Editorial assistant

You can study for a university qualification before looking for work. Subjects like English, journalism or media and communication studies may give you an advantage, though most subjects will be acceptable.

If you want to specialise in a particular field of publishing, you may need a degree that's closely related to it, for example physics or maths for a scientific journal.

An excellent grasp of English language will be essential for all jobs.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

• 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English

• 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree

More Information

• equivalent entry requirements|https://www.gov.uk/what-different-qualification-levels-mean/list-of-qualification-levels
• student finance for fees and living costs|https://www.gov.uk/student-finance
• university courses and entry requirements|https://www.ucas.com/

You can apply to do a Publishing Professional Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship with a company to get into this role.

This typically takes around 2 years to complete and is a mix of workplace training and study.

Entry requirements

Employers will set their own entry requirements.

You could work in a publishing office or a company's communications department, as an admin assistant or copywriter, and work your way up through in-house training and promotion.

You'll find it useful when applying for jobs to have done some paid or unpaid work experience in publishing, for example on behalf of a charity.

You could take a proofreading or editing course, like the ones offered by  The Publishing Training Centre or the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading .

Career Tips

Skills in image editing software could be useful for some jobs, though employers would give you training in the packages they use.

Professional and Industry Bodies

You may find it useful to join organisations like the the Publishers Association and Professional Publishers Association for professional recognition, training opportunities and to make industry contacts.

Further Information

You can find out more about becoming an editorial assistant from the:

• Publishers Association
• Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading

As an editorial assistant, you could:

• be a point of contact for authors for routine enquiries
• update databases, spreadsheets and other records
• read documents and make corrections
• deal with rights and permissions
• act as a personal assistant to commissioning editors
• work with images and page layout software
• proof and edit online text, including social media content
• compile and send out newsletters
• provide admin support at all stages of publishing

You could work in an office or from home.