Being a fashion intern

So far it’s been less like Devil Wears Prada and more like the sofa of my kitchen on a rainy Sunday afternoon. People are constantly on a migration towards the teapot, huddled with laptops, casually typing out stories and shouting jokes around the room. In essence, it's essentially like any other office I’ve worked in, except there’s music.

Time Out is a  fantastic place to work and everybody is incredibly friendly, if a little busy.

My work so far has not been confined to coffee runs. Instead I’ve been in touch with PRs, writing out reams and reams of listings, generally getting confused with the image uploader they’ve got here. Most difficult, I've had to work out what Miu Miu means.

I am not your stereotypical Fashion Intern. For one, I don’t really care about fashion, and, as I pass the theatre/food/travel desks my head inclines wistfully towards them. But it’s a great step in the right direction and it mans that I get to shock friends and family with style advice. This comes from somebody who is happiest in leggings and oversized tee. 

I don't think it's going to turn me into some crazy Rachel Zoe lookalike (see! Fashion reference!!!), but it's making me appreciate the work that goes into producing a magazine as 'simple' as Time Out. 

 

How to get a job in London

Ok, so the job market is horrendous worldwide, apart from perhaps, Australia. Otherwise, the streets are akin to the 1930s. Even the colour has been sapped from the London streets, everything is in sepia, and for some reason, men have started wearing cloth caps and have swapped their Nikes for large shoes with gaping holes in the toes. Yes, we’re in a vast, yawning hole of depression, but there are still jobs to be had in London town, just how to go about it.

• Ensure you have friends in high places. This is easier said than done, obviously, but loitering around in coffee shops does have its advantages when it comes to making connections. I have now been offered a grand total of two jobs, just from having the fortune of sitting next to the right people at the right time. One man insisted that I come and interview for a job at his ski and snowboard company, despite the fact that I can’t ski or snowboard. Another man eyeballed my pictures that I was doctoring on my laptops and gave me a business card for freelance photography. I still earn money this way. So if you’re particularly lazy, and you prefer the idea of loafing around drinking hot beverages all day over, then waiting for the job to come to you is one way of succeeding in the London job market. I am proof that it can happen, you just a happy smile and to look job hungry.

• Go classic. Local restaurants and bars will respond to your efforts to traipse around the capital handing out promising looking CVs to all and sundry. Open the door to the establishment with a smile, extend your arm to the manager for a polite handshake and state why you’re there. Hopefully this will be enough to show the place you want employment in that you’re an excellent choice and that if nothing else, you have the stamina to be on your feet for hours on end.

• Do what my friend did and stand out from the crowd with quirky CVs. One of my friends, desperate to get a job in PR, poked his CV into a balloon, filled it with Helium and then left it at several PR firms, hoping to get their attention. He labelled it as a gift to the boss and provided a handy pin to prick the rubber. Do your research first: a small quirky surprise to a young PR manager could be a fatal shock induced heart attack to an older one. Worked for my friend though: he was offered called for five interviews in as many hours. While I don’t suggest that you copy this idea to the letter, other ideas are delivering your CV wearing fancy dress, presenting your CV in a 3D origami shape (if this is at all relevant to your job-perhaps applying to be a burger flipper in Maccy D’s won’t call for such a level of creativity) or making a hanging mobile out of your CV and sending it in a package to PR firms nationwide.

• Get in touch with a recruitment agency. Sometimes, these places can help to place you with the company of your dreams. Often, they arrange a little pre-interview with you first to make sure that you’re not going to embarrass them. Just make sure you’re clear about what type of job you’re looking for. I once went for an interview with an internet company who quizzed me about my computer coding skills and looked more and more dejected with every answer I offered. At no point had the recruitment consultancy suggested that I would need to be able to program or build websites: they’d told me that they were looking for someone to write product descriptions. Mad.

• Move out to the provinces. A growing number of graduates are opting not to move to London to find work. Despite the feeling that London is almost a primate city in the UK, more and more jobs are being found outside the capital for graduates. Jaguar Landrover recently offered a shedload of engineering roles for new engineering and physics students, while the BBC’s move to Salford has ensured that it’s no longer imperative for debt-ridden graduates to shell out more money for London accommodation. The big cities of Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Birmingham have a variety of jobs on offer, and, best of all, you’re less likely to be competing with EU workers who come to London tempted by the glitz, the glam and the exceptional restaurants. No-one ever went to Manchester for the glitz and the glam. 

Graduates: Are these even real jobs?

Just a quick question. Everyone is always telling me that there are millions of jobs available. Log on to www.guardian.co.uk/jobs and you'll see that there are hundreds for graduates.

You know the ones, the ones that say base salary £18000, potential OTE £80k!!

But are they real? Are they good? Are they all essentially advertising the same jobs? To become cold callers?

Did all of us JobHungryGrads out there really get a first from Hertford College. Oxford to cold call people? Or a Masters from Newcastle to ask people whether they want froth on their cappuccino  Of course we did, now quit complaining, and here, below are a selection of jobs that are *always* available.

Are they even real? If you do one of these jobs, what on earth do you do? And do you ever earn the promised £100k OTE? Do you heck.

• Social Media Sales role, £25K -£50K

  • London (City of)
  • Very Competitive
  Very fast paced environment which rewards those who work hard

• Social Media Specialist - London - £35k - International In-house Wine Company

  • Greater London
  • Up to £35k (DOE) with Great Benefits
  My client, a international Wine company, seek a Social Media Specialist/Online Community Manager to join their sociable and talented team. 

  Because all the graduates I know are specialists in Social Media, after completing a 3 year philosophy degree

The Wheel of Fortune (Kay Starr FYI)

Graduates are unlikely to have experience. Unless you make friends with people who mirror you identically, why not share experiences and skills to help your unemployed friends develop skills, bulk up their CV and become a more well-rounded person.

If you know a grad (or anybody I suppose) looking for a job, and you feel that you have a skill you could share, find out what you could exchange. I know how to use Social Media. So I could approach my friend who is hapless at using Twitter and offer an exchange to develop my dressmaking skills.

Why not set up a skill sharing site? 

Right now, I want to learn/perfect/better myself at the following:

• Night time photography with SLR camera (see above photo for evidence of my lack of ability)
• HTML
• Graphic Design
• Advanced Yoga
• How to make sushi (I have the mats and rice and everything: I'm all set)

I can exchange the following skills and gifts:

• Piano lessons
• How to budget your travel
• How to find the cheapest airflights known to mankind
• Clarinet lessons
• Basic sketching
• Beginners adult ballet
• Thai food
• Mexican food
• Gluten free/vegan baking
• Social media skills
• General fitness/healthy eating
• Tapas. 

Somewhere, there must be a match who wants to exchange what I have (essentially a greedy tummy who learnt how to cook shit) and has what I want.

Just a thought. 

Back to the book.