Make your mark by spending six months between Sept – March working with the best at the leading UK publisher. You’ll immerse yourself within one of our business areas, geared up to support you as you make decisions for yourself and contribute to our shared mission to make books for everyone.
With us you’ll find support and a deep sense of purpose. Whatever team you’re placed with, you’ll gain universally applicable skills that will equip you for wherever you go next.
All nine trainees are paid £24,000 pro rata (£12,000 for the duration of the programme) and we offer financial support to those commuting from outside of London.
Cornerstone editorial
Help us seek out new author voices by supporting three of our imprint brands – Hutchinson Heinemann, Cornerstone Press, and #Merky Books. You’ll use a keen eye to spot emerging trends and scout out potential authors outside of the traditional route of literary agents, and work creatively to turn ideas into books.
You’ll gain invaluable insight into the non-fiction market by supporting on a market research report and develop universal presenting skills. Alongside these projects you’ll learn about the journey of building a book and be involved in editorial projects by engaging with book submissions, shadow editing, writing descriptions of our books, and thinking cleverly about how we can bring our catalogue titles to life.
Skills you’ll develop: proofreading, copywriting, minute taking, catalogue reviewing, catalogue management, reporting, internal communications, organisation, teamwork, prioritisation, attention to detail.
Children’s publicity
Join the 15-strong Children’s publicity department in working collaboratively with departments from across the publishing house to promote new titles. Help launch new titles and our well-loved brands, Ladybird, Puffin and Penguin, by organising exciting author events and securing media coverage.
Enjoy a varied role gaining lots of core publicity experience, including the drafting of press releases, building lists for book review mailings, organising author travel and researching venues for events. Follow the journey of a book from pre-publication to its journey into the world. You’ll even work on a huge best-selling brand campaign and get involved in the Young Adult Literature Convention – the biggest calendar moment for teen books!
Skills you’ll develop: campaign management, social media content creation, reviewer mailings, copywriting, content creation, updating databases, administration, event organisation.
Vintage editorial
With the support and mentorship of the Square Peg Publishing Director and marketing team, you’ll follow trends and media sources to spot exciting new book opportunities.
You’ll gain a special opportunity to work on unique book titles from memoir to history and personal development to cookery – designed to empower and entertain. As the sixth person in the Square Peg team, you’ll build close relationships with different departments and develop key early career editorial skills that will set you up for success.
Skills you’ll develop: proofreading, copywriting, sales, catalogue reviewing, backlist management, reporting, internal communications, organisation, team work, prioritisation, attention to detail.
Online sales
Alongside a dynamic team, you’ll be learning about how we sell our eBooks and audio books to big global sellers like Amazon and Apple. With creativity, you’ll help the team create engaging and persuasive sales materials, and use a keen eye to spot market trends and opportunities for us to sell more of our Penguin titles.
Make a global impact with sellers and teams all over the world by learning about what sells where and how best to do things in each country. You’ll make some key contacts in teams like editorial and grow your confidence with the support of a friendly team.
Skills you’ll develop: research, commercial knowledge, understanding and working to a brief, sales and editorial collaboration, team working, data visualisation and storytelling.
Ebury editorial
Help us cook up a storm in the Ebury Food & Lifestyle team! In the only publishing division focused solely on non-fiction, this is the perfect opportunity if you want to immerse yourself in the world of cookbooks, gift books, memoirs and more. You’ll learn the ins and outs of how to propose, buy and deliver an impactful, thoughtful and inspiring new book.
In a team that knows a brilliant idea can come from anyone, your ideas and feedback will be sought out, meaning you’ll learn whilst also making a difference to the way we do things. With many world-class authors, including Yotam Ottolenghi, Mary Berry, Asma Khan and Stacey Solomon, this is the perfect place to get stuck into the editorial side of food & lifestyle publishing.
Skills you’ll develop: proofreading, copywriting, minute taking, catalogue reviewing, backlist management, reporting, internal communications, organisation, teamwork, prioritisation, attention to detail.
Penguin general publicity
Immerse yourself in the world of Penguin General, home to much–loved authors, including Zadie Smith, Richard Osman, Dolly Alderton, Ruby Wax, Dr Rangan Chatterjee, and Barack and Michelle Obama. We’ll build your knowledge of communications and working in publishing from the ground up, supporting you as you learn about everything involved in a publicity campaign.
You’ll learn about how the publicity team contributes to the wider book publishing process by attending meetings, drafting publicity materials, helping create reports and gain insights, and supporting the team with a varied set of tasks.
Skills you’ll develop: campaign management, social media content creation, reviewer mailings, copywriting, content creation, updating databases, administration, event organisation.
Viking editorial
Make your mark by feeding into important buying and editorial decisions about our books, alongside a supportive editorial team. You’ll generate ideas for proactively commissioning new books, learn how to edit and proof, and all about spotting a proposal with the potential to be a really great book. We’ll also teach you how to come up with a publishing vision for a book.
By working collaboratively with multiple departments you’ll start to build a publishing network and get a sense of the publishing process from multiple viewpoints, putting you in a great position for the future.
Skills you’ll develop: administration, communications and networking, copywriting, researching, teamwork, organisation, familiarity with Biblio and Nielsen BookScan.
Viking sales
In this rare opportunity to work across the whole range of Penguin’s adult books, you’ll build relationships across the business. You’ll support the people responsible for managing our relationship with the bookseller accounts that get our titles into reader hands: WHSmith, Morrisons, Waitrose, Costco, and Baker and Taylor Retail.
You’ll learn about how we negotiate promotions for our books, analyse sales performance, complete customer forms, and effectively present books to our sellers for sales.
Skills you’ll develop: research, commercial knowledge, understanding and working to a brief, sales and editorial collaboration, team working, data visualisation and storytelling.
Transworld editorial
With our non–fiction team, you’ll discover how we buy, edit and publish bestselling books. Enjoy a varied working day that will include reading book proposals, writing reports, researching interesting new projects, taking minutes in meetings, helping with book mailings, and learning to write engaging text for book jackets and catalogues.
You’ll be immersed in editorial discussions and discover how we assess and budget books. Flex your creativity in art meetings about book jackets, and work with publicity and marketing. You’ll meet some of our authors and their agents, and play your part in the launch of some brilliant new books.
Skills you’ll develop: administration, communications and networking, copywriting, researching, teamwork, organisation, familiarity with Biblio and Nielsen BookScan.
What will I
be doing?
Eligibility
You’ll need to have a pre-existing the right to work in the UK for the duration of the traineeship as unfortunately we are not able to offer visa sponsorship. You don’t need a degree, you’ll just need to be over 18.
To achieve our mission to make books for everyone because a book can change anyone, we are seeking out new voices. To apply, you’ll need to identify as one, or both, of the following groups.
*These are broad categories that may not exactly fit your family situation – e.g. if you’re a carer or if a family divorce changed your financial position. Please use your judgement when self-identifying*
Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic Groups
To apply, you’ll identify as one of the following:
-Asian/British Asian
-Black/African/Caribbean/Black British
-Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
-From another minority ethnic group
Lower socio-economic background
If, when you were age 14, your highest earning parent or guardian was not self-employed or in senior management, and was employed in one of the following categories:
-Technical and craft occupations such as: motor mechanic, fitter, inspector, plumber, printer, tool maker, electrician, gardener, train driver
-Semi-routine manual and service occupations such as: postal worker, machine operative, security guard, caretaker, farm worker, catering assistant, receptionist, sales assistant
-Routine manual and service occupations such as: HGV driver, van driver, cleaner, porter, packer, sewing machinist, messenger, labourer, waiter/waitress, bar staff
-Unemployed
How do I apply?
Applications for our 2023 cohort are now closed.
Online application form
No need to spend ages crafting the perfect CV and cover letter – you’ll answer three short questions on an inclusive hiring platform called Applied. We’ll ask you about three of our core ‘qualities’ or universal skills that will help you in the role.
We’ll also ask you to share your team preferences, so take a look here before getting started. You may be open to all of them, or have your heart set on one area in particular, either way, you can let us know.
Along the way, we’ll match you with a department, taking these preferences into consideration.
Communication
You’ll show us how you communicate well. This could be anything from being able to write clear and engaging emails or reports, to being comfortable talking to a range of people – whether that’s team members, industry contacts, or members of the public.
Initiative
You’ll show us how you take initiative and solve problems before they’ve even arisen. You don’t sit and wait for opportunities to come to you; you make things happen.
Organisation
You’ll show us that you thrive on keeping things on track, whether for yourself or other people, taking a methodical or orderly approach to any task.
Virtual learning and selection day
This day is designed to give you an idea of what it’s like to work here. You’ll complete an interview, group task, and independent task in your own time. We will assess the core ‘qualities’ or universal skills that will help you in the role:
Initiative
You’ll show us how you take initiative and solve problems before they’ve even arisen. You don’t sit and wait for opportunities to come to you; you make things happen.
Communication
You’ll show us how you communicate well. This could be anything from being able to write clear and engaging emails or reports, to being comfortable talking to a range of people – whether that’s team members, industry contacts, or members of the public.
Curiosity
You’ll show us that you’re always looking outward and are keen to learn. You enjoy exploring many viewpoints, and learning about new ideas and concepts.
Attention to detail
You’ll show us that you have a keen eye for detail, working with care, and being able to spot and fix any errors you come across.
Organisation
You’ll show us that you thrive on keeping things on track, whether for yourself or other people, taking a methodical or orderly approach to any task.
Sales stream: relationship building
Publishing a book means working with a range of people and considering multiple perspectives, from colleagues to authors to retailers. You’ll know how to connect with people and build relationships, earning their trust so they want to hear what you have to say.
Publicity stream: creativity
You’ll show us how you’re able to come up with creative ideas and think outside the box. You think past what’s already been done before and do things with style.
Editorial stream: storytelling
You’ll be able to build a story and communicate an idea. You’ll know how to make a story engaging and interesting for the audience.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The Scheme will run again from September 2024 – March 2025.
The recruitment process will be entirely virtual, so you won’t need to travel into London for any interviews or tasks, they can be completed from home.
As with many of our full-time roles, the Scheme will run as a hybrid programme with at an expectation of two days in the relevant London office per week. This is to ensure trainees get the most out of the programme, office amenities, and can build effective relationships across the organisation.
For anyone based outside of London and identifying as from a Lower Socio Economic background, we are happy to discuss financial support with travel into London for the those two days. If you’d like to come into our offices more than this, you are welcome to but please note we’re unable to cover travel for these additional days. Partnerships with charities like the Spare Room Project may also be helpful for you.
Please note- we will accommodate any reasonable adjustments for those with accessibility requirements.
We welcome applications from candidates with a disability and will ask if you need any reasonable adjustments to be your best at each step of the recruitment journey. This could include (but isn’t limited to) using a BSL interpreter or extra time in a task during the virtual Learning and Selection day.
If you have any questions or want to ask about adjustments or alternative formats, you can contact us at [email protected]. Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable to for us to support your adjustment request.
Prior to joining, we ask all employees if there’s any adjustments they’ll need when they start. We’re members of the Business Disability Forum, and have access to support through Unum, occupational health, Employee Assistance Programme, and other specialist providers.
We can consider a broad range of adjustments, including physical adjustments (like furniture, equipment, or software) or non-physical adjustments (like altered work hours, communication preferences or more one-to-ones).
You might not know what barriers you face until you get to the office – that’s fine too. You can discuss the request with your manager at any time. We also use a tool called the Tailored Adjustment Plan, which can help structure a conversation with your manager about these adjustments.
We also have a brilliant internal colleague Belong network, AccessAbility, for those who identify as disabled, neurodiverse, or chronically ill, or who are currently coming to terms with a related identifier.
Our applications are open to everyone over the age of eighteen.
You will need a pre-established right to work in the UK for the entirety of your time with us, and we do not offer sponsorship.
Our IT team will supply each trainee with a laptop to loan for The Scheme. They’ll be on hand remotely too, to make sure your tech is all set up, and support you with any issues throughout the traineeship.
The Scheme is a full time role, and you’ll be working Monday to Friday 9-5 unless discussed otherwise with your line manager and HR.
Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee that all trainees will secure a permanent role with us at the end of The Scheme. We will however make sure to put you in the best possible position to take on an entry-level role in publishing by building your industry and role-specific knowledge, helping you network with the business’ stakeholders, and giving you application tips and tricks.
We have locations across the UK- for more details please see our ‘Find us’ page here!
Applications for 2023 are open from midday Wednesday June 7th until Wednesday June 21st at 5pm.
Our mission to ‘make books for everyone because a book can change anyone’ is really important to us – and we know that to deliver this we need a range of perspectives. In some of our roles you may need to work closely with our products and be an avid reader, in others this will be less important. It really depends on what you’ll be doing with us! Your application answers will help us match you to a team that is right for you.
Absolutely! We know that some of our roles are very competitive and that a rejection can be disappointing, but this doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t be perfect for another opportunity. Please feel free to apply to another of our programmes or permanent roles and know that we won’t penalise you for any previous rejections.
You don’t need to have ever worked in publishing or have any experience to apply to our programme. We removed our degree requirements in 2016 and you don’t need to be studying or have studied at university to be eligible. You will have to have Right to work within the UK for the duration of The Scheme.
In 2023, we have made the decision that are our internships will be open only to those who identify as from a lower socio-economic background and candidates who identify as Black, Asian, or another Minority Ethnic Group.
If you identify as coming from a lower-socio economic background, you’ll either have been eligible for free school meals, or at age 14 your highest-earning parent/guardian was not self-employed or in senior management, and was employed in one of the following categories:
-Technical and craft occupations such as: motor mechanic, fitter, inspector, plumber, printer, tool maker, electrician, gardener, train driver
-Semi-routine manual and service occupations such as: postal worker, machine operative, security guard, caretaker, farm worker, catering assistant, receptionist, sales assistant
-Routine manual and service occupations such as: HGV driver, van driver, cleaner, porter, packer, sewing machinist, messenger, labourer, waiter/waitress, bar staff
-Unemployed but seeking work
*We recognise these are broad categories that generalise from the many hundreds of jobs out there, and they may not exactly fit your family situation – If you’re a care leaver or your family went through a divorce which changed your financial position for example, these may not apply. Please use your judgement when self-identifying. *
Our mission is to make books for everyone. To be able to publish boldly and creatively, for all readers, we need a workforce where a range of backgrounds and experiences are represented – in all teams and at all levels. We collect and track data annually on the makeup of our workforce so we can track our progress against this objective. Based on this data, we can see that people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and those who are Black, Asian, or from another Minority Ethnic group are the most underrepresented group in our company; hence we have made our Scheme a positive action programme to better support people from these backgrounds get into publishing.
For the past few years, we’ve taken part in the Social Mobility Employer Index and have been included in the top 75 employers for social mobility. The Social Mobility Index recommends that one of the most effective way to improve social mobility is to provide direct opportunities for employment for young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
Choosing to focus on these groups is a purposeful way to focus our efforts whilst also including any candidates who may also identify from another minority community. Following the most recent census data, communities such as the LGTBQIA+ community and people with disabilities are not underrepresented across our business, which is great news. Our focus remains on inclusion and how we can best support belonging in these groups for our colleagues.
There are several other routes into our business for people who would like to begin a career in publishing. For example, we have 250 paid work experience positions open every year, which anyone can apply for.
We also have hundreds of entry-level roles available each year, which are also open to all. No previous publishing experience is required for any of/the majority of these roles. You can keep an eye on our open vacancies on our website, or by following our careers Twitter handle, @penguinukjobs.
Yes, they’ll be paid £24,000 pro rata, and candidates will have the opportunity to apply for a travel bursary for the two days required in the office per week, if they are commuting from outside of London. We do not take this into consideration when making the selections, and we will not ask for you to declare your location until after the anonymous marking period and selection.
In your initial application, we find out a bit more about your interests and skills and take this into account when we match you to a team. This might not be where you’d first pictured yourself, but whichever department you’re matched with will give you transferable skills that could be an important step in your future career.
For those located outside of London and identifying as from a Lower Socio-Economic background, we are happy to discuss financial support with covering commuting costs for 2 days in the office per week and do not ask you to declare this until after the anonymous marking and selection process. If you’d like to come into the office more than this though, we’re unable to fund this.
If you’d like to relocate to London for the 6 months of the internship, we recommend looking at the Spare Room Project. They aim to provide free accommodation to those from outside London entering the publishing industry, by reducing the barrier of accommodation costs.
We’ll ask you about some core ‘qualities’ or universal skills that will help you in the role, which are all listed above on this page.
We don’t expect you to have prior work experience in publishing, Penguin, or another industry, and you are encouraged to use other experiences in education, extra-curricular activities or part-time work for example to showcase these universal skills.