Applications for the GUM team 2018/19 are now open! There are many exciting roles to apply for. Applications will close at midnight on the 12th April; don’t miss out on the chance to be part of one of the best media teams at Glasgow University!
Why should you join GUM?
If you are considering work in the media industry in the future, it is vital that you start to build up experience at an early stage. GUM is a wonderful platform for you to show your talent and commitment, get your work seen, and it is an incredible experience to put on your CV. We pride ourselves on being the oldest student magazine in Scotland (beginning in 1889!) and we are a recognised name with employers throughout the UK. This year GUM was shortlisted for ‘Best Design’ at the UK wide Student Media Awards and has previously been awarded ‘Best Magazine’ twice by the Herald Student Media Awards. With a growing online presence and a distribution of 1000 copies per issue, working with GUM provides a chance for you to get your work seen by a wide audience, as well as working with other aspiring creative to help promote their work. A role in GUM will prepare you for jobs within journalism, media production, editorial work, publishing, events management, graphic design, photography, the fashion industry, and social media management as you’ll learn important skills in communication, organisation, time management, creative problem-solving, editing, etc. The collaborative nature of the magazine means that you will get the chance to learn and develop multiple skills as well as make new friends who have similar interests to yourself.
All team members will attend weekly meetings to plan the activities of the magazine, and all editors will attend weekly or bi-weekly contributors’ meetings to pitch articles and illustrations and photographs for the magazine and website.
Why is GUM important?
There is no better place to voice your opinions on matters both big and small than in a liberal student magazine like GUM. It is one of the oldest student magazines in the country, having been founded in 1889. Our articles cover a multitude of topics and styles – personal essays, columns, political commentary, pop culture. GUM aims to provide an open, respectful platform for journalism and discussion that covers a vast variety of beliefs and ideas. So, if you are passionate about current events or controversial matters, GUM is the perfect place to start. We pride ourselves on producing original, creative content with new sections of the magazine being introduced each year. We experiment with ideas and design and the result is fresh and interesting.
Fancy getting involved? Read below for full descriptions of all the roles available and a link to the application form.
Editor-in-Chief
As the leader of the team, you will have the opportunity to run an entire magazine and have the opportunity to see your dream magazine come to life. You will learn about all aspects of producing a finished publication. You are responsible for planning the academic year with the release of three issues, as well as producing and editing content for each issue and online. You will lead a team of sixteen editors and organisers and even more contributors. You will work with the online editors to improve the website and social media, with the photo editor to commission illustrations for both the website and the issues, and with events managers to arrange marketing events, release parties and socials. You will also need to raise advertising revenue for the printing costs of the magazine, and will work alongside the Fundraising Coordinator and Deputy Editor to do this, as well as negotiate with publishers about the prices. The perfect applicant for this role has a strong interest in the creative industry, and a clear vision. You will need to be organised, outgoing, and above all, enthusiastic and encouraging to everyone on the team. You will also need to have an eye for detail and amazing editing skills, as well as great time keeping.
Deputy Editor
You are the right hand of the Editor-in-Chief and help out with everything that the Editor does – therefore you have to be able to work really closely with someone else. Some of your responsibilities include: planning deadlines, editing articles, commissioning images, helping with decision-making, working with the graphic designer on lay-out, communicating with publishers, raising revenue and organising events. You will need to have a creative eye, as well as fantastic time management and organizational skills. It is also important to be able to communicate clearly and to be present to support the Editor-in-Chief, as well as keeping everyone on the team up to date with everything GUM-related. Being friendly and approachable is very useful, as you’ll be part of a big team of people.
Features Editor
The features editor is responsible for the opening section of the magazine, and will be pitching article ideas at the weekly Contributors’ meetings (the resulting articles will go online and/or in the print issue of the magazine). Content-wise, the Features section has a very broad range; therefore, articles in this section can be of the personal essay variety, or they may take on a more research-based, informative form. This year, we have published everything from a think-piece about why lateness isn’t necessarily a bad thing to articles about youth subculture.
As Features editor, you will also need to reach out to contributors, support them in the writing process, give them feedback, and finally edit their material for print and online. You should also be confident in your ability to fact-check. The perfect candidate has a creative vision and a critical eye, as well as great editing skills.
Culture Editor
You are responsible for the culture section of the magazine; this has always been the most popular section, among both contributors and readers, and covers anything related to the cultural scene: music, arts, literature and film. This means that there will be a lot of articles from contributors plus requests for gigs/films/shows to review. A lot of contributors who are just starting out choose to write for this section, so you should be able to aid them in their writing process and provide advice for how to write reviews. You will need to attend weekly meetings, provide feedback on contributor’s ideas/articles and edit content for the published magazine. A knowledgeable interest in the local Glasgow cultural scene and further afield, plus organisational and editorial skills are essential for the role. In relation to this, the culture editor is in charge or reaching out and communicating with various cultural bodies in the city regarding press passes and interviews, so a level of outgoingness and initiative is key!
Style Editor
You are responsible for the fashion editorial of each issue, and for style articles published online and in the magazines. You will seek out local creatives (designers, models, photographers, makeup artists, and stylists) and organise photo shoots in different locations. These photos shoots will correspond with the theme of each issue. You will be responsible for directing the photo shoots and ensuring that you have enough material for publication. You will work with the Editor-in-Chief, and graphic designer to produce a layout for the issues. You will also pitch style articles at weekly meetings, reach out to contributors and edit, as well as writing the style editorial in each issue. The ideal candidate needs to be outgoing and willing to reach out to make new contacts on the Glasgow fashion scene. You will need to have great time management, as well as a creative vision and editing skills.
Style Assistant
You will be working alongside the Style Editor to organise fashion shoots for each issue. You will help to seek out local creative (designers, models, photographers, makeup artists, and stylists) and organise photo shoots in different locations. These photo shoots will correspond with the theme of each issue. You will also help the style editor with pitches to propose at weekly contributor meetings and contact the people who take these pitches on a weekly basis to find out how their articles are coming along. You will need to be highly motivated, and willing to help the Style Editor with organisation and creative decisions. This role is perfect for someone that wants to gain experience working in the fashion industry, has a creative eye, and is sociable and hard working.
Politics Editor
You will attend weekly meetings and pitch meaningful ideas to contributors. You will manage a section that has a reasonably broad scope, so it will be down to you to decide the direction you wish to take in. An understanding and interest in politics is, obviously, important, and a reverence for strong and informed opinion is essential – as is your ability to have an opinion yourself.
You should be upfront in your pitch/with your contributors if you want a topic tackled in a certain way, from a specific point of view. This will help put your individual stamp on the section, and it may provoke some interesting discussion with a writer. You should show good judgement about when it is appropriate to do this.
You should know that it is not about publishing controversial opinions. You should not go out of your way to produce articles that will shock the reader. That’s fake. It is about offering a fair and unbiased platform from which you can showcase the honest opinions of the contributor. If you can encourage confidence and freedom in your contributor, then you will create interesting content for the magazine. It will also be down to you to not only fact check, but to measure the validity of an argument: an article has to be factual to have any meaning.
Science Editor
You will be organising a relatively new section, which has only increased in popularity over the last few years. Your objective is to take current news within science and technology and make them into approachable and fun articles. You will need great social skills to reach out to potential contributors. You will attend weekly meetings, pitching ideas for both print and online, and edit articles. You will need to have sound knowledge and stay up to date with the science and technology world. You will also need excellent language and editing skills to produce articles for publication.
Creative Writing Editor
The creative writing section is only a few years old and has been growing in popularity. As editor, you will reach out to contributors to submit creative pieces under the theme of each issue, and choose carefully what will go into the publication. You will also be communicating with writers as you edit their work. You will also be responsible for editing creative writing pieces for the website. Over the past two years, we’ve ran a Sunday Stories segment on the website where we publish a creative writing piece each Sunday, but the direction you wish to take this is up to you. You will also work with the Events Team, Social Media Coordinator, and other team members to help organise workshops in creative writing. The ideal candidate will have a creative eye and creative writing skills, as well as being an enthusiastic, approachable person, who is willing to reach out to contributors, and edit carefully.
Copy Editor
You will be responsible for editing each and every article for both online and print, and will be the final set of eyes before an article goes out for publication. You need to be highly organised, with an eye for detail, scrupulous editing skills, and knowledge of style guides. You will also need to attend meetings, to ensure constant communication with the Editor-in-Chief and sub editors. You will need to communicate effectively with everyone on the team to ensure that there are no mistakes. The ideal candidate is patient, motivated, meticulous with amazing language, editing, and fact-checking skills.
Photo Editor
The photo editor is responsible for commissioning images for GUM. They communicate with the other sub-editors, the Editor-in-Chief and the graphic designer on what kind of images to acquire and what kind of look is desired. Then the photo editors reach out to illustrators and photographers to commission the images. This job may be very intense for periods of time, but is very rewarding as you both get a say in what the final magazine will look like. The perfect candidates will have some knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as being able to reach out and network with people from all parts of the University and beyond.
Graphic Designer
As graphic designer, you are responsible for the layout and design of the printed issues. You will be working closely with the Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editor, and the Photo Editor to discuss, plan, and create the visual brand of the magazine. The job is very intense for shorter periods of time leading up to the printing of the issues. You will need to be able to work efficiently, reliably, and independently during this time. The perfect candidate is creative and has some previous experience in designing for print. Proficiency in InDesign is a must, and knowledge of Photoshop and Illustrator are preferred by not essential.
Online Editor and Social Media Coordinator
The Online Editor and Social Media Coordinator will be managing the magazine’s website and social media accounts.
The role of the Online Editor involves taking care of GUM’s website, which is WordPress-based (OceanWP theme with Elementor page builder plug-in). You will have to plan upload schedules and source illustrations or photographs to accompany the online articles. The role may also involve redesigns of the website.
The Social Media Coordinator will be responsible of promoting GUM on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This includes publicising and sharing articles, events, workshops, as well as maintaining a general social media presence. You will be working with the Events Managers to helps promote any events or workshops.
Both roles demand daily engagement. We are looking for someone who is social media savvy, can work in a team, is organised and manages their time well. Previous knowledge of WordPress is desirable but not essential, as the platform is fairly easy to use.
Events Manager
We are looking for two events managers, who will be responsible for organising launch parties and events for GUM, including launch parties and socials like a Fresher’s Welcome Event and a Re-Freshers event in January.
You will be required to approach venues and work with organizers to host fundraisers as cost-effectively as possible. In addition to this, it will be your job to secure entertainment (DJs, musicians, performers, etc.), as well as photographers/videographers.
Together with the Fundraising Coordinator, you will develop ideas for generating interest in the magazine and engaging readers (e.g. competitions, ticket giveaways).
Fundraising Coordinator
You will be in charge of organising fundraising and advertising opportunities for the magazine. You will approach local businesses to explore sponsorship/advertising opportunities as well as organising fundraising events for GUM. You will be working with the Events Team to run these events. The ideal person for this role will be incredibly organised, and a good communicator, who has creative ideas and takes initiative in raising money for the magazine.
Applying is easy and no previous experience is required for any of the roles. We merely ask that you have an enthusiasm for media and the creative industries, as well as, a motivation to learn. You can apply for several roles. Follow this link to fill out the application form: https://goo.gl/forms/8ZIZlu2MQa13WCSO2
The deadline is midnight on the 14th April. Please email [email protected] with any questions you may have about the roles!
We will be interviewing for Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editor towards the beginning of May, and they will then commence the interview process for the rest of the team.
Good luck!
