Journalist Resume Examples & Writing Guide

The journalism industry is cutthroat, competitive, and fast-paced. Thus, landing a job as a Journalist starts with creating a kick-ass resume that gets you the interview first.

We unpack all the tricks and tips of journalist resume writing, for you to present a top-notch resume for each application you submit.

It sounds simple enough, but your resume should not be a generic document. The competition can be tough. A journalism resume needs to reflect your hunt for scoops, interesting assignments completed, and possible prestigious awards and accolades contained.

We use of samples per resume section to help you accelerate the process of drafting up your resume. Let's dive in!

Journalist Resume Examples

(Free sample downloads are at the bottom of this page)

Journalist Resume Writing Guide

Resume Sections

1. Contact Information:
Name, Address, Phone Number, Email. Be sure to include alternative contact channels, as well as your LinkedIn profile or Twitter URL details.

2. Journalist Career Summary:
The quality of a career summary may significantly increase the probability of landing interviews. Keep in mind that this is not an objective statement: the focus should be on the value you can add in the job and not what the company can do for you.

Captivate the reader and write a paragraph of no more than 3-6 lines. Present your industry tenure, qualifications, technical competencies, and most prestigious qualifications. It is a smart idea to mention an award or being published in a highly acclaimed newspaper/magazine if applicable.

3. Qualifications Summary:
Breaking into this industry requires a Bachelor’s degree, nine out of ten times. Mainstream publications and news agencies even prefer other academic credentials such as a Masters or Ph.D. Apart from a Journalism Degree, employers would also consider other degree disciplines such as Political Sciences, International Business, or Communication. Qualification details should be accurate, up to date, and listed by completion date, degree title, institution name, and location.

4. Relevant Journalism Experience:
Think of your work history as a news story or article outlining your career path progression in the field. Use a reverse-chronological format to list previous employment experiences.

You may need to customize or tweak your employment history for each individual position you apply to. For this, use the same terminology as written in the job advertisement. This helps you boost your credibility and align your experience section with what the recruiter is looking for.

5. Other Employment Experience:
This is an essential section if you are still at a junior level or a complete rooking to the industry. Include informal writing experience and projects that you have under your belt. For example, being the editor of the school newspaper, or running an investigative weekly piece for the University’s alumni blog.

6. Skills Summary/Key Skills:
Read through the advertisement description a couple of times and pick the most essential skills and keywords. Use these keywords as is in your resume skills section. This helps you enforce the message that your skills and experiences make you an excellent fit for the job listing.

This approach will help beat applicant tracking systems, landing your resume in front of a pair of human eyes.

7. Certifications/Relevant Coursework/Training:
Journalists are expected continually to improve their capabilities by participating in professional development activities, writing courses, and attending seminars. Start with your formal degrees and accreditations. List them as part of your education section for an extra edge to highlight academic and theoretical knowledge.

A Quick Few Tips for a Journalist Recruiter

Journalist Career Summary & Examples

A well-designed career summary will catch the attention of hiring managers quickly and prompt them to read your entire resume to see what else you have to offer.

Crafting a stellar career summary is easier said than done, primarily because you have merely a single paragraph to work with.

Leave the career summary for after you have written your entire resume because by then, you would have subconsciously identified your most prominent skills and technical competencies.

Add to this your years of experience, highest qualification, and a wow factor such as an award or accolade, and your summary is sorted.

Now read through the paragraph a few times to ensure the sentences flow naturally and that you have used appropriate verbiage.

* Career Summary Hack: Use the words and sentences from the job description and weave them into your summary paragraph.

Journalism Summary Examples:

Journalist Career Summary 1

A self-motivated and deadline orientated Journalist with a passion for telling unique stories for the public interest and a canny ability to extract the story behind the story during interviews with witnesses and stakeholders. Always strive to write unique but factual recollections of incidents and events. Over a decade of experience in delivering top-notch content to radio stations and supplementary social media platforms. Currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Journalism.

Journalist Career Summary 2

 A talented journalism Intern with six months of shadowing experience gained at a mainstream newspaper directly reporting to the Editor in Chief. Won the University Editor of the Year award in the state of California and regularly contributes to financial blogs end economically orientated commentaries for one of the independent online news agencies in the city. Recently completed a Bachelors Degree on Political Sciences Summa Cum Laude and is fluent in 4 European languages

Journalist Career Summary 3

Well, tenured Media Journalist with eight years of experience as a war correspondent in the Middle East. Exemplary critical thinking abilities coupled with a strategic approach to write informative articles and report on humanitarian issues. Published 40 pieces in the last 60 months, in addition to daily commentary blogs regarding the conflict situations experienced by medical personnel stationed in conflict areas. Member of Society of Professional Journalists since 2015.

Journalist Job Descriptions, Responsibilities and Duty Examples

Your Journalist’s job duties may vary depending on the industry and also the type of media organization you are in. Below we have unpacked a few typical Journalist job descriptions for you to use as a guideline:

A Multimedia Journalist may:

• Prepare investigative stories and content for online publication on various social media platforms
• Conduct research on public information platforms and secure face to face interviews with information sources
• Write content for web publication and update information as the stories unfold
• Collaborate with graphic designers regarding layout and images to be used in feature stories
• Use creative production techniques for live reporting on YouTube
• Liaise with fact-checkers and co-writers to ensure the validity of content before publication

A Photo Journalist may:

• Design feature photo stories for print and social media publications
• Create tags, headlines, blurbs, and bylines to supplement the images
• Edit and enhance photo images using Photoshop Libel and Adobe Illustrator software
• Responsible for photo reportage on a variety of topics including humanitarian, special events and sports matches
• Create media kits for promotional and awareness campaigns

A General Journalist may:

• Conduct interviews with persons of interest for a variety of topics including political, local arts, special events, medical innovation, and governmental issues
• Outline interview themes and questions to be approved by the editor
• Attend court proceedings and do live reporting from the courthouse
• Conduct internet research and visit public information centers to gather information for prospective articles
• Write content for newspaper stories as well as supplementary online publications as well as radio and television reports

A Corporate Journalist may:

• Write feature articles and case studies regarding the company's product offering
• Create inhouse briefs and internal corporate communication pieces
• Responsible for all public relations official responses and interviews with the media
• Shoot and edit professional photo’s for company perspectives and profiles sent to clients
• Responsible for the monthly Q&A blog
• Travel to the various company production plants once per month to conduct interviews with research and development engineers regarding the newest products
• Actively manage the YouTube channel responding to questions from clients and also present a live stream every week reviewing the company’s products

Highlight Your Accomplishments

Including an accomplishment section in your Journalist Resume is imperative if you want to highlight the value you can bring to a prospective employer. Action-packed statements presenting your career achievements provide proof to the hiring manager that you have the qualities skills and experience to add value to the team.

Make a draft list of all the stories, articles or projects completed that made you feel proud about the work you have done. Also, include commendations from editors and awards you have won during your career. Now choose five at most to include in your accomplishment section.

Then add numerical values to these statements (where, what, when, how often, how long, how many), thereby quantifying each statement accordingly. Quantification is your indicator of whether the accomplishment you have chosen is, in fact, an achievement (if you cannot add a number to it, remove it!)

Let's have a look at a few accomplishment statement examples relevant to journalism:

• Produced 125 radio reports for morning and evening program slots totaling 200 hours of interviewing time
• Hosted over 500 hours of live stream shows on Youtube during the last six months increasing viewer attendance from 150 to an average of a 1000 viewers per slot
• Recorded and produced a three-part mini-series about trail running which was bought by Nike and used in their advertising campaign for Women's Trail Running Apparel
• Youngest weather Anchor at age 25 for a local independent news station
• Traveled to Africa and the Middle East (10 countries in total) during the last three months as a photoJournalist for an independent Food Show
• When working as a freelance Journalist, a hundred percent of article projects have appeared in mainstream news publications without requests for edits or amendments

Journalist Education Section & Examples

A Journalist’s academic tenure is vital information to the recruiter or hiring manager. Ensure to include your degrees and diplomas as well as industry qualifications, courses completed and other relevant continuous professional development activities.

Education may be listed as follows:

Start with commencement date and completion date for diplomas, associate degrees, and bachelor degrees. For courses, you can just list the date of completion. Next comes the full name of the qualification, then the full name of the institution, and then the city or abbreviated state name. List your high school diploma details similarly, but only include this when you have less than five years of working experience.

2021 – 2023 Master of Arts in Journalism, Columbia Journalism School, NY
Accolades: Completed Summa Cum Laude

2016 – Course in Tools Training for Journalists, Google News Lab, Online

2015 – Advanced Level Training Program, Society of Professional Journalists,

2014 – Member of Society of Professional Journalists, Brooklyn, New York

2011 – 2013 Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, New York Film Arts Academy, Manhattan, NY
GPA of 3.8
Major Subjects: Investigative Journalism, Broadcast Journalism
Minor Subjects: Social Media, Reporting, Communication Law

What to Write in a Journalist Resume Skills Section

Excellent writing skills and chasing stories are not the only skills required to be a great Journalist. Prospective employers expect a combination of personality traits, soft skills, and core competencies to decide whether your candidacy is worthwhile for an interview discussion.

Use a Skills Matrix approach to present all your most prominent interpersonal skills, personality features, and hard skills.

Technical Skills

Interpersonal Skills

Qualifications/Certifications associated with Journalists

Professional Information for Journalists

Sectors:  Media, Broadcasting, Public Relations, Government
Career Type: News, Research, Administration, Information Coordination, Data Analysis, Report Writing, Video Presentations, Data Collection, Content Writing
Person type:  Writer, Reporter, Investigator, Observer, Communicator, Editor, Composer, Creator, Field  Worker, Interviewer
Education levels: Associate’s Degree, Bachelors’ Degree, Master’s Degree, Doctorate Degree
Salary indication: 

Labor market: Estimated 12% decline between 2018 – 2028
Organizations: Local News Papers. National News Broadcasters, News Agencies, Corporate Companies, Online Media Enterprises, Television Stations, Radio Stations, Magazines

Download Journalist Resume Examples in PDF & JPG

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