Thanks for
the advice you gave me last summer. I decided to stay with my internship -- it didn't really land me a job or that much more respect from the editor who yelled at me, as she obviously favored the other two interns over me (They went to amazing journalism schools, and I went to a state school that no one has heard of on this side of the country.), but I finished.
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Anyway, I ended up getting a great job as a temporary editorial assistant at a magazine that I absolutely love. I never thought that I could be working at this place at this point in my career. As it turns out, my temporary position is coming to an end, but I have been offered the spot as assistant to the editor in chief, a person whom I respect dearly and who is an amazing boss.
The problem is, though, that I'm really a writer. I don't know if I'm good at keeping someone else on task and answering her phone. She's willing to help me through it, but it also means I won't be writing or editing much at all. However, this is an opportunity to shadow someone who does what I want to do in 10 years or so -- be the editor of a well-respected national magazine.
I'm figuring out where I want to go with this, but I'd like to hear your opinion.
I was all set to think you should bail until I read the part that said this is an amazing person doing the job you would like to have one day. That seems to make a lot of things worthwhile.
If she will mentor you, if she will teach you, if she will show you what it takes to get the job she has, you will be getting paid to go to school. I would have a very frank talk with her about your ambitions and her intentions. Use the talk to try to establish a tone with her that says, while you certainly know who's in charge, the two of you are working on a project together -- your career. If she can be invested in you in the way that you seem to be saying she can be, this could be a golden opportunity.
Check it out.
Coming Monday: This magazine editor is moving to a new job that she hopes will be a step on the way to an even bigger job. The challenge is finding the right title for the in-between job.
