How NOT to get a job …

OK, it's been three and a half months since I've posted in here. I guess my life hasn't been as exciting since I left Chicago … and by that I mean I've been too busy and stressed out to worry about a silly blog. It's been a crazy semester, mostly because of this whole features editor thing. It started out pretty rough (understatement of the year) but everything definitely got a lot better. At first I was kind of bummed that I'm not doing it again next semester, until I remembered that I need a break, and I'm excited to be writing again.

In other news, about a month ago I started as concert reviews editor for venuszine.com which I'm super excited about. Basically I'm recruiting writers and photographers around the country, getting them on the guest list for shows, then editing their reviews and posting them online. This summer I learned that I really, really love writing concert reviews, so hopefully by reading so many reviews it'll make my writing better.

In doing this, I've received quite a few e-mails from people looking to write for the site — some better than others. In case you were wondering, here's what NOT to do when applying for any kind of writing job (specifically when applying to write concert reviews for me):

- Label your .doc resume as "resume." I have a bunch of them, which means I have to open the file to figure out whose it is.

- Send a bunch of fashion clips and say you want to write music reviews. It asks for samples of music writing/criticism. If you want to write fashion, send clips to the fashion editor.

- Start your e-mail by saying "To Whom It May Concern" or "Attention Editor." It says my first and last name in the ad, so that means it's OK to use it.

However, despite the bad apps, there were a good number of competent people who I think will be great — it's good to know not everyone's an idiot.

So I'm learning a lot about what not to do, which will help me out when I apply for summer internships in a couple of months. Not that I would do any of those things, but I'm learning from the good applications. Really hoping I can get a good internship this summer … my top five are CMJ, Filter, SPIN, Paste and HARP, all kind of long shots I think, but definitely worth a try, along with about 10 other places.

AHHH I can almost smell winter break. Break = sitting around, seeing friends at home, and writing a billion stories for Venus (I think I have seven lined up right now … gotta do what I can in the three weeks I don't have to worry about a conflict-of-interest policy!). Bedtime!