Here's Exactly How Stressful an Interview With Anna Wintour Is

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If you ever find yourself sitting across a desk from Anna Wintour, odds are you're doing something right. However, to help you really nail that interaction, Cosmopolitan editor Amy Odell has outlined how an interview with the iconic Vogue editor might go in her new book Tales From the Back Row. Who What Wear broke down Odell's story so that you can experience an interview with Wintour without all the anxiety that comes with it.

Odell reveals that Wintour's office set-up is pretty similar to the one from The Devil Wears Prada: a long hallway with an assistant on each side, which makes the walk to the editor's desk the most judgemental runway imaginable. After you get settled across from Wintour, expect to be asked about the history of fashion and interests outside the industry—and be prepared to back it up. "But Anna wanted to know more," Odell writes. "I could see this plainly in her face. ‘Museums?' she asked. ‘Oh,' I began, shocked by the suggestion. Museums? Do I do that? ‘Sure. Sure, I'll go occasionally to see things.' ‘What have you seen recently?' she pressed."

The most anxiety-inducing portion of the interview comes at the end of what Odell describes as a brisk no-more-than-10-minute meeting. "As I thanked Anna and stood up, she walked around the desk to shake my hand," writes Odell. "When she got to me, she looked me up and down in this really obvious prolonged way, probably to make sure that even if I'm some sort of museum-shunning, ignorant loser I was at least wearing an acceptable outfit."

Odell's last piece of advice for interviewing at Vogue? Brace yourself. The Cosmo editor recalls that she interviewed with several other people, resulting in a visit that "took more than two hours. I've had breakups with men I actually liked that took less out of me emotionally."