sure. It's the reason most magazines suck and are out of touch. Now, people will come on this board and drone on and on about how connections may get you the job but talent and ability keep you the job, blah blah blah. Fact is, connections HAVE become everything in the NYC media world. People for the most part have to live there (at some point) to get jobs there, even writing assignments--which excludes much of the rest of the nation and all the other issues those in other parts of the country confront on a daily basis. The web and internet are changing this: Which is why print media is in trouble. One reason, anyway: With the net, you can blog and post and publish from anywhere--and the issues posted on by those who do NOT live in NYC or anywhere near it tend to be more timely and relevant to readers on a general basis. As for connections: Those who are connected tend to be a certain type...educated, upper middle class, white (but not always), sharing a n upbringing or interests with those doing the hiring. The kid of a janitor who worked on his paper at Bakersfield CC and then Fresno State probably is not going to make too many connections that will land him or her that internship at Newsweek, where you practically gotta go to college back East or J-school somewhere out west (usually Stanford or Berkeley). The problem with journalism is that it is supposed to be a career for the Everyman: Where the Everyman's concerns and issues and problems are represented and addressed. This is how it was, once. But NYC journalism and the print media is so deeply out of touch with the concerns of American life that, well, look to see the numbers for yourself. It's discouraging. And I wouldn't even advise you to take advantage of any connections you might have if you find this practice truly abhorrent. I personally think it's bad for journalism. I would go somewhere where these connections are not so important, where you can prove yourself with great reporting, great writing and great clips and you can do it while you're young and flexible (ie you can go anywhere at a moments notice). There's Mother Jones in SF (connections are important there, unfortunately) there's the Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama, I think, there are countless littler papers in thriving, growing cities across the nation and many regionals just dying for some talent and work ethic (Portland Monthly, for example). Of course, this is the system, connections are important, and you will discover this again and again in your career. And it will be frustrating to you. And yes,they can not only help you GET a job, they can help youKEEP it even if you get lazy or colossally screw up (read: Ruth Shalit). Try to keep this in mind when one day YOU are in a hiring position and someone who wushed Tri Delt with a pal from college comes to you for a job, and you've got resumes from people who worked their way through Washington State, have pages of clips from the Concrete Daily and a resume detailing work experience since age 14. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 7/23/2007 7:23:29 PM | show profile If you do want to make connections, go to lots of parties and be very nice to everyone and talk about work a lot. If you happen to hear of a job opening at your company, pass it along with a business card (you prbably don't have those yet) or your name and phone number). If the person gets the job, consider yourself owed. OH--and it helps to date someone influential in your field too--but not from where you work. Just someone remotely related to it. From another magazine in your building, say. It sucks if it doesn't work out, but just try to be an adult about it. If the relationship is based on making connections anyway, it won't really matter. |
| Metro Writer | Posted – 7/23/2007 8:13:34 PM | show profile It's true, but be proud of your skills and integrity. No one can take those from you and you can still use them on the job. Be grateful you had the connection that got you where you are and make more connections. And if you want to get to know me better as a fellow writer and recommend me.... |
| seeattleme | Posted – 7/23/2007 8:21:18 PM | show profile oh---and keep your maiden name. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 7/23/2007 8:23:12 PM | show profile because no matter how ethnic, once you divorce that film critic husband of yours because he's been screwing his assistant, you won't have to carry his name along with your brilliant career, answering embarrassing questions about "Are you any relation to..." with "Yes, he's my ex-husband." . |
| seeattleme | Posted – 7/23/2007 8:23:35 PM | show profile because no matter how ethnic, once you divorce that film critic husband of yours because he's been screwing his assistant, you won't have to carry his name along with your brilliant career, answering embarrassing questions about "Are you any relation to..." with "Yes, he's my ex-husband." . |
| seeattleme | Posted – 7/23/2007 8:25:32 PM | show profile no matter how ethnic (difficult to spell /pronounce/remember) your maiden name is, that is. |
| Vox-o | Posted – 7/23/2007 8:39:04 PM | show profile Rough life, 'eh granitegirl? |
| seeattleme | Posted – 7/24/2007 1:16:30 AM | show profile Naw, just a bad day. |
| candylilacs | Posted – 7/24/2007 3:26:20 AM | show profile Concrete Daily! I don't know why that was so funny. Ugh, that whole spiel makes me not want to ever move to NYC. I became a writer so I can hide from people, not mesh with them outside of the workplace! (I know, I know, it's all about networking, even here on the non-Industry West Coast, but I wish it *weren't*!) But, unfortunately, PW, a great many weaknesses can be overcome by knowing someone at a magazine. My short stint on the East Coast showed me that being a good ol' boy from Harvard (they wouldn't use that term, of course, but where I'm from we do -- meaning white, privileged, male and an air of entitlement) got you hired. Being a hard-working girl from a "state school" wasn't going to get you anything. Networking isn't a bad thing. Just realize it's a part of the business. ------ http://www.mswritesguide.blogspot.com |
| seeattleme | Posted – 7/24/2007 5:09:26 AM | show profile Net working is bad for THIS business--because this business is supposed to be about getting beyond the networking and the borwnnosing to the truth. Journalism is supposed to be the report of reality, not the art of schmooze. Unless schmoozing is what got a lot of people in powerful positions, ie, the unqualified who then fucked up (hi, Michael brown!!!) Maybe I'm an idealist, but I really do believe that journalists serve a high calling. It's the reason we have the same privileges with our sources as do priests, doctors, and attorneys. we are the voice of those who have no voice, we speak for the powerless as well as the powerful (and NOT through their mouthpieces, but what they actually say and do), we tell things as they are, notas we or someone else wishes them to appear to be. So our jobs require skill, experience, guts, and a heartfelt calling. Not some university connection or some rich relative. Not spending a lot of money at some fancy journalism grad program or the oh-so exclusive Columbia Magazine publishing course (what fucking workingperson can afford THAT?????) so I see networking and brown-nosing and schmoozing as polluting out profession. And I think, if you are uncomfortable doing this, hell yes its for a reason--a good one!--and hell yes, stay the fuck out of NY. Go somewhere where your talents and drive and goals as a journalist will be able to flourish and where you will be lauded. In NYC, you'll just wine and dine with the fat pigs until you become one. |
| ejlyman | Posted – 7/24/2007 5:20:32 AM | show profile | email poster Europe For what it's worth, here in Italy (where I work) you can't do anything without the connections. Nobody even thinks its strange. If you ask a hypothetical question to an editor that gives him a choice between working with someone of average talent who has some connection to him, and a highly talented person he doesn't know he'll choose the former and won't apologize for it -- both because it's easier to control someone with a connection and because the average talent is less threatening. It doesn't speak well about Italian publishing, but everyone knows the rules and they play by them. Sounds like in the U.S., the problem is that there are some secret rules that some people play by. ------ Italy-based freelancer www.ericjlyman.com |
| ejlyman | Posted – 7/24/2007 5:23:13 AM | show profile | email poster contacts For what it's worth, here in Italy (where I work) you can't do anything without the connections. Nobody even thinks its strange. If you ask a hypothetical question to an editor that gives him a choice between working with someone of average talent who has some connection to him, and a highly talented person he doesn't know he'll choose the former and won't apologize for it -- both because it's easier to control someone with a connection and because the average talent is less threatening. It doesn't speak well about Italian publishing, but everyone knows the rules and they play by them. Sounds like in the U.S., the problem is that there are some secret rules that some people play by. ------ Italy-based freelancer www.ericjlyman.com |
| ISR | Posted – 7/24/2007 8:18:27 AM | show profile I've actually made it just fine without any connections, just by cold-pitching intensively researched proposals---a few yrs ago into the Atlantic Monthly, and in 1.5 yrs, into the NYT and at least a dozen other big-name national magazines. I'm always frustrated that I don't have the connections, but some of us have no choice, so you have to start somewhere. I've also found that when I use other people's names who do have some sort of connection, I get nowhere. It's a shitty business! |
| aj | Posted – 7/24/2007 8:18:58 AM | show profile Networking is the way to get anything in life. |
| caitlinkelly | Posted – 7/24/2007 9:55:30 AM | show profile Some people actually get their jobs by writing a smart letter to the right editor(s), having a good resume and clips and getting through the interviews intact. Yes, there are many many people working in NYC media who have gotten in through connections. If you don't have them, you do everything else -- like be really good at what you and try not to burn up with envy and frustration. You could simply explode with class hatred at the unfairness of it; it is stunningly unfair but that's hardly restricted to this industry. Be smarter and persistent (since they don't necessarily have to develop those skills) and you may prevail. |
| reporterwriter | Posted – 7/24/2007 10:38:13 AM | show profile Networking isn't sucking up, and it isn't "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." Simply stated, networking is knowing people in your business, and letting them know you. First off, PW, you must believe you got your internship on merit, even if a friend put in a word for you, because nobody's foolhardy enough to take on an intern who doesn't show merit. A good word from a friend can be a nice addition to the package, but it's no substitute for what you bring to the table. Bitter people say bad things about networking, either because they don't know how to go about it or because it doesn't work for them, given what they bring to the table. To network, you make friends and acquaintances in the business, not necessarily at specific publications. That's because people move around during their careers, and they'll take your acquaintance with them. This is how people at one place end up knowing people at another place; there are long chains of association. What do you do with the people in your network? Talk, pass along industry news and tips, keep in touch. Even when you have a job, your network keeps humming in this way. Never, ever be the kind of person who networks only to find a job or only for their own good; those sorts are easy to recognize and much despised. Build your network by getting to know people at your internship; meeting their media friends; attending professional workshops, meetings and seminars, even if you're not a member of the sponsoring organization; attending industry job fairs; even just by calling someone on the masthead and introducing yourself as a person new to the business who's seeking information on how magazine staffs work. Carry business cards to swap wherever media people are -- you can even set quotas for yourself, such as bringing back 10 other people's business cards from a workshop. Network up, sideways and down, too. There's much to be said for using an achievement at school or in your internship to catch the attention of someone where you think you'd eventually like to work, asking that somewhat what it would take to get to that publication, then letting that person watch your progress, act as your mentor and become an important person in your network. |
| noname1234 | Posted – 7/24/2007 10:45:59 AM | show profile Belinda's advice is very good, but also: It is possible to get into these big companies without connections. I've held staff positions at 2 of the 3 companies the original poster listed, and I ended up there by replying to job ads on mediabistro! |
