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

What is a copy desk chief and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a copy desk chief. For example, did you know that they make an average of $22.3 an hour? That's $46,390 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -5% and produce -5,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCopy Desk ChiefUS Average

Salary

3.6

Avg. Salary $46,390

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 5.77%

Black or African American 3.75%

Hispanic or Latino 8.57%

Unknown 4.65%

White 76.99%

Gender

female 41.26%

male 58.74%

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 copy desk chief

Explore copy desk chief education requirements

Most common copy desk chief degrees

Bachelor's

83.7 %

Master's

7.7 %

Associate

5.4 %

Start to develop specific copy desk chief skills

Skills	Percentages
Editorial Board	55.73%
Adobe Indesign	10.75%
Proofread	9.43%
Content Management System	5.03%
SEO	4.81%

Complete relevant copy desk chief training and internships

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

Research copy desk chief duties and responsibilities

Collaborate with managing editor and editor-in-chief to develop and post news coverage and multimedia projects.
Upload stories and multimedia online, and update and promote throughout the day through social media and SEO.
Manage copy editing and proofreading responsibilities of weekly business newspaper and special supplements.
Supervise copy editing; establish and maintain editorial styles; write headlines, captions, news summaries and navigation text.

Prepare your copy desk chief resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your copy desk chief 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 copy desk chief resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable copy desk chief resume templates

Build a professional copy desk chief 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 copy desk chief resume.