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Columnist resume examples from 2026

Zippi

Land interviews using Zippia's AI-powered resume builder.

Updated March 26, 2025
6 min read
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How to write a columnist resume

Craft a resume summary statement

Put a resume summary on the top of your resume to highlight your accomplishments. A resume summary sums up your experience and skills, making it easy for hiring managers to understand your qualifications at a glance. Here are some tips to write a strong, impressive resume summary:

Step 1: Mention your current job title or the role you're pursuing.

Step 2: Include your years of experience in columnist-related roles. Consider adding relevant company and industry experience as relevant to the job listing.

Step 3: Highlight your greatest accomplishments. Here is your chance to make sure your biggest wins aren't buried in your resume.

Step 4: Again, keep it short. Your goal is to summarize your experience and highlight your accomplishments, not write a paragraph.

These tips will help you demonstrate why you are the perfect fit for the columnist position.

Please upload your resume so Zippia’s job hunt AI can draft a summary statement for you.

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List the right project manager skills

Use your Skills section to show you have the knowledge and technical ability to do the job. Here is how to make the most of your skills section and make sure you have the right keywords:

  1. Look at the job listing and skills listed. You need to include the exact keywords from the job description to get your resume in front of an actual human. Do you have those skills? Fantastic! Be sure to list them.
  2. Include as many relevant hard or technical columnist skills as possible for each job you apply to.
  3. Be specific with the skills you have and be sure you are using the most up to date and accurate terms.
These five steps should give you a strong elevator pitch and land you some columnist interviews.

Here are example skills to include in your “Area of Expertise” on a columnist resume:

  • Student Newspaper
  • Opinion Pieces
  • Twitter
  • Mental Health
  • Feature Stories
  • News Stories
  • Social Issues
  • Editorials
  • Conduct Interviews
  • SEO
  • Writing Articles
  • News Articles
  • Photoshop
  • Local Events
  • NFL Draft
  • Local News
  • NBA
  • Human Interest Stories
  • Community Events
  • NCAA
  • Book Reviews
  • Contributor
  • POP Culture
  • Real Estate
  • MLB
  • Political Issues
  • NHL
  • Press Association

Zippia’s AI can customize your resume for you.

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How to structure your work experience

Your employment history is arguably one of the most important parts of your resume. It shows you have experience and foundation in your field to successfully master the columnist position. Here is how to most effectively structure your work experience:

  1. List your most recent experience first, followed by earlier roles in reverse chronological order. Employers care about your most recent experience the most.
  2. Start with your job title, company name, city, and state on the left. Align dates in month and year format on the right-hand side.
  3. Include only recent, relevant jobs.

How to write columnist experience bullet points

Your resume is not a list of responsibilities or a job description. Instead, it is your chance to show your accomplishments and show why you're good at what you do.

  • Use the What, How, and Why format. Answering these questions turns a bland job description into an effective showcase of your abilities.
  • What were your responsibilities or goals?
  • How did you accomplish them?
  • Why were your results important? (How did it impact your company? Can you quantify the results in numbers? )

Here are examples from great columnist resumes:

Work history example #1

Columnist

The New York Times Company

  • Covered NFL, MLB, NBA, NASCAR and general sports news events for as Dallas-based free-lance reporter.
  • Researched factual information on topics in sports and developed relationships with relevant sources.
  • Attended events such as the Big East Tournament and NFL Draft.
  • Covered technology during Internet boom and contributed pieces on general-assignment topics.
  • Initiated Twitter presence for Dancing With The Stars Radio.

Work history example #2

Columnist

JFCS Atlanta

  • Managed freelance contributors and edited freelance articles.
  • Drafted policies and standard operating procedures for Red Cross communication programs and initiatives.
  • Covered diverse topics, from rigorous analysis of the 2008 election to comic ruminations on the nature of American celebrity.
  • Created content to explain complex veterinary topics for non-veterinary audiences.
  • Coupled written content with the needs of editors to establish and build Her Campus SEO.

Work history example #3

Writing Internship

St. John & Partners

  • Assisted editorial calendar development and page analytics.
  • Designed PowerPoint slides to be included in a monthly report sent to company executives.
  • Conducted in-depth interviews with various musical artists covering personal and professional topics.
  • Recorded analytics for various Mobile Products.
  • Updated website daily, managed Facebook/Twitter/ Instagram accounts.

Work history example #4

Beat Reporter

Time Warner Cable Enterprises

  • Worked with software including Prestige, InDesign and Adobe PhotoShop.
  • Assisted with production of local and nationally syndicated programming for ESPN, CBS Radio, etc.
  • Created, developed, edited and managed social media content, including daily posts to Facebook, Twitter and Instragram.
  • contributed to Pulitzer Prize-nominated package of stories on the 1991 Royal Oak Post Office shooting.
  • Promoted targeted content through various social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter

Zippia’s AI can customize your resume for you.

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Add an education section to your resume

Employers are looking for a few things when looking at the Education section of your resume:
  • The highest degree you have achieved.
  • TWhere you attended school, and the dates (Although if you graduated some time ago, leave the date off to avoid ageism)
  • TField of study
  • TAny honors, relevant coursework, achievements, or pertinent activities

Here are some examples of good education entries for resumes:

Bachelor's Degree in journalism

Pennsylvania State University, Main, PA

2013 - 2016

Highlight your columnist certifications on your resume

If you have any additional certifications, add them to the certification section.

Start simple. Include the full name of the certification. It's also good to mention the organization that issued the certification. Next, specify when you obtained the certification.

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