Mehetabel M.

Editor
Happy to mentor
Happy to be contacted

About me

Mehetabel M.
Social and Political Science
Social and Political sciences
Undergraduate
Halifax
2017
United Kingdom

My employment

Editor
The EPG
United Kingdom
Advertising, marketing and PR / Journalism and publishing
2017

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A day in the life of a Editor in the United Kingdom

PR/ Editorial/ Creative individuals

How I looked for work

My first role I got from attending a networking event organised by a family friend. I met the HR team and they offered me an internship which turned into a part-time role. Whilst working for this company I was able to network further and land the role of editor an African Luxury Magazine.

How I found out about the job

Personal contacts

The recruitment process

I sent my CV and was asked to do an interview. They asked fairly straight forward questions about my interests, my skills, and availability,

My career goals when I graduated

To do something creative and impactful.

My career history

Social Media intern
PR officer
Journalist
Arts Marketing
Editor

What has helped my career to progress

Being hungry for a challenge, trying not to be afraid to aim higher and give it my best shot has allowed me to progress from intern to Editor in around 2 years.

How my studies have helped my career

The interdisciplinary nature of SPS at York teaches you to be flexible and be able to handle multiple concepts and analytical frames at once. This has been invaluable for being able to multi-task different tasks and apply different skills to each one.

Where I hope to be in 5 years

Hopefully have my own creative consultancy and collaborate with other brands/ companies for exciting projets. Also have a successful campaign raising awareness about Female Genital Mutilation.

My advice to students considering work

Do as many internships as possible whilst being an undergraduate.
Start with personal connections and then start applying for internships advertised by the university/websites etc.
Start from the bottom but don't stay there: aim high and work your way up
Go to networking events!! You never know who you might meet....

What I do

Public Relations: Handle social media accounts for the publication (e.g. Choosing content to go up on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram), Writing up press releases of events for other publications and news outlets to circulate, PR Strategy (brainstorming for ways the company could improve their visibility etc.)
Journalist: Writing up articles about events attended i.e. London Fashion Week, Monaco Yacht Show. Writing opinion pieces on topics such as Bum Culture, Interviewing movers and shakers across the world.
Editor: Transcribe interviews, Check pieces for things like grammar and coherence and edit accordingly, make flat plans for the layout of the magazine that can be used as template for the rest of the team, source new people to be interviewed or used in some capacity etc and attend regular meetings with Founder and editorial team to discuss direction and themes of publication. Liaise with printers to make sure that you have the right copy numbers, right sizing, quality and meet print deadline. Liaise with distributors to ensure that the publication is put in the right places and the right number of copies.

Skills I use and how I developed them

Social media: developed through having my own accounts and helping SPS society.
Organisation: developed through roles such as Course Rep and Pres of SPS Soc
Good communication: From giving presentations in seminars, giving talks for open day, etc
Leadership: developed by getting involved in extra-curricular activities and practising taking the lead (eventually it does not feel so intimidating).
Research skills: None of the research you do is harder than the research done over your time at university so you will be well prepared!

What I like most

The flexibility and unpredictable/chaotic nature of life in PR/ Media industry. Plans are constantly changing, people let you down and pull out of things and exciting collaborations just suddenly appear; you can never be bored and have to always be alert. Also incredible opportunities to meet game changers and industry revolutionisers as well as travel to new places. I love it. Also being able to physically see/ hold the evidence of your hard work when holding a completed magazine is so rewarding.

What I like least

Not much that is negative! However, there is no such thing as 9am-5pm with this industry as you need to be prepared to put in personal time and to drop everything and crack on with it. So would not encourage these roles for anyone who is not prepared to put in extra time and effort.

What surprised me most

Pleasantly surprised by how down to earth and approachable the majority of individuals within this industry are! Really inspiring to be working within teams of such creatives and get to learn so much from them; especially those who have been working in publishing/ PR for a while.

Next steps...

If you like the look of Mehetabel’s profile, the next steps are down to you! You can send Mehetabel a message to find out more about their career journey.

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