So, any of you who follow me on
Twitter or
Instagram will know that between June and July I packed up my bags and moved to London for a month to intern for the most loved mag in the blogosphere - Company. I learnt so much and have so much to share with you all that I'm not quite sure where to start. So get a cup of tea because you're in for the long haul...
GETTING THE INTERNSHIPI've been wanting to intern with Company since, er, forever. They're my ultimate favourite magazine because I really believe in them. I love Company for their girl-power, be who you want to be attitude and for how they champion female talent. It's a magazine which empowers and inspires and one which I look forward to getting my hands on every month. So for me, bagging my first real internship with my favourite fash mag really was a dream come true.
As I’m sure you know, just a month after my internship Company sadly went out of print. This was a huge shock and really is such a hit to women’s magazines. Company will leave a huge hole in the magazine stand that no others really fill. I just feel incredibly lucky to have been able to intern there when I did and for the invaluable experience I’ve taken away with me. I wish all of the writers there the best of luck because they were so great to work for.
I've already written a post on how to get an internship which you can read here and my no.1 tip would just to be perseverance and to stay connected on Twitter.A few of you have asked for a brief low down on my experience. Last summer I competed in a blogging competition with my local events website where I wrote events reviews and lifestyle content. I did work experience for two local papers, one of which I had a lot of my work published in as I frequently pitched throughout the summer. I've also reviewed spas for a local magazine. Along with that, I write occasionally for the student newspaper and obviously keep my blog updated which is a great way to show your passion for writing. There's only so much I can do on top of my English Lit course so my blog is my main focus in Uni term time. I also interned at London Fashion Week as a Fashion Writer for Fashion Scout, where I interviewed designers, wrote collection reviews, etc. So my internship with Company was my first month-long placement at a magazine and one I was super excited (and nervous) to start. All of these things definitely prepared me for the placement and I wouldn't advise anyone to dive head first into a top magazine without working at their local papers beforehand.
FIRST DAY NERVESI can count on one hand the times I've been genuinely nervous in my life and most of those were for major, potentially life changing exams. But it was those good, self-motivating 'I can do this' nerves. Gem met me in the office and introduced me to everyone and I was really surprised by how small the team is. You can intern in two departments; Fashion where you’re based in the Fashion Cupboard or Features, where you’re sat on the Features desk with Lena (Features Editor), Carlene (Senior Features Writer), Gem (Features Writer) and Lexxi (Fashion Features writer).
I was given a really detailed intern guide which was perfect because it massively reduced the amount of questions I needed to ask. Everything I needed to know was there but by the end of the week I was that into the routine I didn't need to refer back a lot. Another piece of advice here would be to take notes of everything you're told and set reminders, if you are forgetful, to make sure you complete everything throughout the day.
An average day went something like this: arrive at 9.30am, research articles until 10am and pitch to the team via e-mail, get writing, hand out the post around 11am, and write / upload two fashion news articles before 12. The afternoon varied, sometimes I would transcribe interviews, research other articles, and write up articles from press releases other writers needed doing which could be anything from a new event to a Beauty Buy. Then around 4pm I'd start on the social media which meant writing the overnight tweets and on a Friday afternoon I wrote all of the tweets for the weekend. I don't remember once having that awkward "now what do I do?" moment because I found myself under pressure to complete all of these things in one day but tried to make sure everything got done, even if it meant staying a little late on the evenings I didn't have events etc.
WORKING TO DEADLINES
The main thing I tackled here was working to deadlines. Although not everyday I got the stories up on time or completed every task I had, working in a high paced office definitely speeds you up! Some days I would arrive in the office already armed with news stories from interesting things I'd seen in Stylist or the Metro. This was ideal because then you could pitch straight away and get writing. I left the house around 8:20am and at this point there wasn't much online besides overnight stories.
If there was nothing interesting online before I left, without wifi on the tube, it meant I'd have to spend an extra half hour or so browsing the internet looking for interesting things to put a spin on. So if you're going to intern on a Features desk, it's important to always have your eye on social media and fashion websites looking for the latest news and things to make great stories out of. Some days it did feel quite frustrating as I just couldn't find anything worth pitching but you need to be prepared that this will happen.
Another thing I would bare in mind is that Company’s uploading system is nothing like Blogger or Wordpress and is quite difficult to use. If you intern at a major magazine, make sure you take down every single thing you need to know about the uploading system as it’s quite time consuming for the rest of the team to run you through it.
The most rewarding part of interning at Company is that you're given an
important role within the team. This is why you should treat internships as 'free training' rather than working for free because you will have your work proof read and when the team aren't too busy, they're always on hand for advice. Gem looks after interns and anyone who has worked at Company will tell you how friendly and helpful she is. This is obviously a complete relief to any intern who feels a little nervous and out of their depth. Some days Lena even checked how quickly I was doing things to make sure I was meeting targets. These were things I was extremely grateful for and I felt so privileged to be able to get so hands on with the magazine. Some days I’d be able to get all of my tasks completed but others I'd have a length to-do list which was tough to complete on time. It’s important to ask what you should prioritise in order to know what needs to be done.
I wanted to be "good" straight away and felt a little inadequate at first but you need to bare in mind that everyone starts as a shaky intern and works their way up. You are not going to go in being a pro straight away. That's why you're there - to make mistakes, but learn quickly, don't let things dishearten you and keep on improving!
PHONE CALLS
Another major responsibility was taking phone calls. This is usually a hurdle for most people. The office gets very busy and as an intern you will be expected to answer a lot of the PRs phone calls and take messages. My job was to explain if the journalist they wanted to speak to wasn't available, take messages and ask them to e-mail. Obviously a PRs job is to get to speak to someone on the team and it's quite difficult to use a polite telephone manner when someone persists on speaking with who they're after. Silly things like remembering to ask for their name and e-mail are easy to forget when you feel a bit uncomfortable and embarrassed taking a call but you quickly get over it. It’s really important to be as polite as you can be and to bare in mind you’re representing the magazine. PRs are very persistent so it’s easy to come across as rude and abrupt on the phone. Make sure you’re as polite and helpful as you can be. You feel the pressure of your tasks as an intern and during the first week or so I would answer the phone and feel worried afterwards that I came across as rude or impatient. I began to learn the "formulas" for speaking on the phone and took note of how the other writers handled their calls. This is something you need to work out for yourself and remember, everyone in the office can hear you taking the calls (no pressure!).
FINAL POINTERS
This should've covered most aspects of the internship but as for final pointers, remember that whatever team you work for, they're going to be extremely busy. This means they will get very absorbed in their tasks and do not have time to know what you’re doing 24/7. Be realistic and don't expect constant praise. Show as much gratitude as you can and always be willing to do any task - whether that's sorting samples in the beauty cupboard to writing the articles, always do it to with a smile on your face and to a standard you're proud of. There is no magic formula to being a good intern. But you will come out with a hell of a lot of experience under your belt and feeling like you can take on wherever you go next.
Sorry that this was so long but there was so much to get through! If you have any other questions, leave them in the comments, or if you'd like to chat about it more you can always drop me an e-mail LydiaRoseSmyth@gmail.com
Lydia Rose,
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