Beating The Fear of Striking Out

Hey Edsters!

I'll be the first to admit it, I am extremely shy and sometimes do not advocate enough for myself, whether it be in the office or outside of work. As I continue through my internship I am realizing it is extremely important to take chances, connect with whoever comes your way, and always be thinking about how you can help you boss. Over the past few weeks our web staff and other departments have met with groups of interns to give us workshops on success in the magazine industry that are also relevant to other fields. The pattern and theme of all of these meetings seemed to be the importance of reaching out to editors and making connections. Growingly I am realizing how important knowing people in your industry is. 

How To Recover From A (Stupid) Mistake

Hey Edsters,

We've all done it. Mistakenly hanging up on someone important, copying the wrong document on the wrong paper, or missing an important dateline for our boss. Doing something wrong at work isn't a crime although it can feel the end of the world in the office. I have never been sure what the best approach to fixing an error is and this past week I was challenged with overcoming a minor mistake. 

Avoiding Disaster 101: The Importance of Getting Deadlines

So for the past six weeks or so, my internship has consisted largely of preliminary research – basically looking into stories and writing memos about what I find so editors can decide if the stories are worth pursuing for future issues. Sometimes I write lists of things to be made into graphics. But the point is, for the most part, I’m researching unscheduled, tentative stories, so everything is just sort of ongoing.

Imagine my surprise, then, when during a meeting I just happened to decide to attend I heard the editors discuss one of my stories, which, apparently, is scheduled for the December issue. And, apparently, the deadline for the December issue is next week. Whoa.