A journalist resume builder organised around what editors screen for first: the publications you have written for, the beats you cover, the story types you file, your awards, and your best clips. You fill a structured form and a clean, ATS-friendly resume builds live beside it.
How it works
The builder separates the signals an editor scans for. Publications lists the outlets you have appeared in, staff or freelance. Beats covered and story types show your subject expertise and range, from breaking news to long-form investigations. Awards records recognition and training like an NCTJ Diploma, while digital & multimedia skills names CMS platforms, SEO, and audio or video tools that modern newsrooms expect. A selected clips field links your strongest work, and a repeatable experience section pairs each role with a standout story and its impact.
The right panel re-renders the resume as you type. Your draft auto-saves to local storage, and the Copy text and Download .txt buttons export a clean, parseable file.
What makes a journalism resume different
Editors do not read journalism resumes the same way HR reads any other resume. They scan for outlet names first, then beats, then clips — and most will open the links before they finish reading the page. A generic resume that buries The Guardian in bullet-point three of a job entry is a missed opportunity; a journalism resume surfaces the masthead immediately.
Beat expertise also matters more than years of experience. A three-year reporter who owns local government and investigations is more hirable for a political desk than a ten-year generalist. This builder puts beats and story types in their own sections so that expertise is legible at a glance.
Getting the clips section right
The clips section is where most journalism resumes fall short. A few practical rules:
- Link, do not list. Two or three live URLs editors can open immediately outperform a paragraph of titles.
- Pair each clip with impact. “Won a regional press award” is weaker than “triggered a council audit that recovered £240k; won 2023 Regional Reporter of the Year.”
- Mirror the beat you are applying for. If the role is science, lead with your best science clip, even if your most-read piece was something else.
- Check every link before applying. Dead links signal carelessness to someone whose job is accuracy.
Practical example
A staff reporter moving from a regional paper to a national outlet might structure their resume as:
- Publications: Manchester Evening News (staff 2021–present), The Guardian (freelance)
- Beats: local government, public-service investigations, housing
- Story types: news, data-led features, FOI investigations
- Awards: NCTJ Diploma, 2023 MEN Journalist of the Year
- Selected clips: two linked pieces — a council-procurement investigation that drove 400k page views and a public inquiry, and a housing data feature that ran as a double-page spread
That structure takes under two minutes for an editor to assess and positions the candidate as a specialist with proven national reach — rather than a long list of job duties nobody reads.
Digital and multimedia skills
Modern newsrooms expect more than writing. CMS proficiency (WordPress, Arc, Chorus), SEO fundamentals and headline A/B testing, social-first packaging, and the ability to produce audio, video or interactive graphics are now baseline expectations at most mid-size and larger outlets. List the tools you genuinely use. Editors will probe these in interviews, and overstating skills you do not have is quickly exposed in any working environment.