How to hire a staff writer

How to hire a staff writer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step staff writer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a staff writer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new staff writer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a staff writer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a staff writer, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

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   Hiring the perfect staff writer also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   The following list breaks down different types of staff writers and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Staff Writer	Description	Hourly rate
   Staff Writer	Technical writers, also called technical communicators, prepare instruction manuals, how-to guides, journal articles, and other supporting documents to communicate complex and technical information more easily. They also develop, gather, and disseminate technical information through an organization’s communications channels.	$13-32
   Journalist	A journalist is responsible for creating written correspondence, covering various subjects as the management requires. This task involves a lot of research investigations, conducting interviews, and gathering reliable sources to verify the authenticity of data before releasing the articles on news portals and other social platforms... Show more	$18-45
   Editor	An editor is the one responsible for polishing and refining a story, article, and any material for publication in newspapers, magazines, books, or websites. Editors have the power to either accept or reject a material as they need to ensure that every manuscript which will be offered for publishing is at the best version as it can be... Show more	$16-37

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Feature Stories
   • News Stories
   • Event Coverage
   • News Articles
   • SEO
   • Photography
   • Press Releases
   • Web Content
   • Twitter
   • Conduct Interviews
   • Student Life
   • Adobe Indesign
   • Writing Articles
   • Instagram

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage magazine's transition to a new CMS system.
   • Manage website by uploading and scheduling articles, fixing errors, proofreading, optimizing for SEO, and polishing content.
   • Manage arts and entertainment editorial calendar, assign stories to multiple freelancers and plan daily coverage.
   • Assist with copywriting, magazine and advertisement layout.
   • Research, verify facts and edit all contributor submissions.
   • Create unique columns commentating on the social state of hockey and the NHL.

   More staff writer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your staff writer job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A staff writer salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a staff writer in South Carolina may be lower than in New Jersey, and an entry-level staff writer usually earns less than a senior-level staff writer. Additionally, a staff writer with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average staff writer salary

   $44,844yearly

   $21.56 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level staff writer salary

   $29,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 15, 2025

   Average staff writer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	District of Columbia	$67,023	$32
   2	New Jersey	$66,372	$32
   3	Washington	$63,508	$31
   4	Massachusetts	$63,477	$31
   5	New York	$57,007	$27
   6	Virginia	$56,868	$27
   7	California	$56,272	$27
   8	Pennsylvania	$55,263	$27
   9	Connecticut	$54,564	$26
   10	Vermont	$53,945	$26
   11	Oregon	$53,814	$26
   12	Minnesota	$51,670	$25
   13	Michigan	$51,117	$25
   14	Illinois	$50,578	$24
   15	North Carolina	$49,829	$24
   16	Ohio	$49,057	$24
   17	Wisconsin	$48,405	$23
   18	Colorado	$46,780	$22
   19	Georgia	$46,084	$22
   20	Arizona	$45,367	$22

   Average staff writer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	The New York Times Company	$91,345	$43.92	13
   2	The Washington Post	$89,228	$42.90
   3	FiscalNote	$66,993	$32.21	6
   4	Informa Plc	$66,661	$32.05	4
   5	Columbia University in the City of New York	$59,527	$28.62	7
   6	Human Rights Foundation	$59,165	$28.44
   7	Ziff Davis	$58,751	$28.25
   8	Harvard University	$57,783	$27.78
   9	Observer Media Group	$57,035	$27.42
   10	NerdWallet	$56,945	$27.38	2
   11	Lincoln Institute of Land Policy	$56,032	$26.94
   12	Advisory Board	$53,426	$25.69
   13	Everyday Health	$50,872	$24.46
   14	Art Media Holdings	$48,305	$23.22
   15	Gregory FCA	$47,200	$22.69
   16	Reorg	$47,177	$22.68
   17	University of Pennsylvania	$46,955	$22.57	7
   18	ConsumerAffairs	$46,945	$22.57
   19	Institutional Investor	$46,910	$22.55
   20	CoStar Group	$46,748	$22.48	4

4. Writing a staff writer job description

   A job description for a staff writer role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a staff writer job description:

   Staff writer job description example

   A market leader in credit intelligence, Reorg brings together journalists, financial analysts, legal analysts, technologists, and data scientists to collect and synthesize highly complex information into actionable intelligence. Since 2013, tens of thousands of professionals across hedge funds, investment banks, management consulting, and law firm verticals have come to rely on Reorg to make better, faster, and more confident decisions in pace with the fast-moving credit markets. For more information, visit: www.reorg.com
   Working at Reorg
   
   Consistent with our growth, Reorg hires innovators and trailblazers across the globe to drive our business and our incredible corporate culture alike. Our core values - Action Oriented, Customer First Mindset, Effective Team Players, and Driven to Excel - define an organizational ethos that's as high-performing as it is human. Among other perks, Reorg employees enjoy competitive health benefits, matched 401k and pension plans, Paid time off, generous parental leave, gym subsidies, educational reimbursements for career development, recognition programs, pet-friendly offices, and much more.
   
   The Role
   
   We are hiring a Staff Writer to support our market-leading editorial coverage of the sub-investment grade credit markets. The Staff Writer will be responsible for news aggregation and for publishing breaking news from press releases, SEC filings and other disclosures, primarily during pre and post-trading and market hours. Timely, comprehensive coverage of new developments impacting sub-investment grade credits is mission-critical for Reorg, and we are looking for team members who are passionate about writing quickly, clearly and accurately for a highly sophisticated audience.
   
   The Staff Writer will work closely with our dedicated team of journalists and analysts to understand the key concepts, insights and information relevant to Reorg's subscribers, which include hedge funds, restructuring advisors and Big Law firms. The Staff Writer will primarily be responsible for assessing new disclosures and publishing breaking news.
   
   A successful Staff Writer will be able to rapidly interpret and curate company disclosures and related financial news, and draft precise, insightful coverage with speed. We are looking for hard-working, detail-oriented colleagues who will take the initiative to learn about the companies, transactions and themes we cover, follow editorial protocols and respond to feedback under time pressure.
   Reorg provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, Reorg complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

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5. Post your job

   To find the right staff writer for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with staff writers they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit staff writers who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your staff writer job on Zippia to find and recruit staff writer candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as problogger, media bistro, journalismjobs.com, content writing jobs.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit staff writers, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new staff writer

   Once you have selected a candidate for the staff writer position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new staff writer first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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