How to get a job at Vogue

Vogue is the ultimate fashion career dream. It represents everything we have always dreamed of about fashion since when we were teens.

“I’m going to get Vogue.” I always told my parents and I still say it to my husband today as if I am going to buy an academic book that will help me pass an exam. “Couldn’t you just say you’re going to buy a magazine?” No, because Vogue is Vogue. 

As fashion enthusiasts, you and I have bought and read Vogue to feel part of the fashion industry. And treated it as the first proper investment towards our career in fashion since a very young age. 

And now that you’ve grown up you look at the magazine with different eyes. You have started daydreaming about what it would look like to work there.

You imagine yourself walking into the office every morning and sharing the space with the editors you’ve always read on the opening pages of each issue. You’re seated at your desk, and in front of you, a laptop with an internet tab opened on the Vogue website. Behind you is a clothing stand full of Prada, Dior and Chanel dresses that will be used by the Vogue editor for the photo shoot of the issue that will be out in 4 months. Someone else in another corner of the office is discussing the layout of the next issue and others are organizing the trip to shoot abroad the cover editorial with Gigi Hadid. Two writers have just returned from a presentation of a brand and they are writing an article that will be released on the site in just 2 hours. 

Then you see your name right next to that of other editors. You are part of the team. And you are excited. You update your LinkedIn and Instagram bio. Vogue looks good on your resume as well. It gives you a sense of satisfaction, the achievement of a goal (dream). 

How to get a job at Vogue

So this post is to help everyone dreaming big about working at Vogue one day. I’m here for the very best tips that will get you one step closer to your dream job.

Getting a job interview at Vogue or even getting the opportunity to have your resume acknowledged might be like a mission impossible. Vogue is super competitive. You might remember the famous quote from The Devil Wears Prada “A million girls would kill for this job”. Well, 500 is the average number of applicants for a job at a top company in the fashion industry such as Vogue. But thankfully, you’re here reading this today because as a fashion educator and career mentor I’ve helped other people get a job at Vogue. So I’m excited to share with you my favorite strategies. 

Before getting started with the tips, let me tell you that there are many career opportunities at the famous fashion magazine. The entire fashion industry is actually made up of different roles that you might have no idea about from the outside. You might be more familiar with Vogue magazine editors. But there are many different jobs in different departments, including graphic design, social media, advertising and marketing, styling, art direction…

Whatever role you are interested in pursuing at the fashion magazine, these tips are what anyone needs in their toolkit to get a head start and be competitive to land a job at Vogue. 

What to study to work at Vogue?

Let me break down a huge myth:  you don’t need a fashion journalism degree or any fashion degree to work in fashion, including Vogue. Whatever degree you have or you are taking (your bachelor’s degree in journalism, management, marketing, communication, politics…)  is enough to apply for opportunities at Vogue. Some people also ask me if a degree in journalism is necessary and also here to answer is no. Of course, it helps if you want to write for Vogue. But there are many talented writers with a bachelor’s degree in any topic. And anyway like we said above, working at Vogue is not just about writing. 

Start with internships

If you are a student or a fresh graduate with little or no experience, you need to look for internships at Vogue. Vogue is part of the Condè Nast group (which also owns Glamour, GQ, L’Uomo Vogue, etc). So the official way to find internships is on the Condè Nast careers page or on the Condè Nast LinkedIn profile.

Email editors

The previous point was about the traditional / official way to find internships at Vogue. My unconventional and favorite tip for you to get a job at Vogue? Email directly your favorite Vogue editors and ask for a job or internship. Why? First of all, when you email your favorite editors directly, you arrive straight into their inbox. So it’s going to be harder for them to miss your application. When you apply online via a website form instead, it’s harder to get noticed among hundreds of other applicants.

The second reason is that fashion professionals love people who think out of the box. So when you are not going through a traditional online application like anyone else, but you are emailing fashion professionals directly, you show up to be resourceful. Plus, very interested in getting that opportunity. I teach more about this strategy and other ones to stand out in my free masterclass. You can register here for free. 

Resume & Cover letter

Whatever method you are going to use to land your job at Vogue – applying online or via email –  you need to build your resume. It doesn’t matter if you can only add your degree: you need a resume to be professional. Don’t be intimidated by your short resume. If you don’t have experience, you’ll apply for/request internships and editors know that interns don’t have previous experience. 

 Here are some tips for your resume for Vogue:

• A short resume is okay as long as the template is a professional one. The font you choose, the layout, the colors – everything says about your personality. And editors will notice these small details, especially when they don’t have any previous experience to consider. So it doesn’t matter how much experience you have. Make sure you build a resume that has a professional, but creative layout to stand out.

• Add your own blog or social media profile. Having your own fashion blog or Instagram page where you share about fashion is something recommended nowadays. Especially to land a job at a fashion magazine. Editors expect you to have a sort of online presence if you want to work for Vogue. A blog or Instagram account where you talk about fashion is not only a great way to have something to add to your resume, but it’s also valuable experience and skills to show off to potential recruiters and editors. It’s also great for you to start building some fashion experience while learning precious skills along the way: tech skills to build your website, visuals and images skills, plus your fashion tastes and knowledge. 

Editors and recruiters want to know that you are very passionate about Vogue and the position. So to express your passion for the job and bridge any experience gap you have, make sure you always attach a super strong cover letter even when it’s not required.

These are some tips for your cover letter for Vogue: 

• Write it well targeted to the role in question. Do not send the same cover letter for all the jobs; make sure that is written for that specific position.
• Explain why you and your skills are perfect for the job. Write about why you can be useful to them. And before you say you don’t have any skills because you don’t have previous experience, remember that you acquire skills also when you’re in school or with any personal experience.
• Show off your enthusiasm for the role and highlight your most exciting or relevant accomplishments (even something you did in school or a personal project).
• Good spelling and grammar are a must.
• Show understanding of the industry and job.
• Pay attention to the layout of the cover letter: clean design, good font, etc.

Build your portfolio

A resume and cover letter are the standards. But if you want to stand out, consider adding a portfolio to showcase your skills directly. A portfolio is not only for fashion design with sketches. A portfolio is a collection of any type of work. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a collection of designs, so anyone can have their own version.

If you want to become a fashion writer, build a writing portfolio that will include clips and articles you wrote for other magazines or simply for your own fashion blog. If you want to become a photographer for Vogue, your portfolio will include photos that you took even just for fun or for the sake of building your portfolio. And if you want to work in graphic design or social media, your portfolio can be a collection of social media graphics and captions you would publish on Vogue if you were on the social media team or a layout/pagination of the magazine if you want to work in graphic design/art direction. 

Take advantage of the Condè Nast relationships

Do you remember that scene from the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic where the receptionist suggested Rebecca Bloomwood to apply for a job at the financial magazine because once you are in, you are in? Well, you can take advantage too of the Condè Nast group which Vogue is part of. And stay open for job opportunities at the other magazines of the group. Once you are working at one of the magazines of the Condè Nast group, (Glamour, GQ, etc..) you are not only acquiring relevant experience, but you are also building your network with people in this industry. So a potential future transition to Vogue is easier compared to someone else coming from outside of the group. 

Vogue is the top magazine in this industry. Many people dream of working there. So editors and recruiters can be more strict with the requirements as they have a large pool of applicants to choose from every time they post a new job. And while you can apply for a job at Vogue even if you don’t have experience yet, as you’ll acquire most of the skills during the job, it’s better to get ahead and see what skills you might already include in your resume.

Remember to read the job description carefully before applying. Each role has its own skills. For example, if you want to become a fashion writer, your writing skills are a priority. But if you want to work in the graphic department, your Photoshop skills will be more important. Below, you’ll find some skills but remember to always read the job description and incorporate the specific skills inside your resume before applying.  

The skills you need to work at Vogue

Passion and knowledge of the magazine

Make sure you know everything about Vogue. Vogue has many editions (Vogue Italia, British Vogue, Vogue US, Vogue France, etc) so study the edition you are applying for: what are the most important issues, the best editorials, who are the editors. Take notes of all of this information. So you’ll be prepared to answer any question during the job interview. Demonstrate you did your research and that you know exactly who is the editor you’ll be working with and their favorite articles, what’s your favorite editorial, etc. This information will also be helpful once you get the job and it will be easier for you to absorb any new information or task as you are already familiar with many things and people.  

Organizational skills 

You might believe that soft skills are not relevant. But while you can learn any tech or hard skill on the job, your soft skills are part of your persona and can hardly be taught. Furthermore, these are the skills you can leverage at the beginning of your career. Being professional, accountable, and organized from the beginning is critical. 

Fashion interns at Vogue will spend most of their time in the cupboard organizing all of the clothes, bags, and shoes that the magazine receives from brands and PR offices that are used for the photoshoots. You’ll also help editors on set. So being very organized is a must. 

Flexible + quick learner

Being flexible about doing different tasks and running errands is also important at the beginning. It’s okay if you don’t have experience yet. But make sure you are a quick learner: editors want to train you. And they will explain everything you need to do your job, but they don’t want to repeat the same things over and over. So once they teach you something, memorize it and start getting independent for the tasks you have learned. 

Writing skills 

If you want to write for Vogue, your writing skills are important. Even if you are at the beginning of your career and you’re still working on your writing style, your grammar must be on point from the very first moment you decide to write an article. This is super important. 

It’s not a huge problem if you are not writing the most interesting article of the week. But no one will ever publish an article that has a grammar or spelling mistake, so proofread your articles. Make sure that your articles also include facts: double-check every date or name to be sure that what you are writing is accurate. Practice your writing skills by writing a couple of articles per week that you can publish on your blog or just leave on your desktop. 

WordPress, Photoshop, Google Analytics

With most of the fashion publications being online nowadays, it definitely helps to add to your skill set some tech tools. It can happen that editors ask you to resize an image, to upload and publish the article on the website. So it’s worth having a basic knowledge of Photoshop or CMS (content management system) platforms such as WordPress. Having an understanding of Google Analytics to see what are the most read articles, and where readers are coming from. And other information about the website traffic is also helpful. By starting your own blog you can practice all these skills and get familiar with these tools.

SEO skills

SEO stands for search engine optimization. Basically, it is the feature that, if set up correctly, puts your article on top of the search results when people google specific keywords. So for example, if you type on Google: “best shoes of 2022” ideally the first article that should appear on top of the search results is yours. So why is this one of the skills to work as a fashion editor at Vogue? Doing SEO correctly is super important for fashion publications to drive traffic: the more people are going to find your content, the more readers. SEO is probably the techiest part of this job but it’s not so difficult. It’s enough to follow some rules that you can easily learn for free on Google or Youtube.

Photography/visual skills

Working at a fashion magazine filled with so many pages of beautiful photos definitely requires having a sensibility for aesthetics, good taste, and an eye for details. If you wish to work in the photography department, it goes without saying that a portfolio of your photographs – either the ones you published in another magazine or a blog or shot for your personal use – will demonstrate your ability in photography.

It’s also worth knowing how to use Photoshop, InDesign, and other photo editing apps. So you can help your colleagues when a picture needs to be edited quickly. To prove your visual skills in your application, you can create a mood board – a collage of selected photos that reflect your ideas and understanding of the type of images used by Vogue. And let me say that even if it’s not required because you want to work in a different department, having knowledge of something outside of your responsibilities is always useful as you can save a situation in your office. 

Graphic design skills

Creativity is everything in graphic design and having a visual eye is a must. Knowing how to use Adobe’s creative software is important as it will be one of the essential tools you’ll be working with.

Social Media Skills

If you want to work in the social media team at Vogue, and you consider yourself digital savvy, then you have to prove your knowledge of social media platforms like Instagram and Tik Tok for business purposes. There are many aspects that can be managed in social media: you can take care of the creative side or more the strategic part of it. So there are many things you can do to grow socials. But you should at least have knowledge of creating and editing catchy stories and posts. Building an editorial calendar and analyzing insights, such as engagement rate, reach, etc. It’s also important you stay ahead of trends because social media evolves very quickly and you constantly have to look for original ways to stand out. 

Relentless Dedication To Not Giving Up

Besides all the technical and soft skills mentioned above, confidence is also a skill (and perhaps the one that can cover your lack of other skills) to make it in a competitive, demanding, and fast-paced fashion world. Remember: no one is born confident. It is something you acquire throughout your life. And the more you practice it, the better you become at it. 

See, there are a lot of skills we are sure you master already. And the ones you don’t – make sure you learn and practice them. Now you know how to get a job at Vogue. So be proactive and apply for that internship or job at the department of your dreams.

Need help landing the job of your dreams at Vogue? Register for this fashion career free masterclass and the online course The Fashion Writer Accelerator