News of journalism job layoffs, conflicting advice on application best practices, and concerns of AI screening systems: These are just a few of the challenges job seekers face in 2026.
At the third annual Career Day at the National Press Club, held March 20, 2026, hiring managers, newsroom leaders, and former journalists who have expanded their careers shared practical advice and training to job seekers.
The five workshops and panels — held alongside a pop-up headshot studio and an exhibition hall of media recruiters — aimed to alleviate some of the concerns that industry job seekers face, regardless of their age or years of experience.
Here are the standout tips and strongest takeaways from Career Day.
How can I stay motivated amid career uncertainty?
The numbers can feel disheartening: Thousands of journalism jobs were cut in the U.S. in 2025, and recent waves of layoffs at major publications like The Washington Post left many journalists in limbo.
But during Career Day at the National Press Club, the mood was hopeful rather than bleak. Speakers and panelists shared their advice on overcoming layoffs and a job market that feels tough to crack — and reminded attendees that their value is not tied to their career.
“If you’ve experienced a job loss, especially in journalism, that is super common to go through,” said Andrew Seaman, LinkedIn editor at large for jobs and career development. “What I had to work on, personally, was kind of figuring out who I was outside of work.”
“If you have experienced a job loss, I think sometimes, it can be doubly difficult because you are not only going through that job loss, but your identity is shifting a little bit, too,” Seaman continued. “So it is really important, and it does take time to work on who you are outside of your career. It can be incredibly valuable and helpful mentally to do that.”
Leon Tucker, director of talent development at USA TODAY Co., told journalists who are facing layoffs and struggling with anxieties about the state of the jobs market to “stay encouraged.”
“This too shall pass,” Tucker said. “I believe this industry is in the midst of a huge seismic shift. We’re just trying to figure it out … I believe that ultimately what’s going to happen is, we’re going to settle somewhere …Keep your head up and don’t give up.”
How can I boost my professional profile while navigating AI and ATS?
Confusion and mixed messaging abound when it comes to navigating artificial intelligence while job hunting. Is it acceptable to use AI in creating resumes and cover letters? How can you leverage AI to make your application stand out? And is a real person even on the other side?
At Career Day, hiring managers and news organization leaders weighed in on these questions with the caveat that every org is different, and technology is developing at a rapid pace. But speakers brought practical tips to help navigate the AI wave.
Seaman recommends considering AI a “sparring partner” that can help job seekers distill their skills and refine what they’re looking for in a role.
“Just write down all your skills,” he recommends. “Then you figure out, OK, where do I put these skills? Do I want to use more of it? Do I want to use less of it?”
Of course, some pitfalls come with relying too much on AI, like sounding generic or failing to proofread basic components like the title of the company.
“The lack of personality in a cover letter is suspicious to me,” Tucker said. “One of the things that I try to coach people on is, tell us who you are and what you bring to the table. You can’t fake that. You can’t fake personal experiences.”
On the flip side, increasing use of applicant tracking systems and other AI on the hiring end can lead to anxiety for job seekers who don’t want their applications to get lost in a sea of automation. Multiple speakers at Career Day, however, did their best to assuage these anxieties: Control what you can, they said. And most shared that in their news organizations, real people are reviewing individual applications.
Across the board, hiring managers said there are certainly ways for job seekers to increase their application visibility without resorting to hacks that try to trick AI — like the misguided advice to use white typeface on resumes to get past ATS systems.
The real strategy, Bloomberg Industry Group Chief of Staff Tom Taylor noted, happens away from AI and in the spaces where people meet in real life. Taylor suggests “having somebody that you’ve met face-to-face, that you’ve shook hands with, that you’ve had a conversation with, even if it’s brief, that you can then reach out to and say, ‘Hey, just wanted to let you know, I dropped [off] my application on this job posting.’”
How should I approach resumes and cover letters? Here’s what hiring managers say:
When National Press Club Journalism Institute Executive Director Beth Francesco asked Career Day attendees how they feel about cover letters, she was met with groans.
Most applicants would agree that crafting a resume and cover letter is a tedious, daunting, and even dreadful task. But the offerings at Career Day, including a workshop dedicated to cover letters led by Francesco, prompted job seekers to reframe how they think of their application materials.
Resumes are a must, Seaman said, refuting the idea that portfolios or LinkedIn profiles stand on their own.
“I know that there’s always those terrible thinkpieces online about the death of the resume,” he joked. “The resumes are here to stay. I don’t think we have a really good substitute for that.”
And while opinions vary on the necessity of a cover letter, especially when many job applications list them as optional, Francesco argued that in the writing business, they’re essential.
“No other part of your application gives you the opportunity to tell your story in a narrative and from your voice,” she said. “The way to get your point of view, your goals, how you bring what you bring to the table for the employer — that’s where your cover letter comes in.”
Rather than repeating job experience or skills, cover letters should elaborate on points not captured in a resume, like providing context for employment gaps or career pivots, “or simply just what drives your work,” Francesco explained.
And they don’t have to be so intimidating, even for journalists who aren’t used to turning the spotlight on themselves.
“If you rethink, reframe your thinking about cover letters as a kind of mini profile on yourself, sometimes this can be a helpful way to get over the hump of not being used to writing about your own work,” Franceso said.
Joanna Sullivan, senior editor at American City Business Journals, said cover letters stand out when applicants understand the organization they’re applying for. Francesco added that cover letters are “where you can articulate what your value proposition is for that organization.”
Multiple speakers — including Sullivan and Francesco — emphasized that applicants often write about how the job would benefit them — but applications should reflect what an individual will bring to the role.
“It really is about showing and not telling,” Tucker said. “…showing us what you can do, showing us how you did it, some of the challenges that you faced and how you overcame them to produce the great work that you are showcasing.”
What if I’m considering a pivot to freelancing, PR, or non-traditional journalism positions?
It’s a thought that many journalists have at one point in their career: What other jobs am I qualified for?
Seaman suggested that journalists think of themselves as a “basket of skills” — not just as a reporter, designer, or other traditional job title. That mindset shift opens a world of possibilities, he said.
Aundrea Cline-Thomas, an Emmy-winning broadcast reporter and founder of career coaching service and newsletter The Rewrite, has built a business on coaching other journalists to expand their horizons. She urged job seekers to adopt flexibility, create an “ecosystem” of colleagues and supporters to help attract new jobs and freelance opportunities, and to make a plan to support oneself financially in the interim between work.
Another panel of former journalists who now work in PR, discussed the skills that transfer from reporting to strategic communications, including the less-than-obvious ones.
Maria Rodriguez, president and CEO of Vanguard Communications, said that one of the most “difficult” pieces of transitioning from journalism to marketing communications is losing neutrality, or the inability to cover all sides of a story. Another tricky skills gap is knowing the scientific strategy behind campaigns.
She shared an example of Vanguard’s work to place campaign posters in post offices to reach Native American people living in rural areas.
“So there’s a real strategy behind how we achieve what we’re trying to achieve, which is to change hearts and minds,” she said.
Stephanie Dukes, communications officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and a former news anchor, said when pivoting to public relations, journalists are not learning new skills but learning to apply them differently.
The speakers agreed that the tenacity, persistence, and scrappiness that journalists use in their jobs all translate well to press relations and beyond.
“Oftentimes, failure is not an option for us, right?” said Tomás Harmon, director of communications for Fairfax County Public Schools. “If you have to do a live hit at five o’clock, you’re going to figure out how to do that live hit at five o’clock. And one of the things that that teaches us as journalists is to be solutions-oriented. We are often already thinking about Scenario B, C and D, of how we might approach a challenge or tell a story or reach a certain person — which in PR is also part of what we do: connect people.”
Tags: Career