editors speak
Interview with American Careers
Publications
Editor in Chief Mary Pitchford
This month we are happy to welcome,
Mary Pitchford, Editor in Chief of American Careers Publications.
Nonfiction writers are always interested in new markets and American
Careers offers opportunities for those writers with an interest in
unusual careers. The American Careers Publications include three annual
magazines targetting kids in elementary school, middle school, and high
school.
KMW: I see you look at careers in six career paths. Do you try to
include a career example from each path for each publication? How many
careers do you usually take an in-depth look at per publication?
MP: We address career fields in a couple different ways depending on the
audience for our publications. In the American Careers high school
edition, we use 16 career clusters as the framework for describing
related careers. In other publications we use a six career path
framework. Those publications include ACK! American Careers for Kids,
our publication for fourth and fifth grade students; the American
Careers Planner, our publication for middle school students; and the
parent edition. We do include a chart in the latter two publications
that shows the relationship between basic career paths and the expanded
career and industry cluster framework.
We use both frameworks for a couple reasons. Some states use six to
eight career paths as a framework for their career development programs.
Others have adopted the 16 career cluster framework for career
development at the high school level. For more information about career
clusters, please refer your readers to this website.
KMW: Do you prefer to receive submissions from people who work in the
career or would you be willing to receive articles from authors
interviewing people from the career?
MP: We do not accept unsolicited submissions. We do welcome queries and
keep appropriate ones on file for two years. We assign stories based on
queries that meet our content needs. A few queries come from people
working in the field. Most come from published writers, many of whom are
experienced in writing about a field.
KMW: What careers have you done recently and would not like to focus on
again, right away? Are you more interested in the "lesser known" careers
-- for example, in health services/medicine would you be more interested
in different kinds of laboratory work or perhaps pharmaceutical
development instead of the more well-known "doctor" career?
MP: Because we've covered so many careers, it's easier to mention some
needs, particularly at the high school level. These include careers in
the following clusters: business, management and administration;
finance; government and public administration; hospitality and tourism;
marketing, sales and service; and transportation, distribution and
logistics. Again, please refer your readers to http://careerclusters.org
for lists of occupations in these clusters.
Your readers also need to know that we adapt our approaches to each
publication. In brief, we use about three different approaches to
articles in our high school publication a career cluster overview
approach, articles about a major industry in a cluster, and a career
profile approach to some of the clusters. This provides some variety. In
the publications for elementary and middle school students and parents,
we primarily use career profiles to illustrate introductory information.
In regard to the second part of the question, we are interested in
lesser-known careers and career areas such as laboratory technologist
and pharmaceutical development, the examples you gave. Both of these
fields provide many opportunities for education and employment in almost
every state. However, we can't use careers that are so unique or so
geographically limited that most students couldn't aspire to them.
KMW: Which areas of your publications are most open to freelance
submissions -- articles about the careers for the students? Articles for
parents? Articles for teachers?
MP: Most of the articles in the high school publication are generated by
writer queries. That publication and the others also contain articles
assigned to long-time writers for our publications. Because the high
school publication is an annual publication containing about 15 articles
based on queries, competition for space is very tight, as you can tell.
Therefore, we keep story ideas on file for up to two years and encourage
writers to make simultaneous submissions.
KMW: How does the approach differ for the ACK aged reader from the High
School reader of American Careers? Do younger readers get more of a
"taste" of different careers while High School students get specific
suggestions about schooling and other preparation for the career? I see
the ACK program includes an "inventory" -- is that to help students see
what career direction best suits their interests and strengths?
MP: The answer is yes to all of your statements. Yes, fourth and fifth
grade readers of ACK! get more of a taste of different careers. Language
arts, math and other lessons in the teaching guide use careers as a
theme. Yes, the older students get more information about education,
salaries and work environments. And yes, while students change their
minds many times on their career journeys, inventories help relate
current interests and strengths to careers.
KMW: Is your program typically part of the classroom experience or used
by guidance counselors?
MP: How American Careers programs are used depends on a school
district's or school's approach to career development and educational
planning. In some cases, teachers use the program in the classroom. In
fact, like ACK!, the programs for middle and high school students come
with teaching guides that include standards-based lessons in language
arts, math, science, social studies and other curriculum areas. In other
cases, school counselors use American Careers with their students either
in a classroom or a counseling setting. Some districts and schools
involve parents in career and educational planning. Our parent edition
supports this effort.
KMW: How would an interested writer contact you -- queries? resumes? How
can our readers with a strong interest in writing about careers best
make a professional connection with your magazine?
MP: As I mentioned before, we prefer query letters with story
suggestions, along with resumes and published writing samples from
writers who are new to us. Unlike e-mail, a formal package is a good way
for us to experience a writer's style.
Editor's Note: The mailing address for American Careers Publications is:
Career Communications, Inc.
6701 West 64th Street, Suite 210
Overland Park, KS 66202
This page last updated on 01 March 2005
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