Once upon a time, there was a ladder. You started as an assistant - either PA, in a crew department, or on a desk - and you worked your way up in a straightforward way. Whatever your ladder was (PA → Production Coordinator → UPM; Assistant to Lit Agent → Assistant to Studio Comedy VP → Coordinator, Comedy Development → Creative Executive; Writers’ PA → Writers’ Assistant → Script Coordinator → Staff Writer), you could see how one role would lead to another and focus your job applications on growth. But growth looks different now.

Searching for jobs takes a lot of time and effort, which, let’s be honest, a lot of of us lack the bandwidth for! Whether you’re employed and trying to land somewhere else, balancing a search for full-time work with freelancing or fractional work, or emotionally exhausted from too many months of unemployment -- can you just outsource the whole thing? 

With traditional film and TV shrinking and consolidating, the creator economy is growing, and companies are experimenting with a lot of new formats. There are jobs for creatives and production professionals! But they don’t look quite the same as the jobs you’ve held in the past, so if you’re applying for roles in emerging media, your resume will need to communicate you’re absolutely capable of succeeding in these new types of roles. Here are some key things to include on your resume if you can do so truthfully. 

Even if you know what you should be doing to improve your job search, it’s not always easy to break old (bad) job search habits! This is especially the case when you’ve been searching for a while and desperation starts to set in. Here’s a breakdown of the top 3 the bad habits we’ve seen and how you can get back on track if they creep up on you:

We hear all the time from job seekers that as part of their plan to make a career transition to a different side of the entertainment industry, they want to start back at the bottom and become an assistant to work their way back up. There are times when this makes sense, even if it's not necessarily easy to do so. But most of the time, career transitions don't need to be as drastic.

In nearly every interview, the first thing an interviewer will say is simply, “Tell me about yourself.” This is usually the most important part of the interview, because it gives you the opportunity to set the tone of the meeting and make a great first impression. It's crucial that you have a clear and concise elevator pitch ready to go.

If you’re actively looking for jobs, you’re going to see a lot more postings for jobs that aren’t a fit than for those that are. That’s pretty obvious, since even in a slow market, a lot of industries hire for a lot of roles at a lot of levels, and you’re only qualified for a select few. But one thing we’ve seen happen time and again is that job seekers get so frustrated by the lack of openings for what they want to do that they end up applying for random jobs that are not only not of interest to them, but also not a fit!

Your resume should always tell a clear story of why you’re a good fit for the open role. That has two parts: why you and why them. When you overthink and overwrite a resume, all too often, you lose the “you” part. Instead, you parrot back a document with a lot of keywords and maybe some success metrics, but one that doesn’t tell a coherent narrative about how your collective experience will help you do a particular job. That’s because the “you” part of your resume can’t change all that much for different roles! You’ll always have the same experience – the change is simply in how you position it.

Survive until ‘25 sounded good…until it became meaningless. That’s why we’re coining a new mantra for this year - no tricks in ’26. This is the year where job seekers and entertainment professionals embrace the reality that no one knows what’s coming next. The secret is that there is no secret.

We launched Hollywood Resumes in January 2016, back when the only major streaming platforms were Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, and CAA and ICM were two separate companies, as were Disney, Fox, Warner Bros., Discovery...the list goes on. Job seekers needed our support telling their stories clearly in their resumes, but those who were qualified and committed could always find an open role. Now, on our ten-year anniversary, there's so much about the industry -- and the job search -- that has changed, and we're here to meet the realities of this moment, both in the services we provide and the insights we offer.

This has not been an easy couple of years for any of us in media and entertainment, but after a holiday break to renew and refresh, we hope you're approaching the 2026 job search in the right mindset. As you get back into the swing of networking and job applications, here are some steps you can take to ensure you make the most of the first few months of the year.

The holiday season is a great time for career growth. Even though it’s not the best time to bring up new business or pitch projects, some of the best networking opportunities occur this month, and it’s also a good time for you to refocus. Here are three ways you can take advantage of the holiday season.