Editor Mock Interview

Practice 39 Editor interview questions covering style, accuracy, and editorial judgment.

Question 36 of 39

Describe your editing process

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Sue is a Recruiter and Talent Sourcer with over 13 years of experience sourcing and interviewing candidates for a variety of roles and industries, including Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Financial, e-Commerce. She

You need to show the interviewer that you're a professional who understands and controls the editing process--lay out your approach or philosophy for editing in a sequential manner. Assure the interviewer that you understand that editing is a process that involves several steps and that the purpose of editing is to ensure that the writer's ideas are presented to the reader as clearly as possible.

Sue Oberliesen

"Over time, I've developed an efficient editing process that has allowed me to regularly meet the goals of the project. I usually work at the macro-level or 'big picture' edit approach. I look at the overall structure of the written material, the narrative arc, the main idea, the overall message, and the intended audience. Once those higher-level issues are resolved, I move to copyediting (paragraph and sentence level editing) and proofreading (grammar, spelling, and punctuation)."

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39Editor Interview Questions & Answers

Situational

1.Tell me how you handled a difficult situation at your last position?

Accomplishment

2.What was your greatest accomplishment as an Editor?

Behavioral

3.What was your biggest disappointment as an Editor?

Accomplishment

4.What have your achievements been to date?

Common

5.What do you know about our organization?

Behavioral

6.Imagine that the author of an article did not like your edits, and argued with you. What would you do?

Situational

7.What was your biggest failure?

Discovery

8.What was the last book you read for fun?

Behavioral

9.What motivates you as an Editor?

Common

10.What personal weakness has caused you the greatest difficulty in school or at work?

Decision Making

11.How do you make decisions? Give an example.

Behavioral

12.What have you done in past situations to contribute toward a teamwork environment?

Behavioral

13.Give an example of a time when you made a mistake because you did not listen well to what someone had to say.

Development

14.What have you done to further your own professional development in the past 5 years?

Situational

15.Tell me an example of a situation where you had difficulties with a team member.

Leadership

16.How would you describe your leadership style?

Discovery

17.What makes you passionate about being an Editor?

Behavioral

18.How would you handle sensitive writers who question every edit you make?

Situational

19.How would you handle a freelance writer who handed in subpar work?

Process

20.Tell us about your training and experience in reading large amounts of information and gleaning the main idea?

Competency

21.Tell us about your ability to multitask in this position.

Commitment

22.What are your career goals?

Career Goals

23.What made you choose to become an Editor?

Leadership

24.Describe the ideal supervisor that you want want to work for?

Compatibility

25.What books/magazines/newspapers do you enjoy reading?

Behavioral

26.Give an example of a time when you had to edit or write a piece under a strict deadline. How did you ensure that you met the deadline?

Situational

27.If you have a 300-page document that's a rush job and you must edit it by the end of the day, how would you approach the task?

Behavioral

28.How do you stay motivated with repetitive tasks like proofreading, fact-checking or source-checking?

Career Goals

29.How would you define success as an Editor?

Common

30.What do you know about our company, and why would you want to work for us?

Career Goals

31.In your view, what is the role of an Editor?

Education

32.How has your education helped you prepare for this position?

Career Goals

33.Tell us about an editing project that has brought you a lot of satisfaction.

Compatibility

34.What would the ideal editing job be for you?

Career Goals

35.What are your long-term goals or plans?

Behavioral

36.Describe your editing process

Competency

37.We have several candidates with similar qualifications. Tell us some reasons why we should hire you?

Discovery

38.What are your interests outside of work?

Open-ended

Editor Mock Interview

Describe your editing process

39Editor Interview Questions & Answers

1.Tell me how you handled a difficult situation at your last position?

2.What was your greatest accomplishment as an Editor?

3.What was your biggest disappointment as an Editor?

4.What have your achievements been to date?

5.What do you know about our organization?

6.Imagine that the author of an article did not like your edits, and argued with you. What would you do?

7.What was your biggest failure?

8.What was the last book you read for fun?

9.What motivates you as an Editor?

10.What personal weakness has caused you the greatest difficulty in school or at work?

11.How do you make decisions? Give an example.

12.What have you done in past situations to contribute toward a teamwork environment?

13.Give an example of a time when you made a mistake because you did not listen well to what someone had to say.

14.What have you done to further your own professional development in the past 5 years?

15.Tell me an example of a situation where you had difficulties with a team member.

16.How would you describe your leadership style?

17.What makes you passionate about being an Editor?

18.How would you handle sensitive writers who question every edit you make?

19.How would you handle a freelance writer who handed in subpar work?

20.Tell us about your training and experience in reading large amounts of information and gleaning the main idea?

21.Tell us about your ability to multitask in this position.

22.What are your career goals?

23.What made you choose to become an Editor?

24.Describe the ideal supervisor that you want want to work for?

25.What books/magazines/newspapers do you enjoy reading?

26.Give an example of a time when you had to edit or write a piece under a strict deadline. How did you ensure that you met the deadline?

27.If you have a 300-page document that's a rush job and you must edit it by the end of the day, how would you approach the task?

28.How do you stay motivated with repetitive tasks like proofreading, fact-checking or source-checking?

29.How would you define success as an Editor?

30.What do you know about our company, and why would you want to work for us?

31.In your view, what is the role of an Editor?

32.How has your education helped you prepare for this position?

33.Tell us about an editing project that has brought you a lot of satisfaction.

34.What would the ideal editing job be for you?

35.What are your long-term goals or plans?

36.Describe your editing process

37.We have several candidates with similar qualifications. Tell us some reasons why we should hire you?

38.What are your interests outside of work?

39.What is your working style - more independent or collaborative?