Job-Hunting Handbook: What the HR Experts Say

M.S. in Publishing students get career tips from Stacy Berliner (back, left) and Sara Patterson (back, right).

Publishing is a tight-knit community, and for those seeking their first positions in the industry, it can be tough to break in. Luckily, last week, students in NYU’s M.S. in Publishing: Digital and Print Media program had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion moderated by the program’s director, Andrea Chambers, and featuring two senior human resources executives in the publishing industry. Sara Patterson, Head of Talent Management for Condé Nast, and Stacy Berliner, Director of Human Resources at Random House, shared their insights, key networking tips, and job-hunting techniques crucial for snagging that publishing dream job.

Eats and Feats at Every Day with Rachael Ray

Tracey Seaman (right) talks to students in the Every Day with Rachael Ray test kitchen.

The delectable aroma of herbs, spices, and Mexican cooking greeted M.S. in Publishing: Digital and Print Media students as they arrived at the test kitchens of Every Day with Rachael Ray for an industry visit. Naturally, at a food magazine, the test kitchen is key–and the perfect place to start our tour! Christine Guilfoyle, the magazine’s Group Publisher, who graciously set up the student visit, explained that a goal of Every Day with Rachael Ray is to help readers understand the everyday practices of good cooking.

Book Expo America: Rock Concert for Book Lovers

SPI students Vivian Roberson and Chloe Goodhart at BEA

After the first three days of classes, NYU’s Summer Publishing Institute (SPI) students experienced a change of pace from the classroom when they attended Book Expo America (BEA) at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. The conference center was transformed into a huge mall where every “store” featured the same thing: books. Even better for the students, the big books for fall were not only prominently displayed, but in some cases given away as advance reading copies.

SPI Day One: Passion, Power Editors, and Russian Poetry

Zinczenko and Leive at NYU’s Summer Publishing Institute

I’d wager there’s at least one kid in every city who dreams of making it big in New York. While a fair few aspire to Broadway stardom, our kind imagines something slightly more bookish, although undoubtedly as enchanting.

Our kind is the readers, the writers, and the would-be editors and publishers. We grew up checking out too many books from the library, using our allowances at Barnes & Noble, staying up way past midnight to read the new Harry Potter book, and just generally spending hours (possibly days) with our faces buried in text. While for some, this process may have manifested itself in a less-pronounced fashion, 116 of us applied and were accepted to the Summer Publishing Institute at NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. At SPI, as we call it, we’ve now found ourselves eagerly immersed in one of the most intense summers of our lives. 

Books, Blogs, and Literary Mags, Oh My!

Students in the M.S. in Publishing program not only spend a great deal of time on media websites and reading blogs, but they also create them! We recently asked our students to tell us about their publishing-related online hobbies and businesses. Below, we have selected three examples to spotlight:

The Other Side of Publishing: Alternatives to Corporate Life

Ami Greko, Rebecca Fitting, Lorraine Shanley (back), David Nudo, Sandi Mendelson

As the Summer Publishing Institute wound down and students scrambled to complete projects and find jobs, an esteemed panel of publishing entrepreneurs helped to put everything in perspective. “We are all in this room because we are passionate about communication,” said panelist David Nudo, former publisher of Publishers Weekly and co-founder of Literati-A-Go-Go, validating every student’s desire to go into publishing. By sharing stories of their own career trajectories and advice on how to build a successful career, each of the panelists offered a refreshing look at what it means to be a part of the publishing industry in this new digital age.

Maga-Brand Awareness

Bill Stump, Doug Brod, Mia Haugen, Kristen Schultz, Elizabeth Mayhew

“So, where are all the men?” Bill Stump, panel moderator and Senior Vice President and Executive Director at Rodale, jokingly asked upon entering the room for the “Magazines as Multi-Platform Brands” panel discussion on the first day of the Summer Publishing Institute (SPI) at NYU. (Like the publishing industry itself, the student body at SPI is largely female.) After a laugh, 105 publishing students, Bill Stump and four executives from influential national magazines settled in to discuss the power and importance of the brand. On hand for the conversation: Doug Brod, Editor of SPIN; Kristen Schultz Dollard, Digital Director of SELF; Mia Haugen, Managing Editor of Forbes; and Elizabeth Mayhew, VP and Editor-in-Chief of Brand Content at Woman’s Day.