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JOB VACANCIES

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STAFF WRITER

· Employer: FUTURE PUBLISHING LIMITED

· Posted: 23 Sep 2010

· Reference: FUTU-1108

· Contact:Future

· Location:Bath

· Industry: Media – New Media

Media – Publishing

Media - Digital

· Contract:Permanent

· Hours:Full Time

· Salary: Competitive + Excellent benefits

About The Role

We are looking for a talented Staff Writer to join .net, the world's best-selling magazine for web design and development. You will write well-written and informative copy for the magazine and website, including news, previews and reviews. You will build excellent relationships with the industry and PRs to source kit for reviews, as well as generate news and feature leads and ideas. In addition you will represent .net at events and press conferences. An excellent command of written English and the ability to write engaging and informative copy is essential. You will have preferably gained editorial work experience within a magazine or journalism environment and have some experience of interviewing. A passion for the web and a personal online presence, including a blog, website, portfolio or Twitter account is highly desirable for the role. Experience of web design software and knowledge of web design and development is beneficial.

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Roles within the Magazine Industry: Staff Writer

What is a Staff Writer?

A staff writer is the person who chooses the name for an article and is often the main writer of that article, a Staff Writer is often given to someone as a permanent position rather than with some writers when it is given as a "one-time" position e.g someone writing one thing for a magazine then moving onto another etc etc.

What qualifications do you need to become a Staff Writer?

As with most jobs in the Media Industry, though qualifications may not exactly always be needed, they are VERY helpful and in a Staff Writer's case, most likely needed. To become a Staff Writer, a Bachelors degree in Journalism or English is preferred.

What experience do you need to become a Staff Writer?

To become an Staff Writer, more experience may be needed than other jobs as a Staff Writer has one of the more "complicated" jobs so to speak. Staff Writers should have strong communication skills as well as excellent writing skills. Three plus years of magazine and writing experience is needed. Again, with this job apprenticeships would be helpful in gaining the experience to get a job like this.

What are the responsibilities of a Staff Writer?

Staff Writers have many important responsibilities, they have to write a variety of different articles for each issue of whichever magazine they may work for so have the responsibility of making something interesting for the reader of that magazine and have it fit in with the Magazines "theme" so to speak. Staff Writers also have to pitch ideas for articles as well as preparing what they want to write in the pitch they do, so that is another responsibility they have - they have to ensure there pitch is good and represents there talents well etc.

Roles within the Magazine Industry: Photographer

What is an Photographer?

There are many different ways to describe truly what a photographer is, in simple terms though, it is someone who takes photographs using a camera of some sort. The difference in photographers is there there are Amateur Photographers, whose main purpose is to take pictures for pleasure and to record an event, place, person or emotion, and there are Professional Photographers, who use photography as a way to earn money. A professional photographer may be an employee of someone e.g a newspaper, or be an independent professional photographer, where they get hired to do certain jobs in there "chosen field" e.g one professional photographer may specifically do magazine photography and another might specifically do Wedding photography, etc etc.

What qualifications do you need to be a Photographer?

Although some people say that you don't technically need any qualifications to become an Photographer, if you want to become one, specifically one who specialises in images seen in magazines, there is more chance of being successful with this with qualifications for it, these qualifications help to provide a solid understanding of photography and technical practice. An associate or bachelor's degree in photojournalism or visual communications would give an photographer a strong foundation of skills to build upon and will create a network of professional resources to pull from during her career.

What responsibilities does a Photographer have?

Many photographers are freelancers, and this particularly includes magazine photographers. These type of photographers have the responsibilities of capturing the type of images that the magazine they're shooting images for want and they also must ensure they capture enough shots for each separate "subject" they're shooting for so it gives variety and chose for the editors to choose from. As well as these responsibilities, Magazine Photographers also must ensure they take care of there camera and the equipment that goes with that camera as these things can be very costly to replace.

What experience does a Photographer need?

To be a photographer of any type, while work experience isn't technically needed, it would be very helpful in enhancing a photographers career if they gained experience in working with an professional photographer, even if there is no or low pay, the stuff learnt under the hand of an experienced professional would be invaluable. Getting any work experience with a professional even if its just being an assistant would definitely help a future photographer get a "taste" so to speak of what its like and gain invaluable experience.

Roles within the Magazine Industry: Features Editor

What is an Magazine Features Editor?

A magazine features editor ensures that the magazine they are working for is full of informative, interesting, entertaining and newsworthy articles. Generally, feature editors tend to work for larger publications, such as the weekly and monthly consumer or the lifestyle titles(commonly called 'glossy magazines').

What are the responsibilities of an Magazine Features Editor?

The role of a magazine features editor carries many responsibilities, for this job, the features editor must be able to generate ideas for features, commission work by freelance writers, edit and proofread articles, liaison with artists and photographers and finally manage the writing staff. As well as all this, occasionally they may researching and rewriting features/sections, and also maintain and raise the profile of the magazine they are working for.

What qualifications do you need to become an Magazine Features Editor?

Although it is possible to enter the Magazine Features Editor profession without a degree, having one gives you more of a chance of landing a job in what you want to do. An English or Media Studies degree would give an advantage in becoming an features editor as well.

What experience do you need to become an Magazine Features Editor?

For any job in the magazine industry, it is essential to gain experience. Experience that may be needed to become a Magazine Features Editor will include freelance work, publishing articles for magazines, student newspapers etc etc, all these will help give you an advantage in getting a job in your chosen area.

Roles within the Magazine Industry: Picture Editor

What is an Magazine Picture Editor?

Magazine photo editors are the liaisons between writers, photogeraphers and other editors, the job of a photo editor is to visualize the message of the editorial material, the magazine photo editors work with editors on how the magazine text can be enhanced, or emphasized with images and then go about hiring the photographer they think right for that particular job.

What qualifications do you need to become an Magazine Picture Editor?

The ideal qualifications one would have to become an Magazine Picture Editor would be a bachelor degree in journalism or mass communication, as well as this there are also some Universities that offer graduation degree programs in editing as well as publishing, which would also be acceptable qualifications to use to become an picture editor for a magazine.

What responsibilities are involved in being an Magazine Picture Editor?

A magazine picture editor has the responsibility, along with the photographer, to pick the best photo's for each story that may be featured in the magazine. The picture editor also has the responsibility of keeping the photographer on track so to speak, a picture editor will point out the positive things the work the photographer did as well as discuss things that can be improved on. Picture editors also carry the responsibility of scheduling the photographer's shifts and juggling photo assignments with their schedules.

What experience do you need to become an Magazine Picture Editor?

To become a Magazine Picture Editor, a major importance is to learn about photography and experience anything to do with photography, because even though you may not be the one taking the photos, you still need to understand the technical aspects of the use of cameras, by learning and experiencing photography it would probably give you more expertise for the job. As well as this, internship's and volunteer work for any job involved the Magazine Industry would be good for experience even if it has nothing to do with what you actually are aiming for, it would give experience in the Magazine "world" so to speak.

Roles within the Magazine Industry: Art Director

What is an Magazine Art Director?

A magazine art director is the person who oversee's the art, i.e the photographs, and perhaps even drawings that appear in magazines, the art director usually oversees the entire design department working with photo editors and editors to co-ordinate what images will match up with what words. The magazine art director would also work on the specific look and feel wanted for the magazine, making sure that there is a unified look throughout.

What qualifications do you need to become an Magazine Art Director?

To become an Magazine Art Director, there are many things that help someone to gain the training necessary to be an art director. In High School, a student should have at least taking Art for a GCSE. Post-secondary education, going to an art school is particularly helpful as a stepping stone towards the career as an Art Director. Art School's are particularly helpful as a number of them offer training in graphic design which includes courses in typography, design, layout and photography, a person must present a portfolio typically to be even considered for an art school.

What are the responsibilities of an Magazine Art Director?

The responsibilities of an Magazine Art Director is that they must over-see the whole of the design department and work with photo editors and editors to make sure the right images are going to the right words and that the whole magazine as a whole flows together rather than it coming out all un-matched and looking bad because of the Art Director not overseeing that everything was looking good. The Art Director also has the responsibility of trying to find a "look" for the magazine, making the magazine have its own style and therefore ensuring people will buy it and have interest in it.

What experience do you need to become an Magazine Art Director?

To become an Magazine Art Director, like most jobs, you'll need to get some experience in this area, experience that could help you get a job is by doing an internship, this could include doing anything in a magazine company as every little experience helps in gaining steps forward to getting the "dream" job. Art Schooling also helps with gaining experience.