My Interview At Imagine Publishing - Part 1

I’ve applied for the position of Staff Writer at Powerstation. It’s a tips and cheats magazine published by Imagine Publishing. Amazingly, I’ve been given an interview. I’m nervous, anxious and bloody excited.
 
The privileged, elusive, misunderstood title of ‘Games Journalist’ is a heart achingly tough one to achieve. Working on an actual print publication is nigh on impossible, what with dwindling readerships, the monolithic weight of the internet, and the current economic state of the nation. The window of opportunity to write for a magazine is getting smaller all the time. Like I said, I’m nervous, anxious and bloody excited. I’m also feeling a little exposed and vulnerable. If I don’t get the job I’m going to look like a right tit. I’ve been told to allow 2 hours for the interview as there’ll be a written test.

So, how to prepare? Ask people in the know:

It might be different now, but i had to write a short news story. Later they gave me an hour or so in which to play and review/preview a game. Its a bit scary being timed so you just have to manage it as best you can. Play the game for 20-30 mins so you have enough time to write. Probably a good idea to take a notepad so you can note down some stuff about the game as you play it to use.
Javid Sangra - Ex Staff Writer at Powerstation

At my NGamer interview I had to write a 250 word review of a game I had enjoyed playing recently. I can't remember exactly how long they gave me but I think it was something like half an hour - 45 minutes in a room on my own with one of their computers which did have internet access. That was the first thing they got me to do then Mark and a lady from Human Resources sat down and asked me lots of question.

I think the only one I wasn't really prepared for was "who's your favourite writer?" On reflection I think I should have said something like Robert Rankin, Terry Pratchett, Stephen King or something but in the heat of the moment I assumed they meant video game journalist writer and I don't really take that much notice of the name at the end of magazine articles. The actual talking bit of the interview was again around half an hour to 45 minutes I think.

I believe before the day of the interview I had to do a few bits of homework as well and on top of that I gave them some other stuff that I had written recently as samples of my work. I had to wait around quite a bit (although I was a few minutes early) so it might be worth taking a DS / PSP to play on while you wait if you think you can act that casual. Just makes it look like you don't care about anything but gaming.
Simon Downs - CVG Forum Moderator.

I’d start thinking about what makes a really good tips guide. Clarity, usefulness, how it can make your game experience go further and so on.
Nick Ellis – Editor of NGamer

Advice? Just make sure you've got some decent dirt on the editor...
The Ram Raider – Anonymous Games Jounalist

I can't imagine they'll hand you a blank piece of paper and say GO! But just in case they do, I would be prepared with a few strong topics you care about, maybe something you've written about in the past. I'm sure what they want to see is that you can write well on short notice, so my guess is they'll give you a prompt.
In that case, a good rule of thumb is if it's something like an essay question, summarize your answer mentally in a single statement so that you can be sure what you write in response follows a clear throughline from beginning to end and you can support it well throughout your article.
Leigh Alexander - Sexy Vidoegame Land

Find something else that pays better! No, seriously, if you love it and are passionate about it, then do it. Learn your craft, get your stuff out there on the ‘net and improve the quality of games journalism – because there’s an awful lot of rubbish out there. I think as time goes on and circulations shrink, there’s less and less opportunity to actually work on game magazines, though. Which is a shame – but if you’re passionate, and you’re good, and it’s what you want to do, then talent will out.
Jes Bickham - Videogame Journalist

First paragraph needs to hit like an express train, as you need to give people a reason to read on. Make it lean, efficient and readable – you don’t have much space to play with, so it needs the facts and ABSOLUTELY ZERO WAFFLE.
Tim Weaver - Editor of Xbox World 360