Penguin Random House UK have announced that all Work Experience placements with them will be paid the National Living Wage. They have confirmed to bookcareers.com that there will no longer be any unpaid placements at Penguin Random House UK.
You can find out more or apply for a placement here.
https://www.penguinrandomhousecareers.co.uk/your-career/work-experience/
This is a HUGE step forward in ensuring that everyone who is considering publishing as a career is no longer disadvantaged by not being able to ‘work for free’. Too often we are hearing of students who have to earn money elsewhere, so they can afford to go and ‘volunteer’ at a publisher, in order to get what they believe is the elusive experience that will get them a job.
We know from the many clients we have helped that, hawking yourself around a number of publishing houses for free is not the best way to get a job. Companies repeatedly value paid experience over unpaid experience. You do not need unpaid work experience to get a job.
We hope that other publishers take note and start paying everyone who completes a placement, and not expect people to work for ‘expenses only’. We’ve said before the only time you should work for free is on your hobby or for a charity. Publishers with shareholders are not charities.