Hiring guide
How to Hire an Editor
Hire an editor who can shape structure, argument and voice, commission work and manage writers: sourcing, an edit test, red flags and FAQs.
The short answer
Hiring an Editor comes down to verifying structural judgement: seeing what a draft is really about and reordering it so the argument lands, line editing for clarity, rhythm and concision while keeping the writer's voice and commissioning: spotting stories or topics, writing clear briefs and matching them to writers before you commit interview time. The process below runs 4 stages, screens on evidence rather than résumé claims, and scores every candidate against the same criteria.
- Watch for: Edits that make every piece sound like the editor rather than the writer
- Watch for: Comments that say what is wrong without suggesting how to fix it
- Score on: Diagnosis of the draft's main problem in the edit memo
- Score on: Specificity and kindness of written feedback
Paste your Editor job description; Cohesyve finds, contacts and tests candidates on the real work and ranks them. Ten candidates free, no card.
Applying for a role like this? Practise the assessment free →If you need to hire an editor, first pin down which kind. A content or commissioning editor plans what gets written and manages writers. A developmental or structural editor reshapes a draft's argument and structure. A copy editor polishes line by line. This guide covers the editor who owns the substance of written work, whether at a publication, a brand content team or a book publisher. Video editors and copy editors have their own guides.
Why this role matters
An editor decides what is worth publishing and makes it better before readers see it. A strong editor sharpens weak arguments, cuts what does not earn its place, protects the publication from factual and legal risk and develops writers so the whole team improves. A weak editor either waves drafts through or rewrites them into their own voice, and writers notice both.
Where to find candidates
- Journalism and publishing job boards such as JournalismJobs.com, Mediabistro and Publishers Marketplace
- ACES: The Society for Editing, the Editorial Freelancers Association, Editors Canada and the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading
- Reedsy, for freelance developmental and structural book editors
- Senior writers on your team or freelancers who already self-edit to a high standard
- LinkedIn searches for managing editor, content editor, commissioning editor and section editor titles
Skills to look for
Red flags
- Edits that make every piece sound like the editor rather than the writer
- Comments that say what is wrong without suggesting how to fix it
- Only line-level changes on a draft whose real problem is structure
- No examples of developing a writer or turning around a weak pitch
- Vague answers about how they handle a writer who disagrees with an edit
The interview process
- 1
Portfolio Review and Screening Call
Ask for published pieces they edited and, where possible, an original draft beside the final. Discuss their editing philosophy, the kinds of editors they have worked under and the work they are proudest of shaping.
- 2
Structural Edit Test
Give a flawed but promising draft in your subject area, around the length your team publishes. Ask for a written edit memo to the writer plus a marked-up draft. A job simulation of the edit-and-feedback cycle is one option for comparing candidates on the same draft.
- 3
Commissioning Exercise
For roles that commission, ask for a handful of pitch ideas for your audience with one full brief a freelancer could work from.
- 4
Writer Panel
Let two or three writers discuss the edit memo with the candidate. They will tell you quickly whether the feedback was clear, fair and something they could act on.
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Cohesyve takes your Editor job description, finds and contacts candidates and tests each one on an AI job simulation of the job, so the stages above start with people who have already done the work. Ten candidates free, no card.
How to evaluate
- Diagnosis of the draft's main problem in the edit memo
- Specificity and kindness of written feedback
- Respect for the writer's voice in line edits
- Quality of story or topic judgement in the commissioning exercise
- Awareness of factual and legal risk
- Writers' read of the candidate as someone they want to work with
Onboarding
- 1Share your editorial mission, audience research and examples of your best and weakest recent pieces
- 2Walk through the workflow from pitch to publish, including legal review and sign-off
- 3Introduce them to each regular writer and freelancer individually
- 4Give them a small slate of pieces to own end to end before a full section
- 5Agree what success looks like, such as quality, output or audience measures, early
Common questions
What types of editor are there?
Common types are commissioning or acquisitions editors who choose what to publish, developmental or structural editors who work on substance, line editors who work on prose, and copy editors who fix language and style. Many content editors do the first three.
Should I hire a freelance or in-house editor?
Freelance works for a single book, report or campaign. In-house makes sense when you publish continuously and need someone who knows your audience, voice and writers.
How do I test an editor fairly?
Give every candidate the same flawed draft and ask for both a marked-up copy and a memo to the writer. The memo shows whether they can diagnose the real problem and explain it.
Do editors need subject expertise?
It helps in technical, legal, medical or financial content, where an editor must spot claims that are wrong. For general content, editing judgement matters more than deep subject knowledge.
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