Editorial Assistant Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Are you searching for an editorial assistant job description? Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of an editorial assistant. Feel free to use our editorial assistant job description template to produce your own editorial assistant job description. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as an editorial assistant.
Who is an Editorial Assistant?
A professional in publishing who assists in the creation of new publications is known as an assistant editor. As it often takes less experience than other publishing positions, this might be a great option for someone trying to break into the publishing sector.
An essential component of the publishing industry is the editorial assistant. They utilize their communication abilities to establish connections with all stakeholders while assisting publishers of magazines and newspapers with their administrative chores.
Before applying for positions, it might be helpful to understand the precise standards you can meet if you’re interested in working as an assistant editor.
An editorial assistant helps the editing team with administrative tasks including composing minutes, managing invoices and managing diaries through the publishing of a book. When publishing periodicals, web articles, and other written materials, editorial assistants aid executive editors. Additionally, they support other team members with administrative duties by conducting research and revising papers before sending them to clients.
To ensure everything runs smoothly, this can involve reading manuscripts, sending out proofs and finished copies, responding to authors, collaborating with colleagues and freelancers (both in the UK and abroad), organizing files like cover artwork, and supporting the day-to-day operations of the office by taking calls and responding to emails. By evaluating submissions, preparing content for catalogs, covers, and title information sheets, making PowerPoint presentations, desk editing, and copy editing, they assist the editorial team as well.
An editorial assistant offers assistance throughout the whole process of publishing printed materials and internet content. Publicity materials, books, periodicals, and magazines fall under this category.
In this position, the editorial assistant assists senior editorial staff with all facets of managing, commissioning, organizing, and creating various publications. To consistently meet deadlines, they need a keen eye for detail, the capacity to notice errors, and exceptional time management abilities. Depending on the size of the organization and the kind of publication they are working on, the duties they complete and the degree of responsibility they have will change.
The common entry-level position for careers in the publishing sector is that of an editorial assistant. Once you have the required knowledge and expertise, you may be able to advance to more senior positions like features editor or commissioning editor. Opportunities to work for online publications are growing as digital publishing develops. These jobs may involve editing and writing website content as well as using social media.
An editorial assistant is a professional who helps editors with their tasks. As they gain experience, they may be given editorial responsibilities such as writing and editing articles for websites. Early in their careers, editing assistants aid editors in both administrative and creative tasks, such as phoning businesses to get product reviews or assisting photographers to carry their gear.
You need to love reading and writing if you want to succeed in this line of work. Second, you should be prepared to put in a lot of overtime and give up on thinking about earning a big income for several years. If you can get through the first few years without any problems, you might be able to move up the ladder to jobs like content editor, senior editor, and managing editor, which come with high salaries and demanding duties.
Editorial Assistant Job Description
What is an editorial assistant job description? an editorial assistant job description is simply a list of duties and responsibilities of an editorial assistant in an organization. Below are the editorial assistant job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write an editorial assistant job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
You will frequently be engaged in projects from start to finish, from getting content from authors to handing it off to production workers.
Your obligations might include:
- Organize and do research for projects under pressure
- Analyze textual content, editing manuscripts
- Plan, carry out, and manage the publishing schedule with the editor.
- Maintain a discussion about the editorial and publishing process with writers and agents.
- Proofread manuscripts to find any grammar and spelling problems.
- Maintain accuracy by investigating facts and novel aspects.
- Work together with several departments to make sure the publishing schedule runs well.
- Answer the phone, send emails, and schedule meetings are all examples of administrative tasks.
- Examine the designs and layouts of magazine covers.
- Provide the managing editor or editor-in-chief with immediate assistance
- Examine draughts and manuscripts to make corrections and recommendations
- Perform research and fact-checking to make sure the information in a paper or article is correct
- Create text to go on a book’s inner or back cover and complete line adjustments to improve syntax and grammar
- Share author input from other editors
- Cooperate with other production editors and assistant editors
- Select supplementary content for a piece of text, such as graphics or charts
- Edit writing for narrative flow and structure
- Create social media postings to advertise new releases and contact authors to discuss potential changes
- Give freelancers items to write when you work for a newspaper or other periodical.
- Coordinate with partners to negotiate publication process details while keeping it on schedule. For instance, if you’re helping an author write a book, you may phone open or anonymous sources to build rapport and your boss’s confidence.
- Organize, condense, and edit textual materials such as blogs, white papers, and long-form narratives.
- Get in touch with employees, contractors, or independent authors to get the right administrative contact information.
- Rewrite First-pass content on platforms like Google Docs, WordPress, Microsoft Teams, and Slack is frequently done under the guidance of experienced editors.
Qualifications
- English, communications, or a similar major for a bachelor’s degree.
- A track record of success in a comparable position.
- English language proficiency is quite strong.
- Thorough understanding of standard practices and the publication process.
- An excellent communicator and team player.
- A capacity for multitasking and pressure-filled labor.
Essential Skills
- Attention to detail: Everyone has distractions, but being able to retain your focus on detail during the day is essential, especially when there are several projects in progress. Spelling and grammar are included in this ability, along with prompt email responses, following up with contacts, and making sure you have all the data you need before a meeting. Make sure you double-check your cover letter before submitting it if you’re applying for the position of editorial assistant.
- Understanding digital tools: Editing platforms help you stay organized. Make sure you keep current and educate yourself on the most recent calendars, schedulers, and administrative organizers that publishers use, like Calendly, Jira, Asana, and others.
- Cooperative and adaptable: You should be able to communicate and work with others as an editing assistant. Make sure there are no misunderstandings and alert your immediate supervisor of any development. Additionally, an editing assistant should be eager to pick up knowledge from the experiences of others.
- Knowledge of the publishing regulations: is essential in a complicated and diversified subject like writing and editing. To use publicly accessible images, audio, or video, you must adhere to fair use and permission rules. You also need to know how to write press releases, pitch potential stories to superiors, understand why content syndication can help articles, and create private access to other types of digital content, among other things.
- Strong writing: If your aptitude for language and communication frequently inspires you to enhance the writing of others, you have what it takes to work as an editing assistant. To do your best work, you must dive right into a story or piece of content that needs to be read again or again. To do this, you must use proper grammar, punctuation, and a wide range of vocabulary.
- Administrative support: for the writing and editing team is one of the primary responsibilities of an editorial assistant. To demonstrate your proficiency in this field, it might be useful to be able to demonstrate expertise in similar activities.
How to Become an Editorial Assistant
- Select a publication format: Choosing the area of publishing that most interests you is the first step you can take toward becoming an assistant editor. Since assistant editors can operate in a variety of publishing settings, including book publishers, newspapers, and other periodicals, this can be significant. Believe about the genres you like reading the most and the kinds of writing you think you can do well to decide which field of publishing you want to work in. For instance, you may seek a profession as an assistant magazine editor if you enjoy reading magazines and other brief publications.
- Achieve a bachelor’s degree: Get a bachelor’s degree after deciding the field of publishing you want to work in. Typically, an assistant editor must have this level of schooling. Many applicants major in English to improve their writing and research abilities because these professionals frequently read and write vast volumes of manuscripts and papers. You can also select a major that is directly connected to your chosen industry and more relevant to it. For instance, you may major in journalism if your goal is to work as an assistant editor for a news organization.
Find a curriculum that requires a lot of writing and reading, regardless of your major choice, to ensure that you are well-prepared for your future employment.
- Finish an internship: Take a bachelor’s degree internship at a reputable newspaper after you graduate. Your industry knowledge and important abilities, such as utilizing certain publishing software and selecting the best layout for various page kinds, might grow as a result of doing this. Internships are frequently available at publishing houses, newspapers, and other periodicals. It may be advantageous to begin your search for internships while still in college. This is because certain internships let applicants start working while pursuing their bachelor’s degrees, allowing them to gain experience and advance their abilities before graduation.
- Apply for jobs: You can start looking for employment as an assistant editor after your internship is over. Since this is an entry-level employee, you can start seeking jobs without first gaining more industry experience. Ask your manager how you may become a full-time assistant editor if you’ve finished an internship at a firm you’re interested in working for. You may use a search engine or job search website to hunt for open positions online.
How to create a compelling CV for an editorial assistant.
The stages listed below may be useful while you write your editorial assistant resume:
- Incorporate a resume summary: A professional summary might be a terrific technique to draw the reader’s attention to your resume. It’s a smart method to condense your qualifications for the position in terms of abilities and expertise. Recruiters typically scan your resume’s professional summary first while reviewing your job application. To persuade the recruiter to read the remainder of your resume, you must market yourself and use positive language.
- Apply keywords: Recruiters typically utilize an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) to find resume keywords and narrow down possible applicants. As a result, it’s a good idea to incorporate keywords into your resume to raise your chances of getting a job interview invitation. You might opt to employ keywords like editing, proofreading, written material, and administration help.
- Make use of formal formatting: A smart method to make sure your resume leaves a good impression on the potential employer is to format it professionally. Use a legible typeface, such as Arial or Calibri, to ensure that your resume is formatted properly and that it is simple to read. To make your resume seem aesthetically appealing, it also helps to limit the use of vivid colors in your document and utilize Alise’s regular space between paragraphs.
- Share your professional experience: Make sure your resume contains a section that details the experience you can contribute to the position. If you haven’t held any roles as an editorial assistant, you might include your prior employment history to demonstrate any transferrable abilities you may have. A fantastic method to present this information is to list the roles you’ve held, the length of your employment, and the responsibilities you were in charge of.
- Check your work for errors: Making sure your CV is error-free before sending it to the recruiter is a terrific method to demonstrate your writing and editing abilities. After you have finished writing your paper, it is advisable to proofread it to find any possible spelling or grammatical issues. Several online tools provide typing assistance that might help you make your paper easier to read.
Where to work as an Editorial Assistant
- Publishing Company
Editorial Assistant Salary Scale
In the USA, the average editorial assistant makes $40,000 a year, or $20.51 an hour. Most experienced professionals earn up to $45,000 per year, while entry-level roles start at $31,200.
In the UK, the average editing assistant makes £24,000 a year, or £12.31 an hour. Most experienced professionals earn up to £29,284 per year, while entry-level roles start at £22,000.