We got career advice from an award-winning journalist

Lu Ann Cahn was a reporter that worked in broadcast news for 40 years. In her career, Cahn worked for news stations all over the United States and has received eight Emmy awards for her journalistic work.

We caught up with her at her office at Temple to get her tips on how to kick-start a career in journalism.

Cahn loved the stories she was able to tell in her journalism career. Throughout her career, she felt like she was witnessing history.

“It’s like the movie Forrest Gump,” Cahn said, smiling. “Forrest Gump was always witnessing history. He was on the sidelines of things that were happening. In a way, being a reporter is kind of like that. You realize as your career goes on that you’ve seen, witnessed, and reported on amazing events.”

Some of her favorite stories to cover were: Bill Clinton’s unsuccessful run for governor in Arkansas and later his successful run for President of the United States. The Atlanta Olympics bombing and Hurricane Sandy were also some of her favorite stories to tell.

After feeling like she needed a change, she published a book, titled I Dare Me, and left her job at NBC10 in Philadelphia.

“I really got to do everything I had wanted to do,” Cahn said. “I realized, at age 58, I was ready to do a big switch.”

Lu Ann Cahn is currently the Director of Career Services in the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University where she advises students and hosts resume workshops.

Lu Ann is still in love with journalism and sees her current position as a way to help the next generation of journalists break into the media industry.

“To me, I’m just launching the next generation into a field I love.” Cahn said.

Lu Ann Cahn shared her resume, cover letter, and general career advice with The Tab in her North Philadelphia office.

Resume advice

According to Cahn, employers expect to see a full resume that highlights many skills.

“You have to have skills and you have to show that you have skills on a resume,” she said. “You want to show, on one page, that you have been using your skills. You want to have a portfolio of your writing.”

Cahn also recommends using the Internet to create a portfolio. She suggests using websites, such as, Wix and LinkedIn to publish a portfolio and network with prospective employers.

She also advises broadcast journalism students to have an audition reel ready to send to future employers.

The Director of Career Services also encourages students to be as specific as possible when creating a resume. She said to explain the duties during each relevant job experience with as many details as possible.

“Your resume is not the place for a three word bullet point,” the award-winning journalist said. “You want to explain what you did. They aren’t full sentences, but you want to be as specific as you can about what your responsibilities were and how much work you contributed. You’re supposed to be a writer, so you want to show that you can write a beautiful resume too.”

She also advises students looking to work in journalism to be specific about the places they worked too. Her advice is to be specific about the place and not just name it.

“If you’re applying for a job in New York, they’ll go ‘What’s that?’” Cahn said, looking at my resume.

As a general rule with resumes, Cahn’s advice is to put the most important entries at the top of the resume. She also recommends students that do not have any relevant experience in their field to include relevant course experience. Cahn also suggests bolding certain words to attract attention and adding a multitude of skills.

“Think about the key words and skills employers are going to want,” Lu Ann Cahn said. “You have a lot of good skills. There is no limit of how many skills you can list on your resume. The more the merrier!”

On a resume, the information regarding relevant experience should be more prominent than entries about additional experience. Lu Ann suggests condensing additional experience in order to make room for relevant experience.

Cover letter advice

Cover letters are as important as resumes when it comes to landing a job.

“Some people think the cover letter is dead, but it’s not if you’re going into journalism,” Cahn said.

According to Cahn, many employers view cover letters as a writing test. Her suggestion is to use a cover letter to tell a story.

“They want you to tell a story about you, explain why you are interested in this particular job,” she said. “This is where you talk about what motivates you, what experience you have and how it relates to the internship or job.”

Each prospective employer should receive a personal cover letter that corresponds to that specific job or internship.

“For every different job, you should write a different cover letter, crafted based on what their posting is, what they’re asking for,” Cahn said.

Advice to students

Cahn advises students to get as much journalistic experience as possible while still in school. She suggests students try getting internships and other experience as soon as possible.

“While you’re in college, you have to get as much practical experience as you possibly can,” she said. “Start as early as you can and get experience. It is a difficult business. When you just graduate with a journalism degree and no experience, you’re going to have a hard time getting a job in this business.”

Lu Ann Cahn also stresses the importance of becoming a multimedia journalist in today’s culture.

“Today, they expect you to come in and know your basic storytelling skills, basic journalism skills, and ethics,” Cahn said. “Employers expect you to know a lot about what you’re doing. Today, you have to be a multimedia journalist, so you need to shoot, you need to edit, you need to know AP writing style.”

Cahn also encourages students to not go into journalism for the money because she believes it’s something students should be passionate about.

“Whatever the platform is, I describe [journalism] as more of a lifestyle than a job,” Cahn said. “It’s 24/7. In some ways, you live it. You can’t go into it for the money. It has to be something you really feel strongly about. I look at it as some grand adventure.”