Hachette UK unveils 2022 traineeship programme and partnerships

Hachette UK has announced its 2022 traineeship programme, partnering for the second year with literary agency Curtis Brown and booksellers Waterstones. It will open for applications today, with 10 trainees joining Hachette UK at the end of October for the year-long programme. Hachette UK will again be working with Creative Access, the leading social enterprise in progressive career development and support, to recruit exceptional talent from under-represented groups, with all applications for the traineeship being made via the Creative Access website.

The trainees will spend the year within one of Hachette UK’s publishing divisions, the central function teams or the education business, specialising in either editorial, digital marketing, publicity, audio, operations, sales, communications, production or rights. Those specialising in editorial will spend a month of their traineeship at Curtis Brown to learn how to represent authors and matchmake them with publishers. All the trainees will spend a month at Waterstones to learn the art of bookselling and to understand consumer buying behaviour and will also participate in a bespoke learning and development programme, with the opportunity to learn about the journey of publishing a book from pitch to production.

This will be Hachette UK’s fifth intake of trainees and the programme will continue to focus on making publishing more accessible to under-represented groups, as part of the publisher’s ‘Changing the Story’ vision for diversity and inclusion. It is actively seeking applications from candidates from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, applicants from lower socio-economic backgrounds and particularly men from both of these backgrounds, to improve the representation of these groups in Hachette UK’s staff base.

Lisa Waterman, Group HR Director at Hachette UK, commented: “Our traineeship in partnership with Curtis Brown and Waterstones has been such a successful initiative as part of our Changing the Story programme and further strengthens our ongoing commitment to inclusion. This innovative scheme, originally conceived by Sharmaine Lovegrove, patron of Changing the Story, gives our trainees direct contact with our publishers, authors, agents and ultimately our readers to give them an incredible introduction to the industry. Our 2021-22 cohort of trainees have been such a success and we hope this experience has given them the broad knowledge to build brilliant careers in publishing. It demonstrates that when we work together as an industry, we can make a lasting and positive change.”

Josie Dobrin, CEO at Creative Access, commented: “We are delighted to once again be partnering with Hachette UK to offer 10 incredible paid traineeships across its divisions for talent from groups under-represented in the creative industries. The placements will give the successful applicants a year of experience working in publishing across different areas of the industry, providing them with the ideal foundation to thrive in a long-term publishing career.”

Kate Skipper, Chief Operating Officer at Waterstones, commented: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Hachette UK for the second intake of their industry-leading trainee programme, which provides such a vital new route into the industry. We can’t wait to welcome this year’s trainees into our shops, with the aim of providing a behind-the-scenes look at what makes a bookshop tick and allowing trainees to experience the thrill of putting a book into a customer’s hands. We hope the experience will prove invaluable for those at the start of exciting publishing careers, offering a glimpse of bookshop magic and some understanding of the passion which drives booksellers.”

Felicity Blunt, Literary Agent at Curtis Brown, commented: “It is an honour to get to continue to work with Hachette UK for the second year of their traineeship scheme. The candidates they placed with us in year one were singularly impressive and dynamic, with so much to offer the industry. Curtis Brown places each candidate with an agent and office that is aligned with their reading interests. The trainees are exposed to a variety of deal-making, client care and editorial process. As this element sits alongside the experience of working for a publishing house and a bookseller, we believe the Hachette UK traineeship scheme offers individuals a deep understanding of the publishing ecosystem as a whole, allowing them to zero in on the facet that most appeals to them.”