i wanna work in magazines!

Jaimee van Niekerk, 16, is in grade 11 at Wynberg Girls High School in Cape Town.

28 April
Perhaps one of the most anticipated opportunities in your grade 11 year is to job shadow, yet everyone always spends an eternity trying to decide which job it is they want to shadow. Me? I knew exactly what I wanted to do – intern at a magazine! And what better magazine to choose than my fave, seventeen. When I arrived here, I didn’t know what to expect. All those stereotypical movie moments were running through my mind. I thought I was going to be sent for orders of coffee, biscuits and imported Italian Green Tea, which I’d have to spend hours frantically searching for. As usual however, my wild imagination had got the better of me. It was amazing to see how quiet and relaxing the seventeen offices actually were (I’d imagined chaos with people running around and shouting about deadlines, maybe with a cup of coffee and a clipboard in their hands!) The whole team resembles a close family and there are often times of laughter and gossip amongst all the stress of meeting the deadlines. I spent some of the morning paging through the latest seventeen, which I hadn’t read yet and as usual, it proved to be worth it. It’s amazing how much work is put into the magazine each month – there is so much attention to detail in terms of the language and layout on each page. Afterwards, I sat in during the production meeting. I didn’t realise how far in advance they work – two months ahead! My first day proved to be highly fun and exciting.

helping sort out the cupboard – it's really high!

29 April
I couldn’t wait to return today. But even so, I found it hard to wake up in the morning! Interning really does give you a good idea of what it’s like to have a job – the constant buzz of phones ringing and the light, tapping sounds of everyone typing were easy to get used to, and soon it all just felt completely natural. The dummy book for the June issue, something I assumed was quite precious, had actually gotten yoghurt spilled onto it (the team is constantly grazing, so one would presume that this happens frequently, LOL.) I was given the task of replacing the sticky plastic sleeves in the dummy book with new ones. By doing this, I got a sneak-peek of the June issue and I was so surprised to see how many times each page was worked and reworked. Things like the language and grammar, double-spacing, heading sizes and even where to place the various text boxes in the articles were always discussed and changed. I’ll definitely be appreciating each and every page even more from now on!

strawberry scented dummy book (lol)

sifting through all the international seventeens

30 April
It’s amazing how time flies! Hard to believe that today is my last day already because it feels like I just got here (sniff sniff). The media industry is definitely the industry I want to be a part of. Everyone in the team is different, yet each of them contribute towards making the magazine a success every month. The amazing thing is that they have the most incredible digital team as well who are constantly making www.seventeen.co.za the coolest site ever. It is great playing a part in producing something that helps so many people my age with all the difficult situations in their lives. Much of my day has been spent surfing the Net, trying to find the head office numbers for various digital camera companies. This was actually easier said than done. You won’t believe how long it takes to search through all the websites Google churns out, and then sifting through all the unwanted details! I then had to phone each company to get the contact details for the marketing people (check out seventeen’s July issue to see which cameras they reviewed!) Another thing I had to do was phone a few of the 2008 Top Teen winners to ask them some questions for the Ed’s Letter in the June issue. It was quite funny putting them on the spot and listening to them think of a good answer. If you want to enter Top Teens 2009, check out seventeen’s July issue for details on how to enter!
I really think the office is just so homey. Everyone is so chatty and cheerful, despite all the hectic pressure they have to deal with. I’m really sad to go, but I’ve learnt a lot and have definitely received more insight as to what happens behind-the-scenes. Interning, especially at seventeen, is highly recommended. You will never regret it and you will never forget the wonderful experiences.