Abhisha Nanda, a recent Humber College graduate, has applied to more than 200 positions in journalism.Jennifer Roberts/The Globe and Mail
Name, age: Abhisha Nanda, 22
Education: Advanced diploma in journalism from Humber College (2022-2025)
Where she lives: Toronto
Her dream job: On-air news anchor
Roles targeted: Reporter, anchor, on-air host, assignment producer, part-time assistant, part-time TV producer, part-time anchor, part-time writer
The job search so far: Since August, 2025, Ms. Nanda has applied to more than 200 positions in the journalism field, tailoring her résumé to each job posting. “I am applying for everything that comes my way,” she said, including part-time, full-time, and contract roles.
She hunts for open positions on LinkedIn, news stations’ career-posting pages and journalism job boards. She spends time each day cold messaging contacts in the industry for informal coffee chats through LinkedIn. One of those conversations helped her land an opportunity to submit an audio tape to be considered for a part-time on-air hosting position.
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Still, she has yet to receive feedback on her application materials. In fact, on multiple occasions she has received invitations for screening interviews, only to realize it’s conducted by an AI agent, not a human. “I felt like it wasn’t fair, because if I’m putting that much effort into applying for a position, the least I can expect is human feedback,” she said.
Her main challenge: “I still haven’t been able to figure out what exactly I should be putting on my application so I can get more interviews,” Ms. Nanda said. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, because the same application is getting me interviews, or it’s getting me ghosted.”
Carli Fink, founder of Foreseeable Futures, a career counselling practice, says Ms. Nanda is doing a lot of things right, including LinkedIn outreach and connecting with classmates about job opportunities, which shows persistence. “And persistence is a critical job search skill, particularly in this economy,” she said.
After reviewing this grad’s résumé, Ms. Fink has suggestions on how Ms. Nanda can gain traction and land more interviews.
Seek professional support
First, Ms. Fink recommends Ms. Nanda – and other new grads – research career-counselling services offered by their alma mater. “Many universities and colleges actually offer free career services to students, and most offer their services to recent grads as well,” Ms. Fink said.
This way, she can work on her résumé with a professional, and it doesn’t have to be costly. Depending on the institution, services may even be offered to people years after graduation.
For example, a career professional can help a job seeker translate experience and skill into impact on the employer or business. “Working with a professional can help ask the right questions to pull that information out of you,” Ms. Fink said.
Move the skills section
Ms. Fink says that while there isn’t a single perfect way to write a résumé, job seekers should “think about what formats are going to make the most sense for the story I’m trying to tell.”
For example, near the bottom of Ms. Nanda’s résumé, there’s a section called “Skills” followed by a bullet-point list. Ms. Fink says this section can be relocated to the top, just under her professional summary. “That way, it can almost serve as a table of contents for the résumé,” she explains. A quick scan can tell employers which skills the candidate has. For more detail, they can skip down to the experience section.
Tweak skills for impact
But simply listing skills (such as background research, fact-checking, or data analysis) doesn’t give employers enough information to differentiate Ms. Nanda from other candidates. “She has a lot of great skills, like reporting, fact-checking, and editing feature stories, but it’s not really clear to me: What was the volume of that work?” Ms. Fink said.
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Ms. Fink suggests she go through each point and ask herself: How much is she producing, how quickly, and how often?
For example, if she managed a social media account for six months, and it grew from 300 to 500 followers, this should be indicated in the bullet point. Same goes for new subscribers to an e-mail newsletter, number of monthly visits to a news article, or podcast subscriber growth. “This shows that, with six months of consistent effort, you actually were able to make a difference for this account or this podcast,” Ms. Fink said.
The details don’t always have to be numerical. For example, a “fact-checking” bullet point may include details on how many articles were fact-checked each week or month, plus a line that indicates outcome, such as “caught significant factual errors and ensured more accurate information before publication.”
Location, location, location
“One thing I wondered about was geographic distribution,” Ms. Fink said, noting that sometimes recent journalism grads will move cities to land the type of position they want in a less competitive market than the Greater Toronto Area. If it’s an option, searching for jobs outside of the GTA may give Ms. Nanda a leg up in a smaller applicant field.
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Are you a young Canadian who wants help landing a job?
The Globe’s personal finance team is looking to speak with young Canadians and new graduates who are on the job hunt. Tell us about what career goal you’re working toward, what you’ve tried in your job search so far, and describe your skills and qualifications (you can even include a link to your LinkedIn profile).