Career Escape
Moving from editor to education administrators, postsecondary, by the occupational data
Both occupations are described by the same O*NET 30.3 rating system, which makes them directly comparable: the same requirements, rated for each. What follows is that comparison for editors and Education Administrators, Postsecondary, not an opinion about whether the move is a good idea.
Can an editor become an education administrators, postsecondary?
The overlap here is narrower than the two job titles suggest: 49% of what O*NET 30.3 rates as important to either occupation is important to both. The requirements that carry across include Guiding, Directing, and Motivating Subordinates, Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others, Communications and Media. It sits at Job Zone 5 against Job Zone 4 for editors, which usually means a further credential, a licence, or a longer runway of experience. BLS lists master's degree as the typical entry education here, against bachelor's degree for editors. What would be new concentrates in work activities: Staffing Organizational Units, Selling or Influencing Others, Monitoring and Controlling Resources. BLS puts the 2025 national median wage for education administrators, postsecondarys at $104,590 against $77,920 for editors, a difference of 34% upward at the occupational level rather than for any individual move. BLS projects employment in the destination occupation to grow 1.8% between 2025 and 2035, with about 14,500 openings a year on average. O*NET describes the destination as follows: Plan, direct, or coordinate student instruction, administration, and services, as well as other research and educational activities, at postsecondary institutions, including universities, colleges, and junior and community colleges. This compares two occupations, not two people, and says nothing about whether any individual would be hired.
- Weighted overlap
- 49% of the requirements important to either occupation are important to both, with 1 of those shared requirements classed as distinctive rather than near-universal.
- Preparation level
- O*NET Job Zone 5, against Job Zone 4 for editors. Typically one level of further education.
- Typical entry education (BLS)
- Master's degree, against Bachelor's degree for editors.
- Prior experience typically expected
- Less than 5 years, with no on-the-job training category assigned.
- Where the overlap is strongest
- Knowledge, with 1 distinctive requirements important to both. Requirements that carry over include Guiding, Directing, and Motivating Subordinates, Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others, Communications and Media.
- Independent corroboration
- O*NET does not list this as directly related to the source occupation; it appears one step out, related to a related occupation. The overlap measure and the relatedness file disagree here, and both are shown rather than one being quietly dropped.
Source and method
O*NET 30.3 Database, with BLS Employment Projections Table 5.4. Verified 2026-09-02. Importance ratings, Job Zones and occupational titles are read from O*NET. Typical entry education, prior experience and on-the-job training are read from BLS. The weighted overlap percentage, the distinctive-requirement counts, and the shared and new requirement lists are computed by RoleSprint from those inputs using the method published at /career-change/methodology.
Career transition data
Editor to Education Administrators, Postsecondary
- Work activities overlapderived
- 37%
- Knowledge overlapderived
- 58%
- Transferable skills overlapderived
- 54%
- Essential skills overlapderived
- 62%
- Job Zone
- 4 to 5
- Median annual wage, 2025
- $77,920 to $104,590
- Wage differencederived
- +$26,670 (+34%)
- Projected employment change, 2025–35
- +1.8%
- Annual openings, 2025–35 average
- 14,500
- Typical entry education
- Master's degree
Largest transferable capability: Administration and Management
Largest new demand: Developing and Building Teams
Source. Job Zone and requirement ratings: O*NET 30.3. Wage, employment projections, openings and entry education: BLS Employment Projections Table 1.2, projections 2025–35, wage year 2025. RoleSprint-derived. Overlap percentages and the wage difference are calculated by RoleSprint from those published values. Limitation. These are national occupational statistics for two occupations. The wage figure is not a salary you would be offered, employment growth is not job security, and overlap is not a likelihood of being hired. Fields BLS does not publish for an occupation are omitted rather than estimated.
What carries over
Requirements O*NET rates as important for both editors and education administrators, postsecondarys, by domain. Most distinctive first, so the top of each list is the part that is actually worth putting on a resume.
Work activities
21 of 31 work activities important to either occupation are important to both.
- Guiding, Directing, and Motivating Subordinates3.1 for editors, 3.9 here
- Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others3.0 for editors, 3.8 here
- Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others3.4 for editors, 3.8 here
- Scheduling Work and Activities3.4 for editors, 3.6 here
- Communicating with People Outside the Organization4.0 for editors, 3.7 here
Knowledge
7 of 10 knowledge areas important to either occupation are important to both.
- Communications and Media4.5 for editors, 3.2 here
- Administrative3.3 for editors, 3.3 here
- Education and Training3.3 for editors, 4.1 here
- Administration and Management3.3 for editors, 4.2 here
- Computers and Electronics3.1 for editors, 3.2 here
Transferable skills
10 of 14 transferable skills important to either occupation are important to both.
- Management of Personnel Resources3.0 for editors, 3.8 here
- Negotiation3.0 for editors, 3.6 here
- Persuasion3.0 for editors, 3.6 here
- Instructing3.0 for editors, 4.0 here
- Systems Analysis3.1 for editors, 3.3 here
Essential skills
7 of 8 essential skills important to either occupation are important to both.
- Writing4.3 for editors, 4.0 here
- Active Learning3.1 for editors, 3.9 here
- Reading Comprehension4.9 for editors, 4.1 here
- Monitoring3.0 for editors, 4.0 here
- Critical Thinking3.9 for editors, 4.1 here
Numbers are O*NET Importance, on a 1 to 5 scale. A requirement counts as important at 3.0 and above, which is the threshold the whole comparison uses.
What would be new
Requirements important for education administrators, postsecondarys and not important for editors. This is the part you would have to be able to evidence, and it is usually the real obstacle rather than the job title.
Work activities
6 work activities rated important here and not for editors.
- Staffing Organizational Units3.4 here, 2.1 for editors
- Selling or Influencing Others3.1 here, 2.5 for editors
- Monitoring and Controlling Resources3.2 here, 2.0 for editors
- Performing Administrative Activities3.7 here, 2.9 for editors
- Providing Consultation and Advice to Others3.5 here, 2.7 for editors
Knowledge
3 knowledge areas rated important here and not for editors.
- Personnel and Human Resources3.4 here, 2.5 for editors
- Psychology3.1 here, 2.0 for editors
- Mathematics3.1 here, 2.2 for editors
Transferable skills
3 transferable skills rated important here and not for editors.
- Management of Financial Resources3.1 here, 1.5 for editors
- Systems Evaluation3.3 here, 2.5 for editors
- Service Orientation3.5 here, 2.6 for editors
Essential skills
1 essential skills rated important here and not for editors.
- Learning Strategies3.8 here, 2.9 for editors
Practical caveats for this move
Specific to this pair, and worth reading before treating any of the above as a plan.
- The preparation gap is real: Education Administrators, Postsecondary sits a Job Zone above editors, and Job Zone differences usually show up as a licence or a credential rather than as extra experience. Check the licensing rules in your state before anything else.
- BLS records "Less than 5 years" of prior experience in a related occupation as typical for this role. Whether your current work counts as related is an employer's judgement, and it is the single thing most worth testing against a real posting.
- O*NET does not list this destination as directly related to your current occupation. It reached this map through the requirement overlap, one step out. That is a weaker corroboration than a directly related occupation, and it is shown rather than hidden.
- None of this accounts for licensing, geography, pay, hiring volume, or whether you would want the work. Occupational data describes the job. It does not describe the market for it, and it does not describe you.
How this move compares with the alternatives
This page is one move. The Opportunity Atlas puts every destination mapped from editors side by side on skills overlap, day-to-day work, wage, projected growth, openings and the size of the training step.
It does not rank them, because the dimensions genuinely disagree: measured across every transition published here, how much your skills carry over and how much your knowledge carries over are close to unrelated. You choose which one matters and it orders by that.
Compare the alternatives in the Opportunity AtlasThe destination occupation, as O*NET describes it
Plan, direct, or coordinate student instruction, administration, and services, as well as other research and educational activities, at postsecondary institutions, including universities, colleges, and junior and community colleges.
O*NET-SOC 11-9033.00. Full title: Education Administrators, Postsecondary. Where this page uses the shorter phrase “education administrators, postsecondary”, that is a common name for readability, not a separate occupational classification.
This page includes information from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. RoleSprint has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. Analysis generated 2026-09-02 from the O*NET 30.3 Database. Entry education, work experience, and on-the-job training are reproduced from BLS Employment Projections Table 5.4, Education and training assignments by detailed occupation, 2024, published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What to do next
Occupational data compares two jobs. It cannot tell you whether one specific employer would consider you, and this is the point where most people stop reading data and start applying blind.