Networking For Extreme Introverts

We’ve all heard it a million times: This industry is about networking. Oh, your friend talked to her mom who talked to her coworker who talked to her cousin who works at Condé Nast to score you that huge interview? Well, of course, that’s how everybody gets in.

Except what happens when you’re looking to break into magazines and the only industry connection you’ve got is a great-aunt’s friend who works in the art department of a local Alaskan lifestyle magazine?

For the longest time, I thought that all the connections I needed were a resume, a cover letter, and access to Ed’s website. That was all I had when I scored my first internship the summer after my freshman year, and that was all I had when I got two big, sparkly fashion internships as a sophomore and a junior. One of my fashion mag co-workers and I would joke about how our friends reacted after we got the job. The most common response tended to be: ‘How did you get this? Who do you know?!’ And then we’d quip wittily: ‘Uh, he’s this great guy, Ed. You should really meet him...’

But, as is normal when I make fun of things I don’t understand, I was quickly forced to eat my words.

My Trick To Getting To Know Everyone in the Office

So I have decided to be proactive about getting to know the office by asking everyone and anyone to lunch.

The idea was sparked when the magazine’s assistant editor, who hasn’t worked there very long, asked me to lunch. (This lunch, two weeks into my internship, was also the first time I realized we had a cafeteria.) During the hour we talked, she explained that she was feeling the same way I did: that it was hard to get to know people and it was easy to go a whole day without talking to anyone. It was great to hear that I wasn’t alone in feeling a little lost, but it was scary that she had been there for months and still felt that way – was I going to let my entire internship fly by without ever getting to know these people?

I decided the writers and editors at the magazine are just too amazing for me not to try to learn everything I can from them. We have people who have been foreign correspondents and people who have been editors at some of the biggest magazines in the world. I want to talk to these people and hear their stories. And I realized after that lunch with my assistant editor that most people are more than happy to talk about themselves for an hour.

The Trick To Landing Your Dream Internship

Hey Edsters!

This summer I will do my best to share advice from my internship at a fitness publication. As a graduate in journalism and electronic media from the good ole University of Tennessee, I will be navigating New York City for the first time on my own, and networking like crazy to try to land a job in the fall.

First off, let me tell you a little about myself. I am originally from Atlanta, Georgia and I absolutely love all things southern (read: this might be a difficult adjustment for me). I am obsessed with all animals, but mainly my German shepherd, Bernie. My greatest passion is traveling, and my favorite places I’ve visited are Egypt, Germany, Cyprus and Vietnam. My dream job would be an editor at a travel magazine.

I spent last summer as an editorial intern at Playboy magazine, which is based in Chicago.

Chatting My Way to the Top

Networking does not come easy to me. I am terrible at making small talk and usually end up very red and flustered or freezing up and going silent. However, as all you Edsters know, networking is key in this industry. (Hint: See Ed's Guide To Networking for tips!) One of my personal goals for this internship is to come out of my shell and not be so nervous talking to people.

The first step in networking is getting used to having informal conversations with people I don’t know. I’ve started at the basic level — making small talk with company representatives as I’m bringing them into desksides (meetings where the company pitches their product and I sit and nod my head) and PR reps at the events I go to. I’ve developed a list of safe questions to ask: How’s the weather outside? Have you been to many other meetings today? Is there a look book? Once I ask a lead-in question, it’s a lot easier to get a conversation flowing.

After becoming more comfortable chatting with people I don’t know, the next step in networking is talking to someone successful in the publishing industry. This week, I had breakfast with the vice-president of a well-known media company. I met her last month through a series of family connections and coincidences, and she generously offered to take me to breakfast at Chelsea Market. I had to wake up obscenely early to get there, but it was worth it.