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

What is a business editor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Bradley Shreve

Business editors are journalists specialized in planning and coordinating the creation of business-related content for online or published media. They edit and organize materials delivered by other writers in an engaging and concise manner and write articles themselves, too.

Working as a business editor, you will correct texts dealing with topics related to finance and economics and prepare them for publishing. You will approve images and assemble layouts for magazines, websites, journals, or newspapers. You will be responsible for assigning topics for the writers and maintaining the consistency of the tone across various materials of the publications.

You need excellent language skills and a creative mind to take on this role. A degree in communication, linguistics, literature or other areas of humanities is usually a prerequisite to be considered for an editor position. Your skills and creativity are always the priority, though, so if you are an avid reader and writer, there are many available paths for you to find your way into this industry.

What general advice would you give to a business 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.

ScoreBusiness EditorUS Average

Salary

4.5

Avg. Salary $57,160

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 7.26%

Black or African American 3.59%

Hispanic or Latino 8.14%

Unknown 4.59%

White 76.15%

Gender

female 39.66%

male 60.34%

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 business editor

Explore business editor education requirements

Most common business editor degrees

Bachelor's

79.8 %

Master's

12.3 %

Associate

4.7 %

Start to develop specific business editor skills

Skills	Percentages
SEO	18.35%
Editorial Content	13.07%
Real Estate	8.28%
Business Topics	7.81%
Press Releases	7.24%

Complete relevant business editor training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New business 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 business editor based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real business editor resumes.

Research business editor duties and responsibilities

Manage and create newsletter archives for NASA: http: //www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/home/index.html
Cover international trade, foreign debt, decentralization and other business and economic issues for English edition of Brazilian business daily.
Put together community orient newspaper with provide clips and write feature and cover stories.
Copy editor, assistant editor, daily news reporter for top English-language daily in Mexico

Prepare your business editor resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your business 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 business 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 business editor resume templates

Build a professional business 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 business editor resume.