VOGUE and ELLE are the kind of publications that most aspiring beauty journalists could only ever dream of working at. Paige Mooney, 21, made her dream a reality, less than a year after graduating. We caught up with the Irish beauty to get some insider tips on how to be a seriously awesome intern. Hint: you don’t necessarily need to dress to impress.

Hi Paige! Okay, to start things off, we were wondering if you have any tips on how to write a killer application and make it stand out from the crowd?

“Over the course of the past few days I’ve been asked this question so many times and I’ve always given the same answer. As harsh as it sounds, nobody has the time to sit and read through an essay of why you want to work for them, chances are they won’t read it. You could be the best writer or intern they’ve ever had but by writing a long, rambly application you’re wasting both your and their time. My advice would be keep it short and snappy. If you can sell yourself in one paragraph without the whole cheesy “it’s been my dream since I was 3″ charade, that’s even better. Tell them why you’ll be an asset to the team, and talk about the experiences and knowledge you can bring with you. I know a lot of the editors are interested in what you want to do after your internship, not just what you want to do whilst on it. At the end of the day they want to help you – they aren’t as scary as you might think.”

So short and sweet seems to do the trick! You’re currently the Beauty Intern at ELLE, what does a typical day in that role consist of? 

“It’s different every day! When I first started, London Fashion Week had just finished and because no one had been in the office there were literally hundreds of deliveries that I had to sort out. There’s a lot of filing press releases and organising products too. We work three months ahead, so for instance when we were creating the June issue in March, when products were sent in that were coming out before March we weren’t really interested in them, ’cause by the time June rolls around they’d be old news. When there are new products that the Editors want to try or shoot I call in  the products from PRs , liaise with the team and the picture assistant on how they want it shot and run to the photography studios. I do a lot of interview transcriptions which are a pain sometimes but I’ve done cool some ones too, Jen Atkin (the Kardashian’s hairdresser) was a particular highlight! I also go to a lot of press events which are always fun, I get to meet new people and make contacts with PRs and bloggers – and the free cocktails and food are always a highlight too.”Sounds like there’s certainly no time for thumb twiddling. Let’s talk about the dreaded first day nerves, have you got any advice on how to remain calm? What kind of thing do you wear to feel confident and comfortable but still look cool? 

“I wasn’t nervous at all on my first day! I think I just had a good feeling about it. I did have those anxious butterflies the night before thinking ‘what if it’s all so overwhelming?’, ‘what if I hate it?’ , or ‘what if they don’t like me?’ but once you start thinking like that you’re knocking your own confidence. Be yourself and do your best.

“When it comes to clothes, I’d say to wear what you want to wear. Don’t worry about looking cool, it’s more than likely that you’re gonna be sweating your arse off running around the office and the city so heels are not a good option – no matter how pretty they are! At the end of the day, your dress sense is part of your own individuality and that shouldn’t change just because you’re in a new place, it sounds so cliche but just be yourself.”

It’s true, being authentic is what gets you far. Even though you’re an intern, you still get to experience some of the glitz and glam of the fashion magazine industry – what would you say has been your biggest ‘pinch me’ moment so far?

“This just happened on Thursday! Joely (the Beauty Editor) was talking about the fact that recently she had been in New York at an Esteé Lauder event with the Beauty Editor at Vogue. I was obviously amazed to start with, but then she told me that she had been speaking to her about lil’ old me and my heart dropped because I just got this weird feeling in my gut. Literally within the hour I got an email from Vogue saying that I had been recommended by Joely and that they’d love to have me on their team. I was just sat at my desk in shock – Vogue came to me without me even have to ask or apply for a placement. That was literally the greatest feeling of my life so far! I was having a hard week and I was a little home sick but when I got that email I knew that everything had happened for a reason. I’m still getting goosebumps when I think about it.”

We can’t even imagine how amazing that must have felt – congratulations! Obviously you’ve made quite a name for yourself at ELLE, have you got any tips on how to leave a lasting impression?

“Making a lasting impression was something I really wanted to do. The beauty world is quite small and they are all friends. ELLE obviously get people in all the time so it’s not like I had time to sit and tell them my life story, it was little things like staying a little later to get a job done, offering to get them lunch and having little conversations about makeup or something funny you’ve seen over the weekend. You always bond with people who are passionate about the same thing you are!

“Yes, you may be given shitty jobs to do, but do them and do them with a smile.”

“Ask if they want a coffee, volunteer to do extra things like handing out the post around the office – show them that you really do want to be there. The beauty team have to lock me out of the office to go home sometimes, but staying that little bit later looks good!

“It wasn’t until my second week when I went on shoot that I really bonded with the team at ELLE, as I was by their side all day. They got to know my personality and see first hand how I do things, they even let me do a tutorial for ELLE online which no intern has ever done before! But don’t just work on getting to know your team, get to know the other interns because they are great contacts to have, get to know the other Editors at the magazine as well and like I said before, handing out the post is a great way to get people to know your name!”

Never underestimate the power of the post round. Finally, what are your 3 golden rules of interning?

1) Go into your internship wanting to do well and succeed. Positive thoughts will benefit you massively.

2) Be yourself – if not you will get swallowed up and spat out in a jiffy, people can see through any kind of charade you may be putting on!

3) Enjoy and appreciate everything you’re given – even the shitty jobs. Just enjoy every single moment. It’s like that quote from The Devil Wears Prada, “a million girls would kill for this job”!

Follow Paige on Twitter: @paigemooney7