By: Gigi Engle & Kate Lyons
On Friday November 22, we all got ready to go to our internship at NBCU’s iVillage, just as we had three days a week for the past three months. It never entered our minds that today would be any different from any other day.
One of our fellow interns met us on our way to our desks: “Are they mad that we’re late?” we asked.
She shook her head solemnly. “That’s the least of their problems today.”
Our supervisor, Lindsay Tigar, asked us to come into our small conference room with her. She told us the unthinkable, “iVillage is shutting down.”
We didn’t believe her at first. We thought we must have misunderstood. Shutting down? But there was no warning. We had been there yesterday and hadn’t had any idea this was coming. What did this mean for us? Would it be us losing our jobs in the next few years if we stayed in this field?
It turned out that NBC Universal had decided to merge iVillage with Today.com, so while the company was not shutting down altogether, the vast majority of its iVillage employees would be laid off. Throughout the day, everyone would be called in and told if they would be coming to Today.com or if they were being let go.
iVillage is a relatively small company. We knew the faces of almost everyone in the office and had come to know and love the three parenting editors we worked with. We watched anxiously, feeling helpless, as everyone we knew waited to find out whether they would be keeping their job or not. These were some of the first people we had worked with in the professional world. We had heard that it was not easy to hold an editorial job, but this was suddenly becoming very real. We were terrified that we would face this over and over again in our careers, as some of the iVillage editors said they had. The other interns and I were about to start the last semester of our senior year, and couldn’t even bring ourselves to think about the fact that this was the world we were entering.
Even though they were the ones who were facing losing their jobs, our editors ended up comforting us. They had all seen this before, and were confident that they would find other jobs if that’s what it came to. They assured us that while this would most likely happen again at some point in our careers, if we kept our heads up and made the right connections, we would bounce back easily.
This newfound situation we were facing left us with many questions about not only the present but also about the ever-approaching future. We talked to Chelsea Evers, an intern at Family Circle in 2011 when the mag was facing layoffs, and Christine Mattheis Allyn an associate editor at the same magazine who had interns under her during a mass layoff, to gain some perspective about the situation in which we had found ourselves.
An intern (and company employee alike) can never really know when they may find themselves in a situation where a company is shutting down or performing layoffs. It may come as a shock, or it may be on the horizon, but there are important pointers that any editorial worker-bee should keep in mind should they find themselves in this unfortunate—although enlightening—situation.
We had to learn on the spot and absorb everything around us all while enveloped in a nerve-wracking cloud of uncertainty. As an editorial intern, keep these tips in mind as you prepare for the very real possibility that layoffs can happen to you in the future.
Try to appreciate what you’re experiencing.
It’s definitely difficult to watch layoffs taking place. It can emotional, scary and even extremely daunting. It’s important to try and appreciate what is happening around you. As Evers put it, “It’s really good to see those situations from a business standpoint so you can be ready for those situations.” The reality is, this is a business and layoffs can happen any time. Though it’s sad to see a group of people you’ve come to respect, a group you’ve become and integral part of fall apart—try and be grateful that you’re getting the chance to see it now as opposed to being thrown for a loop later as a full-time employee or freelancer.
Keep your eyes open.
Everyone has to regroup sometimes, especially during layoffs and company reorganization. Evers points out that even though these layoffs may be going on around you, there is a still a magazine (or website) to put out. You may have to work a little faster, accept working under a different supervisor and shift around the projects you were working on. Keep your eyes open and see how everyone handles the situation. The best way to prove you’re great under pressure? Be able to adapt quickly and efficiently.
Keep it professional.
You may have grown very close with the staff you’re working for. I know that was the case for Kate and me — it was the first time we’d seen a group of coworkers as close as the iVillage editors. In fact, they were really more like a family. We had “snack-attacks” in the afternoons where we’d take thirty minutes to sit together and catch up over cheese and crackers, send each other funny articles we thought the others would appreciate. To see them lose their jobs was very difficult and heartbreaking.
Though this may be an emotional time, even for you as an intern, it’s important to stay professional. Breaking down in a puddle of weepy tears is not going to impress your superiors, even if they feel like crying themselves. Keep your cool and adapt.
Don’t burn any bridges.
Even if one of your supervisors is suddenly gone, as happened to Evers, whose editor was there one day and cleaning out her desk the next, it’s important to try and keep up good relationships. You never know where people may end up in the future. As one of our supervisors pointed out on my last day, in the business of editorial we may all be working together somewhere else one day. That thought lightened our spirits a bit. It’s not always goodbye forever, just goodbye for now.
Use LinkedIn and keep your contacts
Connect on LinkedIn with everyone. Don’t have a LinkedIn? Make one. My supervisor even made making a LinkedIn a requirement for me when I let it slip one afternoon that I didn’t have one. They’re very important for keeping up connections and for creating a professional online appearance. Editorial is going digital (like it or not) and so should your resume. As Mattheis Allyn points out, “It’s important to make yourself as marketable as possible in this increasingly competitive environment.” LinkedIn with all of your superiors, ask them to endorse you. You may even get a second internship offer (or even a job!).
Do some soul searching.
Throughout college I’ve always been fairly certain that I wanted to be in magazines. Originally I was all over the print scene—addicted to Vogue and Town and Country. When I joined iVillage I quickly fell in love with online editorial and knew that this was where I wanted to stay.
Layoffs, in all their stressful glory, can be a really great time to do some soul searching. I know we did. You have to start asking yourself the really hard questions you don’t want to face. Is this where I want to be? Do I really want to be in a creative position where I could lose my job at any time? Is it worth it to be able to express myself, and write passionately, while having little to no job security in this crazy, editorial cyclone?
You have to decide what’s right for you. And you may think it’s too late—that you’ve done the internships, gotten the experience and are about to graduate and, therefore this is what you’re going to be “stuck” doing—but that’s not necessarily true. Think about how lucky you are to be seeing this now, before graduation, before your first job. It may be daunting but it’s okay to have doubts and to even reconsider your path.
As Mattheis Allyn says, “Interns who see staffers lose their jobs should be aware people get laid off in every industry, not just magazines. You can’t let it shake you for too long.” You have to know what you want and consider how much you’re willing to deal with. Sure, layoffs can be scary, but if you can transform these types of experiences from heartbreaking to professionally educational, then you’ve got the stuff to make it in editorial. Don’t give up now!
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