Entry-Level Copywriting Jobs: Where They Are, What Employers Look For, and How to Get One

An entry-level copywriting job is a salaried or contract role for a writer with little or no professional experience, usually titled junior copywriter, copywriting assistant, content writer or marketing coordinator. Most are in one of three places: advertising and creative agencies, in-house marketing teams, and content or SEO agencies. The work ranges from social posts and product descriptions to email campaigns and landing pages, usually reviewed by a senior writer or editor.

This guide covers how to find these roles and how to get hired into one. If you’re looking for freelance work instead, our guide to finding freelance copywriting work covers that path.

What the job market looks like

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics groups copywriters with other writers in its Writers and Authors occupational profile, describing them as people who “prepare advertisements to promote the sale of a good or service.” For the whole occupation, which also includes novelists, speechwriters and others, it lists a median pay of $76,910 per year (May 2025), a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry-level education, and a projected employment change of 0% (“little or no change”) for 2025 to 2035.

Two things follow from that. First, the median covers all writers, not junior copywriters, so don’t treat it as a starting salary. Second, a flat outlook means most openings come from people moving roles or leaving the field, not from growth. Junior roles exist, but you compete for them, and the candidates who stand out are the ones with relevant samples, not the ones with the most applications sent.

Job titles to search for

Few postings say “entry-level copywriter”. Search for all of these:

Title	Where it’s common	What the work usually involves
Junior copywriter	Advertising and creative agencies	Concepts and copy for campaigns, working with an art director
Copywriter (0 to 2 years)	In-house brand and ecommerce teams	Product pages, emails, site copy, social
Content writer / content associate	SEO and content agencies, SaaS	Blog posts, guides, landing pages
Marketing coordinator	Small companies	A mix of writing, scheduling, reporting and admin
Email marketing assistant	Ecommerce, retail	Writing and building email campaigns
Copywriting intern / apprentice	Agencies, larger brands	Supervised work on live briefs, often fixed-term
UX writer (associate)	Product companies	Interface text, error messages, onboarding flows

Read the duties, not just the title. A “marketing coordinator” posting that’s 70% writing can be a better first copywriting job than a “copywriter” role that’s mostly resizing banner ads.

Where entry-level roles are posted

• General job boards and LinkedIn. Set alerts for each title above, filtered by experience level and location or remote. Read the posting date: junior roles fill quickly.
• Agency careers pages. Many agencies post junior and intern roles only on their own site. Make a list of the agencies in your city or niche and check monthly.
• Industry and creative job boards. Advertising, design and marketing associations often run job boards with more agency roles than general sites.
• Graduate and internship programmes. Larger agencies and brands run annual intakes with fixed application windows.
• Direct approach. Smaller companies sometimes hire a first writer without posting a job. A short, specific email to the marketing lead can start that conversation.

What hiring managers check

Hiring managers for junior roles don’t expect experience. They look for evidence that you can do the work with feedback.

A small, relevant portfolio

Five or six strong samples beat twenty mediocre ones. Match them to the jobs you’re applying for: product descriptions and emails for ecommerce roles, campaign concepts for agencies, long-form articles for content agencies. Spec work (samples you wrote for real brands without being hired) is normal at this level, as long as it’s labelled. Our guide to building a copywriting portfolio covers formats, spec work and how to present each sample.

Evidence of the core skills

The skills that matter most in junior hires are the basics done well: clear sentences, accurate grammar, the ability to write to a brief, and the ability to edit your own work. Our article on copywriting skills breaks these down with practice exercises.

How you take feedback

Many hiring processes include a written test or a test brief, sometimes followed by a round of feedback. Interviewers watch whether you ask good questions about the brief and whether your revision actually responds to the notes.

Basic tool fluency

You’ll be expected to work in a shared document editor, follow a style guide, and probably use a content management system or email tool. If the team uses AI writing tools, expect questions about how you check and rewrite what they produce. See our guide on AI copywriting tips.

A step-by-step plan

This is a plan for someone starting with no professional writing experience. Adjust the timing to your situation.

1. Pick a target. Agency, in-house, or content agency. The samples, job boards and interview style differ, so choose one to focus on first.
2. Write five samples for that target. For an ecommerce in-house role, for example: two product descriptions, one category page intro, one three-email welcome sequence and one landing page. Label all spec work.
3. Get each sample edited. Ask a working writer or editor for blunt feedback, then revise. Showing a before-and-after on one piece can be a portfolio item in itself.
4. Build a simple portfolio site or PDF. One page per sample: the brief, the copy and one or two sentences on your thinking.
5. Make a list of 30 to 50 target employers. Agencies and brands you’d genuinely want to write for, with the hiring contact if you can find one.
6. Apply to posted roles and write to the rest. For posted roles, tailor your cover note to the company’s voice. For unposted ones, send a short email with one relevant sample.
7. Take every test brief seriously. Ask clarifying questions, hit the deadline, and write a short note explaining your choices.
8. Track and follow up. Keep a simple spreadsheet: company, contact, date, status, next step. Follow up once after a week.

The written test

Test briefs are the most common hurdle for junior copywriting roles. A typical one asks for a short piece, such as three subject lines and an email, or a headline and body copy for an ad, within a fixed time or a few days.

What helps:

• Read the brief twice. Note the audience, the goal, the format and any constraints. Most weak test submissions answer a different brief.
• Study the company’s existing copy. Match the voice unless the brief asks you to change it.
• Give options where asked, and only where asked. Three headline routes with a one-line rationale each shows thinking. Ten untested ideas shows indecision.
• Proofread. A typo in a test for a copywriting job is hard to recover from.
• Write a short cover note. Two or three sentences on why you made the main choices.

If a company asks for a large amount of unpaid work, such as a full campaign or a complete website, it’s reasonable to ask whether the test is paid or to suggest a smaller sample.

Cover note example

The following is an illustrative example written for this guide.

Hi Rachel,

I’m applying for the Junior Copywriter role. I’ve followed your team’s product launch emails for a while, and the one for the travel mug range, with the subject line about cold coffee at 3pm, is the reason I want to write for you.

I don’t have agency experience yet, but I’ve written a portfolio of spec work for outdoor and home brands, including a three-email welcome sequence and product pages for a fictional cookware line. The welcome sequence is linked below because it’s closest to what your team does.

I’d welcome the chance to do a test brief.

Thanks, Leah Morgan

It’s short, shows specific interest in the employer, admits the lack of experience without apologising for it, and points to the single most relevant sample.

What most people get wrong

The most common advice is “apply to as many jobs as possible”. For copywriting, that usually produces generic applications, and a generic application is itself a writing sample, a bad one. A smaller number of tailored applications, each with a sample that matches the job, is more work per application and more likely to get a reply.

The other mistake is waiting to be “ready”. Junior roles are designed for people who are still learning. If you can write clearly to a brief and take feedback well, you’re ready to apply.

When freelancing makes more sense

Some people find in-house and agency roles scarce where they live, or want flexibility. Starting freelance with small clients can build a portfolio of real, published work, which then strengthens future job applications. The trade-off is less feedback and mentoring than a junior role provides. If you go that route, start with our guide to freelance copywriting work.