Since I started La Fronde I've had a lot of conversations with both readers and sources about how wild job requirements have been lately. I've noticed it myself when digging for listings to include in our Thursday job roundup. Job descriptions now look like a Frankenstein hybrid of four separate roles dressed in a trenchcoat of one job. And the qualifications companies want are very different than they were pre-COVID.

Rather than just going off my own anecdotal observations, I decided that it's probably worth dusting off the data hat I had left in a past life to dig into why it’s so hard to get a media job right now. Today's paid newsletter is a rundown of what I found by analyzing more than 100 media job descriptions pre- and post-COVID. The analysis confirms a few things I suspected — and intel I didn't know! Not just how much responsibilities have evolved, but how drastically the language and tone companies use has changed, too.

Also in today's newsletter: legacy magazines that just landed a major Netflix deal, how media gossip is changing (for the worse), who could be New York Magazine’s next creative director, and more intel.

xoxo,

Stephanie

You're not imagining things: media companies have raised the stakes on hiring. 

To get a sense of how much job requirements have changed, I dug up more than 100 U.S. media job postings from 2016 to 2026. I didn't realize until I was knee-deep into this project that a lot of companies delete job descriptions once positions are filled, so a shout-out to the ones that procrastinated on 10 years' worth of purges to make this project possible.

Since I wanted to compare not just descriptions but how roles and responsibilities have changed over time, I focused my scope creep analysis specifically on postings for mid-career level positions: reporter, editor, audience editor, social media editor, newsletter editor, video producer, communications manager and publicist. That way, I could accurately assess scope creep without comparing an entry-level job to a VP role.

Now that we're all on the same page, here’s what stood out to me from the data:

The scope creep is real. Between 2016 and 2019, job listings required candidates to be proficient in 3.4 skill areas on average (writing, social posting, video/photo, analytics, sponsorship, on-camera/talent management). It’s a different ballgame now.