How To Become A Desk Editor: What It Is and Career Path

What is a desk editor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Bradley Shreve

A career as a desk editor is fit for individuals that love language, have an acute eye for detail, and have a creative mind. Working for print or websites, desk editors decide what to publish by evaluating submissions from writers, read content, ensuring its free of spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors, verify facts such as dates and statistics cited in written works, rewrite texts to make them easier to understand and appealing to readers and arrange page layouts of written works as well as photographs. What are the typical working hours for desk editors?

On a nearly daily basis, editors deal with the pressure to deliver and the stresses of ensuring the published work is correct. They work more than the standard 40 hours weekly as a result of this. The work hours are more at times leading up to a publication deadline and when working on digital content for live broadcasts or websites. Desk editors make an average of $ 29.41 an hour, which translates to $61,181 per year. They require the following skills to accomplish their responsibilities: detail-oriented, language skills, writing skills, adaptability and the ability to work under pressure.

What general advice would you give to a Desk Editor?

Bradley Shreve

Editor, Tribal College Journal

Be flexible. An undergraduate degree in history offers a solid liberal arts background, but not a skill set that is finely tuned for most jobs. Think outside the box, and understand that the job you land probably won't be in the history profession.

ScoreDesk EditorUS Average

Salary

4.1

Avg. Salary $53,061

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.7

Growth Rate -5%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.27%

Asian 7.01%

Black or African American 3.48%

Hispanic or Latino 7.83%

Unknown 4.55%

White 76.87%

Gender

female 50.56%

male 49.44%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress Level

6.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.0

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

4.3

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a desk editor

Explore desk editor education requirements

Most common desk editor degrees

Bachelor's

82.1 %

Master's

8.3 %

Associate

5.7 %

Start to develop specific desk editor skills

Skills	Percentages
Assignment Desk	12.48%
News Stories	10.07%
Facebook	7.46%
Twitter	7.10%
News Coverage	6.10%

Complete relevant desk editor training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New desk editors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a desk editor based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real desk editor resumes.

Research desk editor duties and responsibilities

Manage and create newsletter archives for NASA: http: //www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/home/index.html
Assign and coordinate the distribution of newsgathering equipment.
Provide research and fact checking services to assist platform producers with newsgathering.
Compose sales- and customer-facing technical documentation, PowerPoint presentations, and training guides to enhance user experience and knowledge.

Prepare your desk editor resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your desk editor resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a desk editor resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Desk Editor Resume templates

Build a professional Desk Editor resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Desk Editor resume.

Apply for desk editor jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a desk editor job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do desk editors rate their job?