Communications Assistant Job Description Templates for Small Teams
6 free templates for the teams hiring their first communications support without an HR department: general, marketing, internal, nonprofit, PR, and part-time. Download as DOCX.
The first communications hire at a small company is almost never a strategist. It is somebody to keep the newsletter going, the social calendar full, and the press list current while the founder still owns the message. That role has a name, communications assistant, and it produces the hardest job description on the list to write, because the title describes a rank rather than a job.
I have watched small teams post an assistant role and pull three hundred resumes with no shortlist inside them. Half came from career changers who wanted a strategy job, half from students who wanted an internship, and none of them were wrong to apply. The posting never said where the ceiling was, so everybody assumed it was wherever they needed it to be.
At FirstHR we build hiring templates for teams without an HR department. The six below cover a general assistant, marketing communications, internal communications, a nonprofit or association, PR and media relations, and a part-time or student role, each with the duties, the hourly structure, and the overtime classification the generic versions leave out. The rest of the library sits under hiring templates.
TL;DR
A communications assistant executes a plan somebody else owns: drafting, proofing, scheduling, list maintenance, and coverage tracking. Most are non-exempt hourly employees, because the administrative exemption turns on independent judgment an assistant role rarely carries. No BLS occupation holds the title, so benchmark against public relations specialists and administrative support. Six templates below.
Assistant, Coordinator, or Specialist
Set the level before you pick the title. An assistant executes, a coordinator owns a process, a specialist owns a channel, and a manager owns the strategy. The level decides the pay band and the overtime classification. The title decides neither, and posting the wrong one costs you either the candidates you wanted or the budget you had.
Small teams tend to inflate titles because it feels like free compensation. It is not free. A candidate who takes a specialist title and finds an assistant job leaves within a year, and an assistant paid on a salary because the title sounded senior creates a wage exposure nobody meant to create.
Assistant
Executes the plan
Produces, schedules, proofs, and maintains lists inside procedures somebody else set. Approval sits above them on nearly everything. Usually hourly and non-exempt, and usually the first communications hire a small team can afford.
Coordinator
Owns a process
Runs the calendar, the approval flow, or the event pipeline end to end and chases the people who owe it inputs. Still executing more than deciding, still commonly non-exempt, but accountable for a process rather than a task list.
Specialist
Owns a channel
Owns press, internal comms, or a content channel including what gets said there. Writes without a template and defends the choice. This is where exempt classification starts to become a genuine question rather than an assumption.
Manager
Owns the strategy
Sets the message, the budget, and the plan, and usually manages people or agencies. Exempt in most cases under the administrative or executive tests, but the duties still have to back it up rather than the title.
A communications assistant produces and distributes work that somebody else has approved. The week is drafting and proofing, scheduling and sending, keeping lists and calendars accurate, pulling numbers, and preparing materials for review. It is skilled production work with a fixed approval boundary running through the middle of it.
Writing that boundary into the posting is what separates a job description that filters from one that only attracts. The table below is the version I would hand a founder who has never managed a communications hire before.
Task
Typical rhythm
Who signs off
Draft and proof copy against the style guide
Daily
Manager, before anything ships
Schedule and send email campaigns
Weekly or per campaign
Manager approves the send
Publish and monitor social posts
Daily
Assistant, inside an approved calendar
Maintain distribution and media lists
Weekly
Assistant owns accuracy
Track coverage, opens, clicks, and reach
Weekly report
Assistant produces, manager interprets
Prepare briefing docs and event materials
Per event
Manager or spokesperson
Route inbound press and general inquiries
As received
Manager decides the response
Set the message, budget, or channel strategy
Not this role
Manager or founder
The last row matters more than the seven above it. Candidates read a posting for the ceiling as much as the duties, and a role that states its ceiling honestly reads as confident rather than limiting. Our guide to writing a job description covers the general structure in more depth.
What Belongs in the Posting
A good assistant posting does four jobs: it sets expectations, it filters unqualified applicants, it protects you legally, and it closes the hire. Most small-team postings do only the first, badly, which is why they attract volume instead of fit. Here is the full inventory.
The parts that set expectations
Who the assistant reports to, by title
Which channels they touch and which they do not
Who approves before anything ships
A short section on what the role is not
The parts that filter applicants
Tools by name, not 'familiarity with digital platforms'
Writing sample requirement stated up front
Years of experience as a range, honestly set
Schedule, location, and any event or evening hours
The parts that protect you
FLSA classification stated on the posting
Hourly rate and overtime policy in writing
Essential functions described plainly
Equal opportunity statement
The parts that close the hire
The hourly range, or a good-faith band
What the assistant learns and who teaches it
Where the role goes in eighteen months
A named person and a real deadline to apply
Name the Tools, Not the Category
The fastest improvement to any assistant posting is replacing familiarity with digital platforms with the actual list: the email platform, the social scheduler, the content management system, the design tool, and the spreadsheet work. Candidates self-select accurately against named tools and vaguely against categories. It also makes your screening exercise obvious, because you can hand a finalist a real task in a tool you already named.
6 Communications Assistant Job Description Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: company overview, position summary, key responsibilities, required qualifications, a classification note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you need to change.
Download All 6 Communications Assistant Job Description Templates
General, marketing, internal, nonprofit, PR and media relations, and part-time. All in one download.
General Communications Assistant
The default posting
One assistant covering email, social, web, and press support for a small company, with a section that states plainly what the role is not.
Marketing Communications
Campaign production
For a marketing team that needs the calendar produced and published on time, with reporting on sends, opens, clicks, and reach.
Internal Communications
Employee-facing
For companies with shift or multi-site staff, covering the newsletter, intranet, all-hands prep, and acknowledgment tracking.
Nonprofit / Association
Donors and members
For a small development or member services team, with constituent data care, story collection, and a note that nonprofit status changes nothing under the wage law.
PR and Media Relations
News cycle hours
For agency or in-house press work: media lists, pitches, interview logistics, clip reports, and an honest note about after-hours time.
Part-Time / Student
Fixed weekly hours
For a defined slice of the calendar on a set schedule, with the unpaid-internship and contractor traps spelled out before you post.
Template 1: General Communications Assistant
The default posting for a small company adding its first dedicated communications support, with a section that states plainly what the role is not.
General Communications Assistant Job Description
COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Communications Manager / Marketing Director / Founder]
Employment type: Full-time, W-2
FLSA status: Non-exempt (hourly, overtime-eligible). See classification note.
Compensation: $_ per hour
ABOUT [COMPANY NAME]
[Company Name] is a [industry] company in [City, State] with [team size
description]. Our communications run across [email, social, website, press, and
customer updates], and we are adding an assistant so the work stops depending on
one person having a free afternoon.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Communications Assistant supports the day-to-day production of internal and
external communications: drafting and proofing copy, scheduling and sending,
keeping distribution and media lists current, tracking coverage and engagement,
and preparing materials for review. Strategy and final approval sit with
[manager title].
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Draft and proof copy for [newsletters, social posts, web updates, press
releases, internal announcements] against our style guide
•Load, schedule, and send campaigns in [email tool / social scheduler / CMS]
•Maintain distribution lists, media contact lists, and the content calendar
•Track coverage, engagement, and open and click rates, and report [weekly]
•Prepare briefing documents, talking points, and event materials for review
•Source and organize photos, logos, and approved assets in [asset library]
•Coordinate approvals across [marketing, legal, leadership] and log versions
•Handle inbound press and general inquiries and route them to the right owner
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Associate degree / bachelor's degree in communications, journalism, English,
marketing, or public relations / equivalent practical experience: pick one]
•[0 to 2] years of writing or communications experience, including internships
•Clean, accurate writing and a real command of grammar and proofreading
•Comfort with [email platform, social scheduler, CMS, spreadsheets, and
[design tool]]
•Organized enough to run a calendar and a list without being asked twice
WHAT THIS ROLE IS NOT
This is a support and production role. You will not own the communications
strategy, the budget, or the brand voice. If you are looking for a strategy
title, this is not the right posting, and we would rather say so here than at
the second interview.
CLASSIFICATION NOTE (read before posting)
Classify on duties, not on the title. Most communications assistant roles are
non-exempt: the work is production and coordination inside procedures somebody
else set, which does not meet the administrative exemption test of exercising
discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance. A
job title alone never establishes exempt status. If you pay this role a salary,
you still owe overtime past 40 hours in a workweek unless both the salary test
and the duties test are met. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [benefits summary], [schedule and location]
To apply, email __ with your resume and two writing
samples of no more than one page each.
Template 2: Marketing Communications Assistant
For a marketing team that needs the calendar produced and published on time. If the role leans further toward campaigns and less toward writing, compare it against the marketing assistant templates.
For companies with shift or multi-site staff who never see a desk email, covering the newsletter, the intranet, all-hands prep, and acknowledgment tracking.
Internal Communications Assistant Job Description
INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [HR Manager / Internal Communications Manager / Chief of Staff]
which people often mistake for a reason to classify a role as exempt, but
confidentiality is not one of the exemption tests. The test is the primary duty
and whether it involves discretion and independent judgment on matters of
significance. Producing and distributing messages that leadership approves does
not meet it. Pay hourly and pay overtime past 40 hours in a workweek. This is
general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [benefits summary], [schedule and location]
To apply, email __ with your resume and one internal
announcement you would rewrite, with the rewrite attached.
Template 4: Nonprofit or Association Communications Assistant
For a small development or member services team, with constituent data care, story collection, and a reminder that nonprofit status changes nothing under the federal wage law.
Nonprofit / Association Communications Assistant Job Description
[Organization Name] is a [501(c)(3) / 501(c)(6)] serving [mission and audience]
in [City, State]. Communications carry the fundraising, the program updates, and
the volunteer pipeline at once, usually with a team of [number]. This role gives
that work a dedicated pair of hands.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Communications Assistant produces donor, member, and community
communications, keeps the mailing and member lists accurate, supports events and
campaigns, and maintains the story and photo library the organization draws on
all year.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Draft and send [donor appeals, member updates, program newsletters]
•Maintain constituent lists and segments in [CRM / donor database]
•Collect, write up, and file program stories, quotes, and photo releases
•Support [annual appeal, giving day, membership drive] production and timing
•Update the website, event pages, and [social channels]
•Prepare materials for [board meetings, grant reports, annual report]
•Track engagement and response rates and report to [manager title]
•Coordinate with volunteers and program staff to gather accurate information
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Degree in communications, nonprofit management, English, or a related field /
equivalent practical experience]
•[0 to 2] years in communications, development, or member services
•Clear, warm writing that treats donors and members as people, not segments
•Care with constituent data, consent, and photo permissions
•Comfort with [CRM, email platform, CMS, spreadsheets]
CLASSIFICATION NOTE
Non-exempt. Nonprofit status does not change the Fair Labor Standards Act
analysis: a nonprofit employee who meets the coverage rules is owed minimum wage
and overtime the same as anyone else, and a mission does not convert paid staff
into volunteers. If your organization also uses volunteers, keep the line clean:
someone who performs the same work you would otherwise pay for, on a schedule
you set, is an employee. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Organization Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [benefits summary], [hours per week]
To apply, email __ with your resume and a short note about
a cause you can write about credibly.
Template 5: PR and Media Relations Assistant
For agency or in-house press work: media lists, pitches, interview logistics, and clip reports. Pair it with the public relations job description templates when you are staffing the senior side of the same team.
PR and Media Relations Assistant Job Description
PR AND MEDIA RELATIONS ASSISTANT JOB DESCRIPTION
Company or agency: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [PR Manager / Account Supervisor / Communications Director]
[Company Name] works with [reporters, trade press, local outlets, podcasts] to
place [company / client] stories. This role is the engine room: lists, pitches,
follow-ups, coverage reports, and the prep that makes a spokesperson look ready.
POSITION SUMMARY
The PR Assistant builds and maintains media lists, drafts pitches and releases
for review, coordinates interviews and deadlines, monitors coverage, and keeps
the reporting that shows what the program produced.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Research and maintain media lists by beat, outlet, and deadline
•Draft press releases, media advisories, and pitch emails for [manager] review
•Send approved pitches and run the follow-up schedule
•Coordinate interviews, logistics, and briefing documents for spokespeople
•Monitor coverage daily and circulate a [daily / weekly] clip report
•Maintain the boilerplate, fact sheet, executive bios, and photo library
•Track results: placements, reach, message pull-through, and share of voice
•Support [awards submissions, speaking applications, trade show press]
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Degree in public relations, journalism, communications, or equivalent
practical experience]
•[0 to 2] years in an agency, newsroom, or in-house communications team
•Writing that survives a reporter's inbox: short, specific, no adjectives
•Research discipline and accuracy with names, titles, and outlets
•Comfort with [media database, CRM, spreadsheets, monitoring tool]
CLASSIFICATION NOTE
Non-exempt in almost every case at this level. PR work runs on news cycles,
which means late sends, early calls, and event days that blow past eight hours,
so hour tracking matters more here than in most assistant roles. Any time the
employee is required to be available and cannot use the time for their own
purposes is generally hours worked, including after-hours monitoring you asked
for. Set the expectation in writing and pay overtime past 40 hours in a
workweek. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [overtime policy], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume and one pitch email
you would send about our company, no more than 150 words.
Template 6: Part-Time or Student Communications Assistant
For a defined slice of the calendar on a fixed weekly schedule, with the unpaid-internship and contractor traps spelled out. If the person really is joining as a paid intern, the internship offer letter template covers the paperwork.
[Company Name] needs [hours] hours a week of steady communications help, not a
full-time hire. The schedule is [days and times], set in advance, and it can
flex around a class schedule as long as the deadlines hold.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Part-Time Communications Assistant handles a defined slice of the
communications calendar: [social posting, the newsletter, list maintenance,
event support], on a fixed weekly schedule with clear deliverables.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Produce and schedule [number] social posts per week across [channels]
•Draft and send the [weekly / monthly] newsletter for review by [day]
•Keep the content calendar and distribution lists current
•Pull a [weekly] performance summary in the shared template
•Support [events, launches, campaigns] with materials and setup
•Proof outbound copy against the style guide before publishing
•Log hours accurately in [timekeeping system] every shift
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Current enrollment in a communications, marketing, or writing program /
high school diploma plus writing samples: set your bar]
•Reliable availability during [days and times]
•Clear writing and careful proofing
•Comfort with [social scheduler, email platform, spreadsheets]
•Willingness to ask before publishing anything you are unsure about
CLASSIFICATION AND PAY NOTE (read before posting)
This is a paid, non-exempt W-2 position. Two traps to avoid. First, an unpaid
internship: for a for-profit employer, the Department of Labor applies the
primary beneficiary test, and if the employer is the primary beneficiary of the
relationship, the person is an employee owed minimum wage and overtime.
Free labor for real business output is the fastest way to fail that test.
Second, independent contractor status: if you set the schedule, the tools, the
process, and the approvals, this is an employee, not a contractor, whatever the
agreement says. Part-time status changes nothing about minimum wage, overtime
past 40 hours in a workweek, or state rules on breaks, scheduling, and paid
sick leave. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [hours per week], [term length if fixed]
To apply, email __ with your resume, your availability,
and one writing sample.
Overtime and the Assistant Title
A communications assistant is non-exempt in almost every case: hourly, and owed overtime past 40 hours in a workweek. The exemption analysis turns on duties, and producing approved copy on an approved calendar is not the exercise of discretion and independent judgment the administrative exemption requires.
The regulations say so at the top. The rule on job titles being insufficient states that exempt status must be determined on whether the salary and the duties of a particular employee meet the requirements, not on what the offer letter calls the role. The Department of Labor breaks down the two tests in its fact sheet on the administrative exemption.
The title carries no legal weight
The federal regulations open the exemption rules by saying a job title alone is insufficient to establish exempt status, and that status must be determined on whether the salary and the duties meet the requirements. Calling someone an assistant does not make them non-exempt, and calling someone a manager does not make them exempt. Both directions get employers in trouble, though the expensive direction is the second one: paying a salary, skipping the timesheet, and discovering during a wage claim that the duties never met the test. Write the classification into the posting and the offer letter, then check it again a year later when the role has quietly grown.
Two tests, and the duties test is the hard one
The administrative exemption requires both a salary at or above the current federal floor of $684 per week ($35,568 a year) and a primary duty of office work directly related to management or general business operations that includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance. Most communications assistants clear the salary bar and fail the duties bar. Drafting copy that a manager approves, publishing on an approved calendar, and maintaining lists is skilled production work, not independent judgment on matters of significance. Some states set a higher salary floor than the federal one, so check yours before you rely on the federal number.
Communications work runs past five
Launches, events, and news cycles push this role past eight hours more often than most office jobs, which makes hour tracking the difference between a clean payroll and a claim. Time an employee is required to spend monitoring an inbox or a feed, when they cannot use it effectively for their own purposes, is generally hours worked and counts toward the 40-hour overtime threshold. So does required prep and required travel between sites during the day. Give a non-exempt assistant a real timekeeping system rather than a text message at the end of the week, set a written rule about after-hours monitoring, and approve overtime in advance rather than arguing about it afterward.
The intern shortcut is not a shortcut
Communications is the single most common place small companies try to fill an assistant role with an unpaid intern, because writing and social work look like learning. For a for-profit employer, the Department of Labor applies the primary beneficiary test to decide whether an intern is actually an employee, weighing factors like whether the work is tied to formal education, whether it complements rather than displaces paid staff, and who gets more out of the arrangement. If the answer is that you got a newsletter shipped every week, you had an employee, owed minimum wage and overtime. Pay the role, write it as part-time, and use the part-time template below.
The federal salary threshold currently sits at $684 per week, or $35,568 a year, with the highly compensated employee threshold at $107,432. Those numbers are the floor and not the finish line, because the duties test still has to be met independently. Our breakdown of exempt versus non-exempt classification works through both tests, and the guide to overtime rules covers what counts as hours worked.
One more trap worth naming before you post. Communications is where small companies most often reach for an unpaid intern instead of a paid assistant, and the Department of Labor decides that question with the primary beneficiary test for internships, which asks who is really getting the value. If the answer is that your newsletter shipped every week, you had an employee.
What to Pay a Communications Assistant
No federal occupation carries this title, so anyone quoting an official communications assistant wage is quoting something else. The honest approach is to benchmark against the nearest classifications and place an assistant below the specialist medians and near the administrative support range.
Nearest Classifications, National Medians
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), median annual wages were $74,750 for public relations specialists, $78,760 for marketing specialists, $76,910 for writers and authors, $47,540 for secretaries and administrative assistants except legal, medical, and executive, and $45,010 for general office clerks. The 10th percentile for public relations specialists was $44,110 a year, or $21.21 per hour (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates).
Benchmark occupation
10th percentile
National median (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
How it maps to an assistant
Public relations specialists
$44,110 per year
$74,750 per year
Closest content match; use the lower percentiles as the floor
Marketing specialists
$43,390 per year
$78,760 per year
Use for a marketing communications assistant in a larger metro
Writers and authors
Not applicable here
$76,910 per year
Relevant only when the role is mostly original writing
Secretaries and administrative assistants
$33,280 per year
$47,540 per year
Realistic band when the job is coordination more than copy
Office clerks, general
Not applicable here
$45,010 per year
Floor reference for a heavily administrative version of the role
Reading those together, an entry-level communications assistant in most US markets lands between the administrative support median and the low end of the public relations specialist range, which on an hourly basis means roughly the low twenties per hour before local adjustment. Publish a good-faith range where pay transparency laws apply, and price against your metro rather than the national figure.
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Require a writing sample and treat every other qualification as adjustable. Clean, accurate writing under a deadline is the skill that predicts performance in this role, and a one-page sample demonstrates it faster and more honestly than any degree line in a resume.
The second filter is a short timed exercise using your own materials: hand a finalist your style guide and a real announcement, and ask for a two-hundred-word version in an hour. Pay for it if it takes longer than that. Our communication interview questions cover the conversation side, and the copywriter templates are worth reading if writing is the majority of the job.
Keep the samples, the exercise results, and the notes together against each candidate instead of scattered across an inbox and three calendar invites, because a communications search generates more attachments than most and the good ones surface late. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Do Not Screen on Social Media Follower Counts
A personal audience is not evidence that somebody can write in your voice, hit a deadline, or proof a link before it ships, and screening on it quietly narrows your pool along lines that have nothing to do with the job. Screen on the sample, the exercise, and a reference who watched the candidate work to a calendar. If social publishing is genuinely the center of the role, the social media coordinator templates describe that job more accurately than an assistant posting does.
Hiring Without an HR Department
Small-team communications hiring fails in three predictable places: the posting describes a title instead of a week, the classification gets decided by instinct after the offer, and the first week disappears into a scavenger hunt for logins. Each has a fix that costs nothing.
The posting describes a title, so you get 300 resumes and no shortlist
Assistant is the vaguest word in the hiring vocabulary. Posted without detail it pulls in career changers who want a strategy job, students who want an internship, and freelancers who want a retainer, and none of them are wrong to apply because the posting never said. The fix is specificity in four places: the channels the role touches, the tools by name, who approves the work, and a short section stating what the role is not. Naming the ceiling honestly loses you the wrong applicants in the first thirty seconds, which is the entire point. A posting that says the assistant will not own the brand voice reads as confident, not limiting, to the people you actually want.
You classify by title, put an assistant on salary, and skip the timesheet
This is the expensive mistake and it is almost always accidental. A founder hires a first communications person, offers a modest salary because that is how the rest of the office is paid, and never sets up hour tracking. Two launches and one conference later the person has worked several sixty-hour weeks with no overtime, and the exposure is real because the duties never met the administrative test. Decide the classification before you write the posting, not after the offer. If the role is non-exempt, say so in the offer letter, give the person a timekeeping system on day one, and put the overtime approval rule in writing. Our comparison of exempt and non-exempt work walks through both tests.
The first week is a scavenger hunt for logins, style guides, and approvals
A communications assistant cannot produce anything until they have access to the email platform, the scheduler, the CMS, the asset library, and the brand guide, plus a clear picture of who approves what. At a company without an HR department those live in five heads and nobody has written the list down, so week one burns on requests instead of output. FirstHR was built for this. The onboarding wizard runs the same sequence for every hire, task workflows assign the access requests to the people who own each tool, document management holds the style guide and the brand standards where the new hire can find them, and e-signature handles the offer letter, the handbook acknowledgment, and any confidentiality agreement before day one. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Once the offer is signed, the work shifts to a repeatable onboarding checklist, and for a communications hire specifically that checklist should include the style guide, the brand assets, the approval map, and the tool access list before anything else. The administrative assistant templates are worth a look if the role turns out to be more coordination than copy.
Key Takeaways
Set the level before the title: an assistant executes, a coordinator owns a process, a specialist owns a channel, and the level decides both the pay band and the overtime classification.
Most communications assistants are non-exempt, because producing approved copy on an approved calendar is not the discretion and independent judgment the administrative exemption requires.
Federal regulations state that a job title alone is insufficient to establish exempt status, so classify on duties and re-check when the role quietly grows.
No BLS occupation carries this title; benchmark against public relations specialists at a $74,750 national median and administrative support at $47,540 (BLS OEWS, May 2025), and place an assistant below the first and near the second.
The unpaid intern shortcut fails the Department of Labor primary beneficiary test whenever the employer is getting the real value out of the arrangement.
Name the channels, the tools, the approvers, and what the role is not, then require a one-page writing sample, and the shortlist builds itself.
A communications hire cannot produce anything until the logins, the style guide, and the approval map exist in one place. FirstHR runs the same onboarding sequence for every hire, with task workflows for tool access, document management for brand standards, and e-signature for the offer letter and acknowledgments. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a communications assistant do?
A communications assistant produces and distributes communications that somebody else has approved. The core of the job is drafting and proofing copy for newsletters, social posts, web updates, and press materials, scheduling and sending campaigns, maintaining distribution and media lists, tracking coverage and engagement, and preparing briefing documents and event materials for review. Strategy, budget, and final approval stay with a manager or the founder. The distinguishing feature against a coordinator or a specialist is scope of decision: an assistant executes inside procedures somebody else set, a coordinator owns a process end to end, and a specialist owns a channel including what gets said there. Naming that boundary in the posting is the single biggest improvement most small teams can make to this job description.
What should a communications assistant job description include?
Seven things: the reporting line by title, the exact channels the role touches, the tools by name rather than a vague reference to digital platforms, who approves work before it ships, the FLSA classification and hourly rate, the schedule including any event or evening hours, and a short section stating what the role is not. That last section is the one small teams skip and the one that saves the most time. Assistant is the vaguest word in hiring, so a posting without a stated ceiling attracts career changers looking for strategy work, students looking for an internship, and freelancers looking for a retainer, all at once. Add the equal opportunity statement, name a real person to apply to, require a writing sample, and set a deadline.
Is a communications assistant exempt or non-exempt from overtime?
Non-exempt in almost every case, meaning hourly and entitled to overtime past 40 hours in a workweek. The administrative exemption requires two things at once: a salary at or above the federal floor of $684 per week ($35,568 a year), and a primary duty of office work directly related to management or general business operations that includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance. Most communications assistants clear the salary bar and fail the duties bar, because producing approved copy on an approved calendar is skilled production work rather than independent judgment. Federal regulations state directly that a job title alone is insufficient to establish exempt status. Some states set a higher salary floor than the federal one. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much does a communications assistant make?
There is no Bureau of Labor Statistics occupation with that title, so benchmark against the nearest classifications rather than quoting a number as if it were official. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), the national median annual wage was $74,750 for public relations specialists, $78,760 for marketing specialists, $76,910 for writers and authors, $47,540 for secretaries and administrative assistants except legal, medical, and executive, and $45,010 for general office clerks. An assistant sits below the specialist medians and near or above the administrative ones. The 10th percentile for public relations specialists is $44,110 a year, or $21.21 an hour, which is a defensible floor for an entry-level communications support role. Adjust for your metro and publish a good-faith range where pay transparency rules apply.
What is the difference between a communications assistant and a communications specialist?
The difference is who decides. An assistant executes a plan: drafting to a brief, publishing on an approved calendar, maintaining lists, and reporting results. A specialist owns a channel and the message inside it, writes without a template, and defends the choices to leadership. That gap shows up in three practical places. Pay: the specialist bands sit substantially higher, with a national median of $74,750 for public relations specialists against a market rate for assistants that tracks closer to administrative support. Classification: assistants are almost always non-exempt, while a specialist role becomes a genuine analysis rather than an assumption. Hiring bar: an assistant can come straight out of school with good writing samples, a specialist needs a track record. Post the level you are actually funding.
Can I hire a communications assistant as an unpaid intern?
Almost certainly not, if you are a for-profit employer getting real work out of the arrangement. The Department of Labor applies a primary beneficiary test to decide whether an intern is legally an employee, weighing factors including whether the work is tied to formal education or academic credit, whether the schedule accommodates academic commitments, whether the experience complements rather than displaces the work of paid employees, and which party gets more out of the relationship. Communications is where small companies most often get this wrong, because writing and social work look like learning. If the intern ships your newsletter every week, you had an employee owed minimum wage and overtime. The clean answer is to pay the role hourly, write it as part-time with a fixed weekly schedule, and use the part-time template on this page.
What qualifications should I require for a communications assistant?
Require a writing sample and treat everything else as adjustable. A degree in communications, journalism, English, marketing, or public relations is the conventional bar, and it is worth marking preferred rather than required unless your industry genuinely demands it, because the skill that predicts performance here is clean, accurate writing under a deadline, which a one-page sample demonstrates faster than any credential. Beyond that, name the tools you actually use: an email platform, a social scheduler, a content management system, spreadsheets, and a design tool. Zero to two years of experience is the honest range for this level, and campus publications, internships, and volunteer communications work all count. Screen with a short paid or timed exercise using your own style guide rather than a hypothetical brief.
