Hachette UK launches 2022 traineeship programme with Curtis Brown and Waterstones 

Hachette UK has opened its 2022 traineeship for applications, partnering for the second year with literary agency Curtis Brown and booksellers Waterstones.

Ten successful applicants will join the company as trainees at the end of October for the year-long programme, with each joining 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 understand consumer buying behaviour. They will also participate in a learning and development programme, with the opportunity to learn about the journey of publishing a book from pitch to production.

Lisa Waterman, group HR director at Hachette UK, said: “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.”

This will be Hachette UK’s fifth intake of trainees and the programme will continue to focus on making publishing more accessible to underrepresented groups, as part of the publisher’s Changing the Story vision for diversity and inclusion.

Working in tandem with Creative Access, the company 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.

Josie Dobrin, c.e.o. at Creative Access, said the placements will provide trainees with “the ideal foundation to thrive in a long-term publishing career”, while Kate Skipper, chief operating officer at Waterstones said: “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, said: “It is an honour 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 processes.

“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.”