Stuff editor discusses job market for magazines

The gear editor for Stuff magazine addressed the challenges of breaking into the magazine industry, and how networking can be an essential link to a job like his during a presentation Monday night.

Matt Schneiderman, who has been working for the magazine for two years, defines networking as "who you know," how you keep in contact with these people, and how up-to-date you keep with publication industry news. Even if these things seem more social than business oriented, Schneiderman said that personal connections are fundamental to the magazine business.

Eighty percent of job openings are not advertised, said Brycie Smith, president of the JMU Association for Women in Communication, which sponsored the event. This statistic does not leave very much hope for the inexperienced job seeker, but Schneiderman went on to say that thorough networking can fill that gap.

"I was a little surprised to hear 80 percent because in publishing it is more like 90 percent," Schneidermann said. He emphasized the only way to beat these odds is to persistently work at getting your name out there through forming these relationships within publications.

The other vital suggestion Schneiderman offered to those looking to get into the media industry was to consistently pitch ideas. "In magazines, ideas are currency," Schneiderman said. "There’s no magic formula, and the only way to get a job in the magazine industry is to pitch ideas.

"As editors, we are the easiest people to find on the planet," Schneiderman said, as he pointed to the masthead in November’s Stuff.

He urged students to relentlessly e-mail editors from magazines that interest them. Even just a casual 15-minute appointment with an editor will get someone so much further than sending in the generic resumé," he said.

"Nobody cares if you are a guy or a girl, or even if you graduated from college — if your ideas are good, you are going to get a job," he said.

Senior Stephanie Yancome walked away with confidence in Schneiderman’s ideas. "Even though I am not necessarily going into the magazine industry, I think that his advice on networking would be applicable to the communications industry in general," she said.