Ah, the internship. You’ve learned the ropes, paid your dues, and even if you’re a student intern or experienced employee who’s underemployed, the scenario is pretty similar regardless of your current level. You’re a familiar face in the office and have proven yourself time and time again. So now what?

As you gear up to turn that short-term gig into a full-time opportunity, for starters, Jacquelyn Smith writes on Forbes to “act the part.” This means abiding by the company dress code, hours, and overall behavior: “Never wear flip-flops, show cleavage or wear anything that’s ripped or torn.”

Next, you’ll need to take the bull by its horns. Meet with your manager to outline quantifiable goals and demonstrate a positive attitude no matter how menial the tasks may seem. Tom Busbach, former producer at Yahoo! told Forbes, “Not every task you’re going to do is something you’ll enjoy, but have the attitude that these are building blocks to your career. Once you show you can be trusted with small tasks, managers will give you more responsibility.”

As for the third way; make a name for yourself. Volunteer to work in other departments or on task forces that may not be relate to the job. Although it recently passed, one example is Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. By spreading your wings and networking with other folks, it’ll give you a better grasp of the company and ways to explore its numerous departments. Leverage your time there and ask new contacts out to lunch or coffee to get a better understanding of what they do. Plus, it’ll give them the opportunity to get to know you better. During the dialogue, be sure to express interest in working there so they may keep you in mind when opportunities arise.

Lastly, get feedback. Meet with your manager and keep track of your skills and projects to add them to your resume. Keep track of positive emails and notes; ask for recommendations and references. Specifically sit down with your manager and express your interest in working there. After all, he or she isn’t a mind reader! Even if there’s not an opportunity as soon as your internship has ended, be sure to stay in touch so your name is top of mind when full-time opportunities become available.

So, you wanna be EIC, huh? Depending on the size of the publication and the stability of the market — which, let’s face it, has not been that kind to print publications lately — the magazine masthead is not the playground of overnight sensations. You can, however, climb the editorial ladder with a little strategy and lots of hard work. For example…

Sign up for the un-spectacular.

You know those grunt assignments that nobody else wants? Take ‘em. They’re like little learning boot camps, said Marie Claire features director Lea Goldman, who found unique value in a notoriously tedious task.

“When I started out, transcripts and fact checking were the most useful things I did because they taught me how to put together a story,” she remembered. “I often just copied the source with the head of an organization and add that name and number to my Rolodex like, ‘OK, that’s a source. Now, I know if I’m ever working on a story like this, I can call that person.’ So they’re very useful and they shouldn’t be dismissed as just scut work.”

To find out how other magazine veterans got promoted, read How To Become an Editor-in-Chief.

This article is one of several mediabistro.com features exclusively available to AvantGuild subscribers. If you’re not a member yet, you can register for as little as $55 a year and get access to these articles, discounts on seminars and workshops, and more.

Yesterday’s New York Times indicated Esquire magazine is taking a stab next month with publishing fiction in an eBook series format dubbed “Fiction for Men.”

David Granger, editor-in-chief of Esquire indicated in the piece fiction is described as “plot-driven and exciting, where one thing happens after another.” Plus, it also deals “with passages in a man’s life that seem common.”

The first series will be available on June 12 and it sounds like every few months thereafter another volume will be published. Maybe this creates opportunities for freelancers? Then again, it sounds like a replacement for fiction which has lost its home in magazine pages of late.

Granger told the newspaper: “It’s a struggle, because especially during the recession, we lost so many pages. Fiction begins to feel a little bit of a luxury.”

Tsk, tsk, tsk. A new study published by the International Journal of Obesity shows starting salary among other items were negatively impacted when women were viewed as obese.

Only women were included in the study; according to a study published in 2007, they were 16 times more likely than men to report weight discrimination in the workplace!

As pointed out by TIME, researchers gave participants a stack of resumes with photos attached of each applicant. Photos represented before and after pics related to weight loss surgery. When women were considered obese, their starting salary, leadership potential as well as selection of candidate for the job were all negatively impacted.

In addition, researchers revealed that people who were confident with their own body type were more harsh and responded more negatively to overweight candidates.

Lead researcher Kerry O’Brien, told TIME, “The higher participants rated their own physical attractiveness and the importance of physical appearance, the greater the prejudice and discrimination.”

Sure, with the IPO news splashed across all the headlines, the question is, can you leverage Facebook to find a job and/or connect with decision makers who extend job offers?

According to buzz in recruiter land, the answer is weak. As in no, for the most part, it’s not prevalent. In a post today on ERE, John Zappe points out The CareerXroads survey asked recruiting leaders from various companies who have a strong social media presence what impact Facebook, Twitter and social media in general have on their recruitment efforts.

He writes, “The short answer is: not much, when it comes to Facebook and Twitter. In fact, Twitter actually fared better than Facebook for direct sourcing. The full results in the accompanying charts plainly show that with the exception of the company profiles, Facebook otherwise doesn’t deliver a whole lot.”

While he’s not suggesting recruiters abandon having a presence on Facebook, Zappe recommends both job seekers and employers alike should plan on having a presence and striking up an online dialogue.

The best way to position yourself for a full-time editorial job is to start freelancing for your dream publication first. And if your niche is parenting (specifically for teenagers and tweens), you might be able to earn a byline at Family Circle.

Just make sure your pitch outlines concrete tips for the health and well-being of readers’ families. ”We offer essential advice for tough parenting challenges, fun suggestions for family activities, healthy and delicious recipes, and DIY projects to create a comfortable home,” said senior associate editor Stephanie Emma Pfeffer.

If you’re bursting with ideas in any of those topics, you’re in luck. FC relies on freelancers for about 60 percent of its content.

Get more guidelines in How To Pitch: Family Circle.

This article is one of several mediabistro.com features exclusively available to AvantGuild subscribers. If you’re not a member yet, you can register for as little as $55 a year and get access to these articles, discounts on seminars and workshops, and more.

Heart & Soul, which was purchased in January and given a big-name editor to run the magazine, is not giving off an impression of, shall we say, financial soundness.

Just before the purchase was finalized, the National Writer’s Union launched a campaign on behalf of 60 writers who were owed a collective $200,000. The contributors had been told last July that the payment process was delayed during the ownership change.

However, not only have those writers still not received payment, but the new owners are also allowing new debts to pile up.

According to Richard Prince’s Journal-Isms, the magazine has skipped its April issue. Tipsters told Prince that the issue was skipped because the magazine’s entirely freelance team (including editors) went on strike to protest lack of payment. Clarence Brown, president and CEO of the magazine’s acquiring group, responded that actually, no, the magazine is making adjustments in its publication schedule.

Among the angry writers include Sheree Crute, who wrote for the publication before the change of ownership but told Prince that the current difficulties are nothing like she’s experienced before. She’s not the only writer who is still upset. Freelance contributor Harriet Washington, who was not among the writers in the initial complaint, tells us that she is owed more than $5,000 for an article that was accepted more than three months ago (and assigned under the new regime). Since March 13, she’s received no correspondence from editor Sandra Guzman or EVP George Curry…and of course no payment.

Reached by phone this morning, Curry referred all questions to Clarence Brown, who did not respond to a request for comment as of the time of this posting.

In this episode of “Cubes,” we tour the worldwide headquarters of IPG Mediabrands, the media holding company responsible for $34 billion in global revenue from advertising agencies such as Universal McCann. IPG’s work includes the Geico Gecko and Volkswagen’s pint-sized Darth Vader.

The IPG headquarters is home to a cutting edge media lab full of “Minority Report”-esque marketing technology, and the office includes a high-tech workspace dubbed “the desk of the future” and a skyway stretching 10 stories above the street that was once used by the Gimbels department story, the building’s previous tenant.

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