Description:
DO NOT APPLY THROUGH USAJOBS. APPLY AT www.cbo.gov/careersThe job involves making reports clear and accessible to a broad audience, including Members of Congress, Congressional staff, researchers, and other members of the public. The work routinely entails substantive editing, copyediting, and proofreading but also includes reviewing and reorganizing drafts, providing writing assistance, and rewriting portions of drafts.
Requirements:
A bachelors degree (or one that will be granted by August 2024), preferably in journalism, English, communications, or another field within the humanities;The curiosity to ask probing questions to understand complicated ideas and the ability to convey those ideas in clear, straightforward language;
A detail-oriented approach to work and a habit of reviewing ones own work for correctness and completeness;
An interest in learning to edit specialized, numbers-heavy research and quantitative information presented in tables and graphs;
Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to exercise patience and understand others viewpoints, as drafts undergo review by many people who may make changes and suggestions;
Facility completing tasks under deadlines and the flexibility to occasionally work evenings and weekends when necessary;
A commitment to maintaining objectivity in a nonpartisan organization; and
Proficiency with Microsoft products (Excel, PowerPoint, and Word) and experience with Adobe InDesignor the ability to learn new software quickly.
Strong interpersonal skills are important. So is the ability to be comfortable and effective in a process for writing and review that involves suggestions and changes from many people. Candidates must be able to handle pressing tasks under deadlines, and they must have the flexibility to work some evenings and weekends when necessary.
TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS:
Candidates must have at least three years of professional experience in editing publications similar to those produced at CBOthat is, books, reports, magazines, academic journals, or other publications covering serious subjects in careful detail. Candidates must also hold a bachelors or advanced degree, preferably in English or another field in the humanities. They must have broad editorial skillsranging from guiding authors in writing and organizing drafts, to making complex and difficult drafts clear and graceful, to proofreading with a superior eye for detail. They must thoroughly understand English grammar and syntax and should be sensitive to style and to nuances of tone and meaning. Strong interpersonal skills are important. So is the ability to be comfortable and effective in a process for writing and review that involves suggestions and changes from many people. Candidates must be able to handle pressing tasks under deadlines, and they must have the flexibility to work some evenings and weekends when necessary.
Proofreading and preparing final proofs. Proofreading includes correcting grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors; checking cross-references and links; ensuring consistency with CBOs style guide (which aligns closely with the Chicago Manual of Style); and flagging formatting problems. Preparing final proofs includes entering and checking changes.
Editing smaller publications (including internal documents). CBOs analysts and executives are frequently asked to distill findings or explain analytical methods in presentations at conferences, in testimony, and in written answers to questions submitted by lawmakers after Congressional hearings. Editing those and other smaller publications involves reworking sentences and paragraphs to improve readability; correcting grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors; ensuring consistency with CBOs style guide; working with graphics editors to ensure that charts and graphs tell a story; copyediting citations in footnotes and checking links; ensuring that formatting features in Word meet requirements for production; and managing the project as it advances through review and production.
Assisting editors with larger reports. Tasks are often divided among multiple editors when the agency produces longer publications, such as The Budget and Economic Outlook. Tasks for assistant editors include reading first drafts and providing comments, checking references in footnotes, tagging Word files for production, proofreading Excel files, and shepherding sections of the reports through review.
Checking HTML files. Most of CBOs publications are released as both a PDF file and an HTML file. Checking HTML files involves ensuring that all content appears correctly and that hyperlinks work.
Working on special projects. The editing unit usually has several special projects in the works, such as updating CBOs style guide, testing editing software, and deploying enhanced project management tools. Assistant editors contribute to those projects.