Quote Of The Day: "Pick What Your Dream Job Is And Go And Work For Free"

Fetching coffees, running errands, and doing some dirty work definitely doesn't sound like the most glamorous of positions, but in many industries, interning is still the best way to get ahead. And despite the recent controversy over unpaid programs, one successful Editor-in-Chief still stands for the idea that landing your dream job requires working from the bottom. Click through to see who thinks interning is a better choice than grad school!

If anyone knows what it's like to make it in NYC's competitive scenes of art, fashion, and editorial, it's Kim Hastreiter, the Co-Founder and Editor of Paper Magazine, who has spent over three decades in the biz. When we sat down with Kim to talk how she made it major, her advice to up-and-comers was surprisingly simple:

"I always say – and I know now that it’s very politically incorrect to say it, but I always tell kids who are young and in college to go and pick what your dream job is and who your dream person is to work for and go and intern for them, and work for free. Show them what you can do because, in my experience, I’d say probably 80% of the people who work at Paper were interns."

"I believe that doing that really is better than going to graduate school and if you’re really serious about wanting to do something and want to learn from the best, then go and intern for the best. Just say ‘I’ll work for free, anything you want me to do,’ and just learn and make yourself indispensable so that when your internship’s over, they have to hire you because you’re so good."

[See more: Interview: Kim Hastreiter, The Iconic Editrix Behind Paper Magazine]

[Anna Wintour via @alteregord, Kim Hastreiter via]