An Editor and His Job Responsibilities

Written documents and reports need editing to provide a good flow, create a sense of continuity, and increase the readability of the documents. For this reason, editors are appointed. The work of the editor is also to supervise other people who do the same work. There may be a team of editors and sub editors who need to get the work done collectively. Thus the editor will have to work in coordination with them to give a final shape to the document. The publishing houses, newspapers and publications like magazines employ editors to make sure that the content delivered to the public is correct and has the best language standards they can provide.

Job Profile/Description/Responsibilities

The work of an editor is to prepare the final copy of a document for publishing. They edit the content to make sure that it is easily readable. They also check the copy to see if there are some spelling mistakes, punctuation errors or syntax errors. Content accuracy is another important aspect which they need to evaluate. Sometimes it is their responsibility to allocate the space to different stories and pictures and illustrations. They need to know the layout principles so that it becomes easy for them to edit the content as per the final layout. They need to keep the publication style in mind while compiling the contents. They need to supervise and allocate work to junior members of the team. They also conduct trainings on various aspects of writing, language and editing.



Requirements

Academic and Training Requirements

There are employers who look for specific background qualifications in the candidates who have applied for the job. They want people who have a degree in journalism, mass communications, or English. It is good if you specialize in any of these areas. If the publishing house specializes in one type of books or other printed material, they will want people who have expertise in the subject and have got degrees in the particular subject.

It is an added bonus if you have the knowledge of a second language. People with good writing and editing skills are the ones who fit in this kind of a job. You can begin as research assistants and then advance up the career ladder. You may also start working as an assistant editor and get to this level within a short time period. The training is given on the lower levels and for this post, the company wants people who have good experience and expertise.

Skills

A good editor is one who has good reading comprehension and is good at writing and finding mistakes in the text. Analytical and logical skills are required. He should be an active listener and should know how to manage time and execute a given project work within the deadline.

Experience

If you are looking for the job of an editor, you need to know that you will require a working experience of a few years. While there are companies that may hire people who are new to the industry. Many organizations that do not have much work will require part time editors as well. You can work with them apart from your regular work.

Salaries

The salaries will vary from company to company and will depend on the type of work that you need to do. The median salary earned by the editors is $48,640. The amount of work that is to be done will also make a difference to the salary package.

Concluding Paragraph

This is a demanding job and just like the work of a proofreader a publishing editor will have to go through the text and find mistakes. The type of work is different and there are more responsibilities on the shoulders of the editors as they have to decide over the arrangement of the text as well.