The Future Team

...Editorial

Editorial staff are the wordsmiths behind our magazines. Teams vary in size and composition depending on the demands of each title but with such a large portfolio, job opportunities are constant and rapid career progression is possible if you have the ambition! Job roles tend to follow two paths – either writing or production.

Writing

Typically, you’ll start your career by joining a magazine team as a staff writer. Responsible for contributing news articles and features throughout the magazine, you’ll need to be able to write quickly, accurately and with a good sense of what the readers want. You’ll get to attend industry events, research stories, interview key players and be the readers’ first point of contact with the magazine. Some magazines also have opportunities for editorial assistants, who assist the rest of the team, both in writing and administration.

Once you’ve gained a good grounding in writing, your next step may be to become a section editor. Depending on the title and your particular strengths this could be as a reviews editor, a news editor, a technical editor or a features editor. At this level you will be responsible for the organisation of your section, commissioning other writers as well as writing yourself. From there it’s possible to be appointed to either a deputy editor or editor of a magazine – where you’ll be ultimately responsible for ensuring a top quality, innovative magazine, managing and developing the team, and growing circulation.

Previous writing experience is essential to break into Editorial – be it on websites, college magazines or similar. We’re more interested in your subject knowledge, enthusiasm and exceptional writing skills than qualifications, but a degree (or equivalent) in English, Journalism or Media, or an NCTJ qualification will always prove beneficial.

Production

If you have a keen eye for grammar, spelling and clarity of meaning, and you have superb organisational skills, you might like to consider joining a magazine team as a production assistant. In this job you’ll sub-edit copy – ensuring your magazine has a consistent tone of voice, is accurate and an excellent read. Stepping up to production editor, the job takes on more responsibility for copy flow – planning and enforcing deadlines for your colleagues.

Look out for vacancies within our Editorial Production Studio if this type of work is of interest to you. This is our in-house team of production staff who get to work across all of our magazine titles. It’s a great place to train, to experience a variety of magazines and learn Future’s editorial systems, and has been the launch-pad for many production assistants on to the magazine of their choice.