I'm back with a new title under my name - student editor! Yes, I checked a hundred times and it was an acceptance letter that came into my mail! I will be working as a student editor for Cosmopolitan Korea's Cosmo on Campus magazine. This is a free magazine for university students, it covers fashion, beauty, lifestyle as well as lots and lots of information on internships and work life.
First thing - I had to submit my resume (duh!). I'll skip the basic information, education, social media accounts and so on.. The important bit was the application form!
There were two blank spaces on the application form. One was for the answer to 'What made you apply for the position' and one with 'Introduce yourself' on top of it! I just tried my best to be honest, to show my huge interest in magazines and editing software programs and I also shared lots of my own personal experience - student council, GC2013 press team, Korea Refugee Week press team, volunteer work and my experience living in a multiethnic country - Malaysia! (Always takes a large part of my application forms).
They also asked all the applicants to send in a portfolio (optional) and any other contents that we've designed, filmed and so on.
2. Article
The most important bit! All the applicants had to write an article. The topic was not given. All they gave us was that the article must be for the March 2015 issue. It took me days to come up with the topic. In the end, I just went with health tips because I thought that they were the easiest to write! Also, I was quite scared to write a fashion related writing because I wasn't quite confident that mine would not stand out among many others.
The article I wrote:
I sent my application form, my article in pdf file, portfolio (like two pages..?) and a film that I filmed and edited.
The next week, I got a call from cosmopolitan asking me if I can come to the office for an interview! I also got a text, congratulating me for passing the first round and telling me the address.
3. Interview
The office was all the way in Gangnam. It took me a little less than an hour to get there. I left early because you know, you should never, ever be late to interviews - especially if the position you've applied for is a fashion magazine editor!
Before I talk about how horrible the interview went let me just write a few comments on the building. The whole building was just amazing. The lifts, the lobby, the desks, everything was so devil wears prada! It made me even more nervous!
It was a group interview. There were five people in my group, all of them were lovely, fashionable, friendly and confident. We chatted for a bit and exactly at 5pm, the assistant called us in.
I think they interviewed six other groups before us because they said that we were the last group.
There were two interviewers - current editor-in-chief for cosmopolitan campus, and Hearst Korea director. Both very well-known women in the industry. I couldn't believe my eyes...
I expected the interviewers to be super stylish, wearing lots of accessories, colourful hair and... okay I'll stop. But they were dressed really comfortably and they were both bare faced! But they still looked beautiful (and still a little fierce..)
And then they started with all these questions... which I'm not sure if I can write here. All I can say is that they were very very difficult questions and that I screwed up... haha.
4. Acceptance notice!
The next day, I got a text, mail and a call confirming that I am now part of the crew! With lots of details about the orientation, the dress code and the photoshoot.
I met all the other editors a few days ago and they're all girls (according to some of them there were a few boys in their interview groups! Oh and no one from my group got accepted :()
They are very bright and talented! I'm so happy to work with such a great bunch.
I am the youngest student editor - which is not so nice in Korea because age is really important here, and they have already given me quite a lot of work to do and I think the chief kind of hates me a little (Maybe I'm paranoid but it's just the looks that she gives me okay. LOL.) but I'll do my best to survive!
I'm really really really happy and I just can't wait to officially begin the journey and see my column in the upcoming issues!
