When I worked at IPC Media, I often received emails from young people who were keen to work in the magazine industry. Here's what I told them.

1. Work experience is key. If you want to be a writer, then get writing. Even for an entry-level position, you'll need to have a portfolio of work to show your prospective employers. Contribute to websites; contact local newspapers and magazines to see if they take on work experience students; start a blog; write film, book or restaurant reviews, or report on any events in your area. Write about anything and everything.

2. Get qualified. Most - but not all - new recruits to the publishing industry have degrees. Some even have post-graduate degrees (it's a competitive world out there). If you do go on to higher education, choose your course wisely. It's fair to say that some subjects and universities are held in higher regard than others.

3. That's not to say... ...that qualifications are everything. As well as having relevant work experience (see point no 1), you also need to be confident, hard working, and able to communicate in a clear and accessible manner. Using flowery language - long words, too many adjectives - is a serious no-no. Stick to plain English.

4. Mind your spelling. It doesn't matter if you're sending a quick email about a work experience placement - things like spelling mistakes, grammatical errors or (heaven forfend) using text speak is really not on if you're trying to find work in the media. If you can't write an email correctly, you won't be trusted to produce an 1,800 word article!

5. Do your homework. If you want to get a job in the publishing industry, or even if you just want to do a week of work experience, before you fire off an email, try to find out who the best person to contact is - and make sure you get their name right. And try to get the title of the magazine right as well (believe me, this is a common mistake). Also, read a copy or two of that magazine so you're familiar with their content.

6. Know what you want. So you know you want to work in the media - but doing what? Newspapers, websites or magazines? Specialist or mainstream? Trade, B2B or consumer? Do you want to work on editorial, or would you prefer do something ancillary, such as advertising, marketing, finance or IT support? It does vary a bit from publication to publication, but in general, these are the main editorial jobs on a magazine.

Smaller titles may only have a few staff members, such as an Editor, an editorial assistant and a designer - which is why it can be difficult finding your first media job. Also, jobs such as 'magazine researcher' don't really exist (at least not on any of the magazines I know). There's unlikely to be many full-time writer jobs either - most magazines will use regular freelancers instead.

7. Be determined. You will have to deal with knock-backs, and the chances of landing your dream job straight away are pretty slim. But keep trying - build up your CV and your portfolio, do some more work experience, and be confident. If you want it enough, and if you write well enough, you will get there.