How To Become An Editorial Internship: What It Is and Career Path

What is an editorial internship and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Thomas Reynolds

An editorial intern's job is similar to an editorial assistant's position. The role combines editorial and administrative responsibilities, which is good because you want to learn as much as possible about the business.

General office administrative duties for the editorial department include coordinating and planning all editorial events and meetings, prepping for and supporting the team during daily and weekly original content premiers, maintaining editorial archives, researching and creating essential content as needed, sourcing content relative to the audience, researching and finding images for posts as required, assisting with special events, projects and social media marketing as needed and monitoring social media activity.

You are expected to be currently enrolled in a college or have a bachelor's or master's degree. It is impossible to become an editorial intern with a high school diploma or GED. They can earn up to $19.64 per hour that translates to $40,854 a year. The career is declining because it is expected to depreciate by 3%, losing 3400 jobs between 2018 and 2028.

What general advice would you give to an editorial internship?

Thomas Reynolds

Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, University of Minnesota

I think there will be a lasting impact of this pandemic on graduates. The nature of the field is that others in the industry (scientists, engineers, for ex.) often take on tech writing and communication tasks in tight economic conditions, or even just as a matter of a particular culture in a particular business. However, the field of technical communication has been predicted to have a strong future (see Bureau of Labor Statistics, which predicts growth in jobs in this field).

Technical writing and communication require that students are comfortable with technology and communication and that they adapt to changing situations. I think there are also opportunities for savvy graduates who can offer certain skills and experiences that are unique to the changing situation. This field has a long history of resilience for its graduates seeking jobs in tough circumstances.

ScoreEditorial InternshipUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $32,356

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 7.25%

Black or African American 3.58%

Hispanic or Latino 8.12%

Unknown 4.59%

White 76.19%

Gender

female 73.59%

male 26.41%

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 an editorial internship

Explore editorial internship education requirements

Most common editorial internship degrees

Bachelor's

85.7 %

Master's

6.2 %

Associate

4.5 %

Start to develop specific editorial internship skills

Skills	Percentages
Fact-Check	12.50%
Editorial Intern	8.25%
Web Content	6.10%
Twitter	5.91%
Instagram	4.96%

Complete relevant editorial internship training and internships

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

Research editorial internship duties and responsibilities

Manage content uploads onto corporate website for continuous relevancy and improve SEO rankings.
Contribute through blogging, copy editing, participating in weekly editorial meetings, and managing social channels
Upload all content into the CMS and assume all editor responsibilities
Upload, edit and maintain articles on the websites' CMS.

Prepare your editorial internship resume

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

Choose from 10+ customizable editorial internship resume templates

Build a professional editorial internship 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 editorial internship resume.