We’re looking for a Recruitment Coordinator to join our team and help to shape the experience candidates have when they first connect with Penguin. The role is offered on a permanent basis, with hybrid working from our head office in Embassy Gardens, London. 

You don’t need to have worked in publishing or recruitment before. We’re looking for someone organised, proactive and people-focused, who can help us to make the recruitment process feel smooth and supportive for candidates and hiring managers. 

The team

Led by the Head of Recruitment, our team covers recruitment, employer brand and outreach work. Day to day recruitment is run by our Recruitment Manager, three Recruitment Partners who are split between our publishing houses and group functions and one Recruitment Advisor who looks after entry level. Completing the team are our Employer Brand Manager and Programmes and Outreach Advisor. 

The Recruitment Coordinator will provide invaluable support to our day to day recruitment team and will also collaborate with our Programmes and Outreach Advisor on wider activities such as The Scheme traineeship, Summer Internships and careers events.  

The role 

Most of your time will be spent supporting the Recruitment Partners with interview scheduling and shortlisting. You’ll be in direct communication with candidates and hiring managers as well as the recruitment team. It’s a busy and varied role and will require strong organisational and communication skills, attention to detail and plenty of initiative.  

This role represents a great opportunity for someone looking to develop a career in recruitment or other HR functions.  

Key responsibilities 

• Managing the careers inbox: replying to candidate emails and requests and forwarding emails as appropriate to the Recruitment Partners. 

• Reviewing applications and shortlisting candidates for review by a Recruitment Partner. 

• Scheduling and inviting candidates to interview, including booking meeting rooms and working collaboratively with hiring managers and assistants on diary availability.  

• Ownership of the coordination tracker, ensuring that all assigned tasks are completed within the set timeframe.  

• Creating job advert content for our social channels, e.g. PRHCareers Twitter/X.                    

• Running recruitment reports and ensuring that systems and trackers are up to date and accurate, escalating as appropriate to the Recruitment Partners.  

• Identifying opportunities to improve the recruitment team’s efficiency from an administrative perspective. 

• Liaising with hiring managers and other stakeholders in a clear and efficient manner.  

• Providing occasional support on our outreach work and programmes.  

What you’ll bring 

Essential criteria: 

• Proven administrative skills. 

• Strong organisational capability with an excellent attention to detail. 

• Great written and verbal communication skills. 

• Proactive and solution-orientated approach. 

• Confident acting as the first point of contact for queries.  

• Willingness to get stuck in and involved in a variety of tasks and initiatives.  

• Ability to work at pace, balancing multiple tasks and timelines. 

• Curiosity to learn about teams across the business, recruitment best practice and our inclusive hiring approach.     

• A supportive team player who brings energy, positivity and care to the way you work with others. 

• Excited by the opportunity to build your experience in recruitment, learning more about how we attract, support and hire great people across Penguin. 

Preferred criteria: 

• Some previous experience in an office administration role would be a bonus. 

Application Instructions 

Please apply with your CV and Cover Letter (in pdf format) by 23:59 on Wednesday 22nd July 2026. Your cover letter should be no more than one to two pages in length. As part of your cover letter, please respond to the following question*: 

• We’d love you to spend some time exploring our careers site (Careers at Penguin Random House) and sharing your headline thoughts on it in your cover letter. What do you feel works well about the website? And what would you add or improve to make the site more interesting, engaging or useful for candidates? 

*Please note that any submissions without a cover letter and response to the above question will not be considered. 

Interview process 

Stage One: (week commencing 27th July): a short phone interview with a member of our recruitment team 

Stage Two: (Tuesday 4th August): an in-person interview at our Embassy Gardens office with the Recruitment Manager and a Recruitment Partner. At this stage, we’ll set two short tasks (prioritisation and email proofreading) and will ask competency-based questions.  

Final stage: we may invite candidates to a final stage meeting with our Head of Recruitment. We will confirm this once the recruitment process is underway.  

Should there be any changes to the planned interview process, we will update candidates at the earliest opportunity. 

Disability Confident 

As a Disability Confident Committed organisation, we offer interviews to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for the role, and opt-in on their application form. The essential criteria for this role are listed as part of the ‘What you’ll bring’ section. There may be times when the volume of applications means we cannot take all eligible candidates to interview.  

If you would like to be considered under our Disability Confident Scheme for this recruitment process, please include the following code at the start of your cover letter: [Recr – TTL 351]

Please do not provide any additional information beyond the code in your cover letter. We encourage you to tell us about any reasonable adjustments you may need by emailing [email protected].

AI  

Here at Penguin, we believe in the power of authenticity and human creativity. When you apply for a position, we want to encourage you to showcase your unique voice. Throughout our recruitment process, please share your own thoughts, experiences, and skills. This helps us get a true sense of who you are and what you might bring to our team. 

We celebrate creativity and diverse perspectives, so please be yourself! While we recognise AI tools can be helpful, we recommend using them thoughtfully to ensure your responses reflect you. 

Salary  

The salary for this opportunity is £29,000 plus bonus and benefits. 

Hybrid working 

While our offices across the UK are places to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, we recognise that flexibility around where you work is just as important.

For this role you will need to work from our Embassy Gardens office two days per week, typically on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

Disclosure requirements pertaining to the collection of your personal data:

Responsible for processing the information provided in your application is the company specified in the job advertisement, with its registered office as indicated. The company processes your data for the purpose of establishing an employment relationship on the basis of Art. 6 (1) b GDPR / Section 26 (1) sentence 1 BDSG.

The retention period for your data is determined by the statutory time limits applicable in the respective country, beginning upon completion of the recruitment process. You can find these here.

You can contact the company’s Data Protection Officer at the above-mentioned postal address. 

Further information on data protection and your rights can be found here.
 

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