Sub-Editor practice interview
Accurate copy editing, concise headlines, house style, fact checks and clean pages delivered to demanding publication schedules. Practise the 5 questions interviewers ask for this role with follow-ups. Paid plans add scored feedback on every answer.
Free with an Intaviu account: 320 credits a month, at 10 credits a minute of practice. Private: interview creators never see them.
- Mid level
- 15 minutes
- 5 questions
- Scored feedback on paid plans
About the role
A sub-editor turns raw copy into accurate, readable and publication-ready work. The interview focuses on close reading, headline writing, house style and the judgement to query a fact or phrase rather than quietly guess under deadline pressure.
How to prepare
- Practise tightening a long news story while keeping its key facts, context and attribution intact.
- Review common risks in headlines, including ambiguity, exaggeration and prejudicial wording.
- Prepare examples of factual or structural problems you caught before publication.
- Rehearse how you would triage several pieces arriving close to deadline.
- Be ready to explain how you learn and apply a publication's house style.
Common mistakes
- Changing a writer's meaning while trying to make the copy shorter.
- Writing a clever headline that is not supported by the story.
- Correcting apparent inconsistencies without checking the underlying fact.
- Focusing only on grammar and overlooking structure, fairness or attribution.
What to expect
A real first-round interview
5 questions the way interviewers ask for this role, with follow-ups when an answer needs more.
Spoken, like the real thing
Speak your answers in your browser or the free desktop app, with live captions. You can ask the interviewer to repeat anything.
Scored on 4 areas
The things this interview weighs most. With a paid plan, your report shows how you did on each one.
A private report
On Plus, Pro and Premium: every answer scored, your strongest lines quoted and what to say differently next time. Interview creators never see it.
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