Want to move from print publishing to digital editor/comms roles. Worried I don’t have the right skills or am I talking myself out of applying for jobs I’ll be able to do?

[leopardprintandsunbeams]

Looking for some advice or real-life experiences from anyone who has made the jump from traditional print publishing into local digital or communications roles.
I have spent my career working in book and magazine publishing, so I am very experienced with writing for different audiences, managing big brands and stakeholders, proofing, and structuring content. However, I am now looking for roles locally, outside London, and almost everything coming up is in the Communications Officer or Digital Editor space.
My main worry is the hands-on digital side. I have written for the web and done small bits of CMS uploading here and there, but I do not have years of daily CMS management under my belt. I also have not done professional social media management or campaign strategy.
I am starting to wonder if I should stop wasting my time applying for these roles, or if the CMS and digital side is actually easy enough to pick up on the job.
A few questions for anyone who might know:

1. Has anyone here moved from print or editing into comms or digital editor roles, and how did you frame your experience on your CV?
2. Is a lack of heavy CMS experience an actual dealbreaker for comms officer or digital editor roles, or is it straightforward to learn once you start?
3. Are there any quick ways to bridge that digital gap to make an application look stronger?

Would love to hear your honest thoughts or tips, especially from anyone hiring in comms/digital space or who has made a similar career change!

I work in comms and we don’t look for / assess people on CMS experience. I imagine it would be helpful for digital only roles. But for general comms officer roles it sounds like you’d be a good fit. Good luck, I am biased but it’s a great field of work to be in.

@Springbaby2023thanks so much for your positive response!! Would you mind if I sent you a DM? X

I work in communications and lots of us are ex journalists. In fact we often joke about how many comms professionals have moved from print journalism into the dark arts of communications!

Aside from writing, a great deal of my job is dealing with crisis comms, which has taken many years to develop as a skill. It can be incredibly stressful but is a fundamental part of the role.

I moved from magazine journalism into comms 20 years ago when I could see the writing was on the wall for print and have no regrets. Good luck OP.

I have a slightly different background, in that I moved from traditional comms and marketing into digital comms and now content design.

A CMS is easy to learn to use, don't worry about that.

The biggest issue at the moment is AI, you need to learn how to master it, i.e how to write good prompts. I would also recommend doing some of the free web analytics courses offered by Google.