Hot Magazine Jobs - Brief Article

Which jobs are hot in magazine publishing today? If "hot" means those in demand by employers, with potential for growth and advancement, the answer is a bit surprising. It's not necessarily the highly specialized, needle-in-a-haystack positions that publishers are scrambling to fill. The people needed to move and shape magazine publishing in the 21st century continue to be those who, for the most part, perform the traditional functions of magazines: selling the ads, producing the copy, pulling all the images together.

What is changing is the way they're doing their jobs. Editors are writing articles for the Internet for readers to digest two minutes from now, not two months. Sales people are not selling advertising space in a magazine; they're selling a brand that encompasses multiple media platforms. Says Tom Moloney, CEO of Emap USA: "If you asked me five years ago, I'd say we were a magazine publishing company. Now I'd say we create environments. We're creating environments on paper, TV, radio, online - creating unique environments that bring together our readers and our advertisers."

Magazine publishing is itself, at this time, an environment thriving within the nation's robust economy. Combining the two - a growing industry and a tight labor market - spells unparalleled opportunities in an industry where traditionally, newcomers were long expected to pay their dues.

The priority now is securing the right people, and finding a place for them. "Recruitment has changed," says Gerry Nobile, director of human resources for Playboy Enterprises. "You don't just say, 'I have a job to fill,' and start looking. You look constantly."

That climate coupled with a need to train newcomers in new technology and strategies is good news for those out of college. Companies that in the past turned a blind eye to young talent are bringing them on board earlier. "One of the things our company hadn't put a good emphasis on in the past is college recruiting," says Leah Landro, who hires for technology publisher CMP Media Inc. "Now we're trying to grown our own." At CMP, the usual vacancy rate of 6 to 7 percent is now running about 10 percent--or about 200 openings at any given time. And CMP is not alone.

For those already in the industry, those high vacancy rates - especially at mid-level positions - offer valuable mobility. And for those just starting out, they provide unparalled opportunities to get on board and move up quickly. Says Ruth Diem, director of Human Resources for Hearst: "At the consumer magazines it is very tough to find good people with experience for the mid-level jobs. So it is a great area for people to go into now, when they come out of college. Right now it's really an amazing time for people entering the industry."

As a result, the hottest jobs in magazine publishing are less singular titles than they are career paths encompassing a skill set in demand by the majority of magazine publishers today. Magazine company recruiters say that their titles are, for example, pining for good editors - from editor-in-chief down to editorial assistants (the editors-in-chief of tomorrow)--with the greatest need, senior editors, falling in the middle.

Likewise, the market for experienced advertising account managers is downright cannibalistic--leading some magazine companies to take a second look at easing entry to this highly competitive and lucrative field, and rendering even a lower-level job a "hot" one.

What follows are five job categories that magazine professionals cited time and again when asked about their greatest needs for talent. Most of those categories encompass more than one job title--in many cases, the labels used at some publications vary from those categorizing the same job at another; others reflect varying experience levels on the same career path. Salary estimates, too, are merely benchmarks and may vary with a candidate's experience, the size of the publisher or title, and the market it serves.

"There are lots of places to go, lots of movement, lots of vitality," Nina Link, president of the Magazine Publishers of America, says in describing the industry. "Magazines have been around for generations and they're continuing to reinvent themselves. It's very exciting."

Editorial

IN DEMAND:

* ASSOCIATE EDITOR

* SENIOR EDITOR

* COPY EDITOR

* EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

One of the truths underlined more clearly than ever by the new economy is this: information is a product. And the producers of that product for the magazine industry are, and will continue to be in the foreseeable future, its editors.

The expansion of magazine brands to the Web, coupled with the demand for creative content on all Internet sites, has sapped the number of solid writers who otherwise would have seen their future in print.

The scarcity is felt especially beyond the entry level, says Lori Gaytan, director of human resources for Intertec. "It's harder and harder to find people at the associate editor level, with two to four years of experience. We see them jumping to other things--they're going to other types of companies, they're going to Internet sites. Filling those jobs has become tough." Top-level jobs, including editor-in-chief, executive editor, and senior editor are also getting harder to fill, says Jackie Riley, a recruiter with Lynne Palmer Executive Recruitment. Especially needed, she says, are editors with a background in finance, personal health and technology, at all stages in their careers. "If the market is hot, you're looking at editorial people at all levels," Riley said.

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