The Term Everyone Uses, the Thing Nobody Defines
Ask ten publishers what 'digital-first' means to them and you will get ten different answers. For some, it is a content strategy - write for the web before adapting for print. For others, it is a revenue model -csubscriptions, licensing, direct-to-consumer. For many, it has become a hiring shorthand: we want people who think digitally, whatever that means.
As a team that speaks to hiring managers and candidates every day, we can tell you that the vagueness is causing real problems in the market. Publishers are listing 'strong digital skills' as a requirement without specifying which skills. Candidates are self-selecting out of roles they are qualified for. And interview processes are uncovering mismatches that should have been resolved at job description stage.
The Digital Skills Actually Being Tested at Interview
Based on feedback from candidates we have placed and hiring managers we work with regularly, here are the digital competencies that are genuinely being assessed in 2026 publishing interviews:
• CMS proficiency -particularly WordPress, Arc, and increasingly headless CMS platforms
• Data literacy - ability to read analytics dashboards and draw editorial conclusions
• SEO and discoverability principles - keyword thinking, metadata, search intent
• Audience segmentation - understanding who content is for and how to reach them
• AI-assisted workflows - familiarity with tools like generative writing assistants, automated tagging, and content scoring platforms
Where the Gap Is Widest
The skill gap we see most consistently is between editorial excellence and data literacy. Publishers consistently tell us they can find brilliant editors who have no framework for evaluating content performance. Equally, they can find analytically strong candidates who cannot commission or develop a narrative. The rare combination of both is extraordinarily sought after right now.
If you are a traditionally trained editor considering how to strengthen your profile, we would encourage you to lean into data. You do not need to become a data scientist. But being able to look at traffic data, engagement patterns, and conversion metrics and translate that into editorial decisions is the single most employable additional skill in publishing today.
Are Print Skills Becoming Obsolete?
Print skills are no longer sufficient in isolation. The most successful candidates coming through our pipeline right now are those who have strong foundational publishing craft - editorial rigour, author relationships, quality judgement - and have actively built a digital layer on top of that foundation.
Publishers that are performing well commercially in 2026 are not abandoning print. They are making it work harder alongside digital products. That nuance matters enormously in how you position yourself.
A Practical Checklist for Candidates
• Can you explain how you have used data to make an editorial or content decision?
• Do you have working knowledge of at least one major CMS platform?
• Can you describe your understanding of SEO as it applies to content commissioning?
• Have you worked with or alongside AI tools in a content workflow?
If you can answer yes to all four, you are extremely competitive in the current market. If not, start building - most of these skills are learnable through structured self-study and free or low-cost tools.