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How to get the best out of work-experience

  
 
GogMickGog
20:53 / 18.01.07

I've blagged a nice spot of experience on a really great literary mag next week and want to make the best use of it. However, whenever I've had W/E in the past it has always been a tad farcical - lots of sitting about doing nowt and tea-making for bloated hacks.

So, with that in mind, do any of you have hints on what to do to best use the time? What sort of things should I expect to be doing? Similarly, do I have durisdiction -as tempy office bitch- to object to any given tasks/ask for anything better?

PLUS - is there ever a subtle way to, like, hint at the end of the stint that some work would be jolly nice too?
 
 
Vadrice
21:19 / 18.01.07
i would recomend keeping your ears open and trying to figure out your particular office's pet peeves (things that their spacific past interns have done that drove them up the wall) and visibly NOT DO those things.
i've noted that valuable contributions are necessary, but not plucking raw nerves is an exemplary relief.
 
 
Char Aina
21:37 / 18.01.07
that's good advice.
also, memorise the shit out of anything you are told.
if someone tells you their name say it over and over again in your head if you have to, so long as you don't forget it. if you make tea, write the order down, with the relevant names, until you know the order by heart.
this obviously goes double for anyone important, but perfect recollection of anyone you have to work with should be your target.
you never know who the mail guy's dad is, and you don't know if the receptionist will be having drinks with the MD later. same for the rest of the staff. people are impressed by someone who knows their name and their drink order after only being told once, and doubly so if they only spoke to you for thirty seconds.

same thing goes for any numbers you are told, if appropriate.
write them down, and then learn them.
addresses, room numbers, days off, deadlines, all that stuff.

don't ask questions more than once if it is at all possible to avoid doing so. by all means ask for clarification where needed, but don't make anyone do more than necessary to take up your slack.

listen, listen, listen, and always write down important info. you might want to get a diary or notebook, and put important times and dates in your phone for a reminder. that last one might not be relevant, but i do it for almost everything these days.


basically? get it right first time and figure out what is important without needing told.
there are tricks to that, and most of them involve listening and lists.

get into listening and lists.
 
 
Tryphena Absent
22:24 / 18.01.07
If you don't have anything to do then tell someone. If they give you the post to sort out then do the post. I hate interns who don't do the post.
 
 
Tryphena Absent
22:28 / 18.01.07
Similarly, do I have durisdiction -as tempy office bitch- to object to any given tasks/ask for anything better?

Oh and by the way NO. People can't make work for you to do out of thin air, there's a good chance that the skivvy work really needs to be done and if you just do it you might get a reference full of flowery language.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
23:08 / 18.01.07
Flirt really hard with Craig Raine.
 
 
Alex's Grandma
23:40 / 18.01.07
If you're only there for a week, Mr Mick, then short of performing unchristian acts on the senior management it's going to be difficult to make much of an impression. I fear you'll just have to what you're told (expect photocopying, but you really shouldn't be asked to make too many cups of tea - if they pull that shit then frankly, fuck them, you don't want to work there in any case,) while trying to make friends with whoever it was that originally hired you, more than anyone else - unless you're lucky there probably won't be a job vacancy while you're actually doing your time in the WX salt mines, but whoever it was might get in touch if something comes up in the not-too-distant future. Otherwise, they'll be able to offer advice as to where else you should be applying, hopefully.

If you're there for longer, it's worth try to find something to do that nobody else really wants to, but that you, nevertheless, can just about stand. Offering to tidy up the back issue filing system, go through the slush pile, that sort of thing, has the advantage of a)ensuring that you're pretty much left alone while you're doing it and b)making you a loveable, memorable, if somewhat Dickensian figure.

And, um, good luck!
 
 
The Strobe
08:20 / 19.01.07
Don't expect too much, especially not in a week.

I say this because: the chances are that the bottom rung of said establishment - as with many publications - could well be bored out of their mind too. They probably have a lot of knowledge, a lot of experience, good education, and they're reduced to chasing copy and writing picture captions.

The chances, then, that you're going to arrive and be seen as anything more than a dogsbody are low. This doesn't mean people think you're stupid or good for nothing. It's just that you really are a little fish in a big ocean. At the magazine I used to work at, I saw an awful lot of interns come and go, many with at least two degrees - perhaps one in journalism - and several of them were definitely talented. And yet they ploughed the internship circuit, grateful for anything they could get, because that's the way of the world.

The best you can do is: do what you're told as best - or better - than you can. Show initiative, but don't expect everyone to fall in love with your every idea. And make the most of every conversation, work-related or no.

Similarly, do I have durisdiction -as tempy office bitch- to object to any given tasks/ask for anything better?

"Jurisdiction", and not really, no. At the same time: make the most of stuff. Do a really bang up job. If someone wants you to research something, go the extra half mile. Not too far - you'll just waste someone's time if they want a single fact for a standfirst and you've printed a hundred sheets of A4, but use your judgement. It's not a case of finding more interesting things to do - it's a case of making the things you do more interesting. Research is a prime candidate. Put in a bit more than the minimum, basically.

is there ever a subtle way to, like, hint at the end of the stint that some work would be jolly nice too?

No. If it's a "literary mag" chances are that money is probably tight, permanent hires are definitely tight, and they've got stringers coming out of their ears. If they want you, they'll let you know, to be honest. Learning to push, but not push too hard, is the most important skill of all.

Email me if you want more advice, because I've done the work-experience-in-publishing thing and it's tough. It's a week, it's no big shakes, so really don't expect too much of it. Also: let us know how you get on.
 
 
The Strobe
08:20 / 19.01.07
Email? Obviously, I meant PM.
 
 
Whisky Priestess
14:29 / 19.01.07
I challenge you to bring the next issue of the magazine to a complete standstill with your incompetence.

Fuck up, forget, insult, laze, go AWOL, turn up drunk, smoke in the office, sexually harass, annoy, irritate, sleep, thieve, and generally make yourself as much like a Big Brother housemate as you can without appending "Poppadom" to anybody's name. And if you can lose copy, piss off contributors, send the Editor to the wrong meeting, destroy important letters, steal review copies and so forth, even better. See if you can't set the office on fire.

And then write a 2000-word tell-all article about your week there and send it to this magazine's rival.

Thing is, you can't do much good in a week - but you can sure as hell cause a shitload of trouble if you try. It's really the only thing worth doing with your time there. And at least they'll remember you.
 
 
Triplets
15:35 / 19.01.07
Whisky, I think... I think I love you.
 
 
MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!
15:42 / 19.01.07
Halfway between WP's suggestion and the other more traditionally constructive suggestions above, I can't see a problem -- if you're game for WP's bridge-burning exercise, at least in theory -- with walking into the head cheese's office at 8:45 a.m. on the first day and asking what in God's name you'd have to accomplish in your week to impress them to the point of hiring you.

And then set out to accomplish whatever Herculean task was named, come hell or high water.

As the others have said, you have nothing to lose, so you might as well be flat-out open and transparent in your goals for the week rather than coy and retiring and "hope-they-notice-the-good-work-I-do."
 
 
GogMickGog
16:57 / 22.01.07
First impressions are ace: it's a one room office in a run-down Soho townhouse. There's a hole in the floor and books everywhere. In short, it's like being at home whilst at work. Lovely.

Unfortunately, I have so far failed to follow WP's suggestion - it being such a small office, I feel that any 'sabotage' would be rather too obvious to get away with. Curse my cowardly soul!
 
 
Tryphena Absent
13:51 / 24.01.07
I have an ad for an unpaid intern for Sony A&R in my inbox. If anyone is interested drop me a line and I'll forward it to you.
 
 
Triplets
14:11 / 24.01.07
You suck, Mick. WP's idea will make you a legend among tea-boys.

In fact, to get your ball rolling go offer to get the tea in. Go and offer right now. Make sure no-one's looking then apply your Old Man to the inside of the mug. Give him a full mug tour. Before the hot water obvs. Although explaining - in tears - to your new workmates why you need to go to A&E, cradling your steaming crotch, could put you a few hundred points up.
 
 
Whisky Priestess
15:35 / 24.01.07
OMG, it's the Literary Review isn't it? You jammy bugger. I had a job interview there once but when I mentioned that my plan to survive on the £9,000 salary was to take another job in the evenings, I could feel them losing interest. Strictly independently wealthy (or, at the other end of the scale, living on beans and dust) is the way to go.

Is Robert Potts(?) still the Editor? He was nice. Be sure to ask for that job just after musing aloud about how well this warren of old timber and dry paper would burn, mind ...
 
 
GogMickGog
20:00 / 26.01.07
Um, yes, it is (or was). I regret to say that -at no point- did I threaten to burn the place down. I did possibly (possibly) blag a review of some Will Eisner reprints. So, if you see them...that'll be me. It was fabby though, even if I mostly read the beginnings of books and noted copy (a dream job, methinx)

Now, does anyone know any other literary rags which have a good rep. for work experience, and doling out thereof?
 
  
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