Top 12 Editorial Assistant Skills to Put on Your Resume

Landing an editorial assistant role hinges on a sharp toolkit: language mastery, eagle-eyed accuracy, nimble tech chops, and steady collaboration. Put those strengths front and center on your resume. Signal that you can shepherd content from messy draft to clean, audience-ready copy—fast, calm, consistent.

Editorial Assistant Skills

1. Proofreading
2. Copyediting
3. InDesign
4. WordPress
5. SEO
6. CMS (Content Management Systems)
7. AP Style
8. MLA Style
9. Fact-Checking
10. Photoshop
11. Social Media
12. Google Analytics

1. Proofreading

Proofreading is the final pass that scrubs writing for errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and consistency before anything hits the page or screen.

Why It's Important

It protects credibility. Clean copy reads smoothly, reflects professionalism, and keeps readers focused on ideas—not typos.

How to Improve Proofreading Skills

Build a steady routine and a sharp eye. Small habits compound quickly.

1. Practice on varied texts: long features, short blurbs, captions, technical notes. Range matters.

2. Study frequent pitfalls: homophones, dangling modifiers, subject-verb agreement, serial comma decisions.

3. Use tools thoughtfully: Grammarly, Hemingway Editor, spell-checkers—handy assistants, not final judges.

4. Read aloud: awkward phrasing and double words jump out when you hear them.

5. Take brief breaks: fresh eyes catch what tired eyes miss.

6. Single-focus passes: one pass for spelling, another for punctuation, another for formatting.

7. Keep a style guide nearby: The Chicago Manual of Style or house style clarifies tough calls.

8. Swap reads with peers: a second set of eyes catches your blind spots.

Consistency wins. The more you proof, the faster and cleaner your passes become.

How to Display Proofreading Skills on Your Resume

2. Copyediting

Copyediting refines text for accuracy, clarity, flow, and alignment with style. It fixes grammar and syntax, tightens structure, checks facts, and harmonizes tone.

Why It's Important

It transforms decent drafts into reliable, readable work. Strong copyediting preserves a brand’s voice while keeping errors and inconsistency out.

How to Improve Copyediting Skills

1. Master core rules: grammar, punctuation, capitalization, hyphenation, and style conventions.

2. Read widely: news, features, essays, academic pieces. Different forms sharpen different instincts.

3. Practice with feedback: work with experienced editors; compare edits line by line to learn the why.

4. Track style decisions: maintain a living style sheet for recurring choices and exceptions.

5. Stay current: style guides update; language shifts; usage evolves.

6. Use training resources: handbooks, editorial associations, and coursework build depth and speed.

Precision plus judgment—that’s the goal. Keep refining both.

How to Display Copyediting Skills on Your Resume

3. InDesign

Adobe InDesign is the publishing standard for building layouts—magazines, books, reports, newsletters, and more.

Why It's Important

It provides precise control over typography, grids, and styles, producing clean, consistent, print-ready and digital-ready pages that match brand standards.

How to Improve InDesign Skills

1. Learn core workflows: master paragraph/character styles, master pages, and linked assets.

2. Get typographic: kerning, leading, tracking, baseline grids—readability lives here.

3. Build reusable systems: templates, libraries, snippets to speed production.

4. Practice real layouts: recreate spreads you admire; deconstruct why they work.

5. Shortcuts and scripts: shave minutes off common actions; minutes add up.

6. Track new features: periodic updates add small powers that save big time.

Repetition breeds fluency. Fluency breeds speed without sacrificing detail.

How to Display InDesign Skills on Your Resume

4. WordPress

WordPress is a widely used content management system for creating, editing, scheduling, and publishing digital content.

Why It's Important

It streamlines editorial workflows—draft to review to publish—while supporting collaboration, version control, and flexible design.

How to Improve WordPress Skills

1. Tighten the editorial workflow: use tools like Edit Flow for calendars, statuses, and notifications.

2. Strengthen SEO: install a reputable SEO plugin; standardize titles, meta descriptions, slugs, and schema where needed.

3. Automate social pushes: Jetpack Social or similar can schedule and syndicate posts.

4. Speed matters: employ caching and asset optimization plugins; compress images; lazy-load where appropriate.

5. Image hygiene: use an optimizer like Smush and consistent alt text conventions.

6. Backups and safety: schedule backups with a reliable tool such as UpdraftPlus; place restores within reach.

7. Responsive first: pick mobile-ready themes; test across viewports.

8. Link management: use a link manager (e.g., Pretty Links) for clean, trackable URLs.

Set standards, document them, and train contributors. The system gets faster—and sturdier.

How to Display WordPress Skills on Your Resume

5. SEO

Search Engine Optimization raises the visibility of content in search results. Done right, it brings in readers who are already looking for what you’ve published.

Why It's Important

It drives steady, compounding organic traffic, expanding reach without paid boosts and aligning content with audience intent.

How to Improve SEO Skills

1. Keyword discovery: map primary and secondary terms to intent; weave them naturally into headings and body.

2. Content quality: answer questions thoroughly; structure for skimming; keep it fresh.

3. Metadata: craft clear titles and meta descriptions; use logical header hierarchies.

4. Mobile performance: fast pages, responsive layouts, stable visuals.

5. Internal linking: cluster related pieces; surface cornerstone content.

6. External signals: earn reputable backlinks; cite trustworthy sources.

7. Social lift: preview images, concise captions, consistent posting.

8. Measure and iterate: track traffic, rankings, and conversions; refine based on what the data says.

SEO rewards patience and structure. Build both.

How to Display SEO Skills on Your Resume

6. CMS (Content Management Systems)

A CMS lets teams create, organize, and publish content without deep engineering help.

Why It's Important

Editorial assistants live in the CMS—drafting, editing, staging, and shipping content while keeping everything consistent and searchable.

How to Improve CMS (Content Management Systems) Skills

1. Favor intuitive editors: clean dashboards, block editors, simple media handling.

2. Enable collaboration: comments, track changes, and real-time editing when possible.

3. Automate workflow: set roles, approvals, and notifications to reduce back-and-forth.

4. Built-in SEO helpers: templates for titles, descriptions, and schema to standardize output.

5. Mobile-ready: responsive templates and on-the-go editing options.

6. Robust taxonomy: categories, tags, custom fields—make retrieval and governance effortless.

7. Security and updates: patches on schedule, permissions scoped tightly, backups routine.

8. Analytics integration: dashboards that surface traffic and engagement inside your CMS.

9. Media support: images, video, embeds handled cleanly with consistent compression and alt text.

10. Documentation and community: good help resources make scaling smoother.

Well-tuned CMS processes save hours and prevent errors. Treat the system like a product.

How to Display CMS (Content Management Systems) Skills on Your Resume

7. AP Style

AP Style—common in newsrooms—sets standards for grammar, usage, capitalization, numerals, and punctuation so teams write with one voice.

Why It's Important

Shared rules reduce ambiguity, speed editing, and keep publications consistent across bylines and beats.

How to Improve AP Style Skills

1. Use the latest AP Stylebook: editions change; details matter.

2. Follow updates: AP publishes ongoing changes—monitor them on X and via official announcements.

3. Practice editing drills: rewrite and mark up real articles to internalize rules.

4. Compare with house style: note exceptions; keep a style sheet so decisions stick.

5. Seek feedback: ask editors to explain tough calls; capture examples.

Muscle memory comes from repetition. AP rules become instinct with use.

How to Display AP Style Skills on Your Resume

8. MLA Style

MLA Style governs formatting and citation in humanities scholarship—crucial for manuscripts, educational publishing, and academic-adjacent work.

Why It's Important

It ensures transparent sourcing, consistent presentation, and credibility in research-heavy pieces.

How to Improve MLA Style Skills

1. Study the current MLA Handbook: citation formats, containers, and layout standards evolve.

2. Nail in-text citations: author-page format, signal phrases, punctuation placement.

3. Works Cited mastery: handle books, articles, web sources, multimedia, and edge cases.

4. Uniform formatting: fonts, spacing, headers, margins—no drift.

5. Detail discipline: capitalization, italics, date formats, and abbreviations must be exact.

6. Use citation tools wisely: EasyBib, Citation Machine—helpful, but always verify.

7. Track updates: consult official guidance when unusual sources appear.

When MLA is tight, the scholarship shines without distraction.

How to Display MLA Style Skills on Your Resume

9. Fact-Checking

Fact-checking verifies claims, data, names, dates, and context before publication.

Why It's Important

It protects readers from misinformation and protects publications from reputational damage.

How to Improve Fact-Checking Skills

1. Triangulate: confirm facts with multiple reputable sources—major wires, established outlets, authoritative references.

2. Use specialist resources: dedicated fact-checkers and verification sites provide helpful baselines.

3. Consult primary materials: official reports, datasets, transcripts, and government statistics whenever possible.

4. Academic depth: scholarly databases add rigor for complex topics.

5. Image and media checks: reverse image searches and metadata reviews spot manipulations.

6. Document everything: record sources and methods; transparency speeds editor reviews.

Care, patience, and a paper trail—that’s the discipline.

How to Display Fact-Checking Skills on Your Resume

10. Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop handles image editing, retouching, compositing, and graphics for web and print.

Why It's Important

Strong visuals lift clicks, time-on-page, and brand polish. Quick fixes and consistent styling keep packages coherent.

How to Improve Photoshop Skills

1. Layer discipline: groups, masks, naming, and non-destructive edits.

2. Text and type: smart objects, anti-aliasing, paragraph/character styles for visual consistency.

3. Color correction: curves, levels, white balance, selective color—subtle changes, big impact.

4. Workflow speed: keyboard shortcuts, actions, and batch processing.

5. Compositing basics: selections, refine edge, blend modes, realistic shadows.

6. Keep up with updates: new tools and AI features can collapse formerly tedious steps.

Quality in, quality out. Always start with the best source images available.

How to Display Photoshop Skills on Your Resume

11. Social Media

Social platforms distribute content, build community, and surface trends in real time.

Why It's Important

It extends reach, invites conversation, and feeds insights back into editorial planning.

How to Improve Social Media Skills

1. Plan ahead: a content calendar balances formats, themes, and publishing cadence.

2. Make it visual: crisp images, short video, strong thumbnails; design tools like Canva can help.

3. Start conversations: prompts, polls, and quick replies nurture a loyal audience.

4. Track what works: use platform analytics or a management tool to monitor clicks, saves, shares, and watch time.

5. Search-aware posts: write clear, keyword-rich bios and captions; descriptive alt text improves discovery.

6. Trend sense: watch topic momentum and adapt fast—without chasing every wave.

7. Stay human: voice, humor, and honesty build trust.

Iterate weekly. Social rewards teams that learn in public.

How to Display Social Media Skills on Your Resume

12. Google Analytics

Google Analytics (GA4) tracks how audiences find, engage with, and move through your site—vital feedback for editorial planning.

Why It's Important

It shows what resonates, what needs pruning, and where to double down—so you spend time on the pieces that matter.

How to Improve Google Analytics Skills

1. Set clear objectives: define the behaviors that signal success—newsletter signups, scroll depth, video plays—and configure events and conversions to match.

2. Learn GA4 metrics: focus on Views, Sessions, Users, Engagement Rate, and Average Engagement Time. Bounce Rate exists but engagement signals are more telling.

3. Segment smartly: split by channel, device, geography, or user behavior to see patterns hidden in averages.

4. Map user journeys: use Path Exploration to spot common next steps and drop-off points.

5. Track campaigns: add UTM parameters to links so referral performance is unambiguous.

6. Build Explorations: custom funnels, cohort analyses, and segment comparisons reveal editorial opportunities.

7. Keep learning: review help docs and training modules; GA4 evolves and so should your dashboards.

Collect insights, act, measure again. Tight feedback loops sharpen strategy.

How to Display Google Analytics Skills on Your Resume