JAMES CAAN RECRUITS FOR AN UNPAID INTERN — SO GRADUATE FOG INVITES HIM TO TEA
Tycoon and Dragon’s Den star James Caan has advertised for a three-month internship, paying expenses only.
The job description is the longest Graduate Fog has ever seen for an internship, coming in at close to 1,000 words.
The ad (pasted in full below) outlines a long list of responsibilities and qualities that the successful candidate must have.
This role is not just tea-making and post-sorting. And if it was within the private sector, it would be illegal.
However, the multimillionaire’s people have told me it is perfectly lawful – because it is within the James Caan Foundation, a registered charity.
And when I checked with the Pay and Work Rights Helpline, they confirmed that Caan – worth £70m – has done nothing illegal.
Because this internship is within a charity, this person can be classed as a ‘voluntary worker’ — who is not entitled to the National Minimum Wage.
I am flabbergasted.
I would like to be clear that I am not suggesting that Caan has done anything illegal.
He hasn’t.
Nor am I suggesting he has acted maliciously. No doubt he genuinely thinks this internship is an excellent opportunity for somebody.
What I am suggesting is that this ‘voluntary worker’ loophole in the law does not give adequate protection to graduates trying to break into the charity sector.
In effect, I feel this means they are denied the protection that their friends trying to break into private sector industries receive from our National Minimum Wage laws (in theory at least!)
Decide for yourself.
Do you think this role should be paid or unpaid?
James Caan Foundation Internship 2010 Reference:25522
Posted: 23 July 10working for James Caan, private equity investor and panellist on BBC2’s Dragons’ Den
salary none
details James Caan, private equity investor and panellist on BBC2’s Dragons’ Den is looking to hire a candidate to intern in his direct office, working on a specific 3 month project, working within his Foundation.
The James Caan Foundation (JCF) was set up in 2006 to fundamentally assist with educating some 6 million children in Pakistan currently not enrolled in schools. Furthermore, the JCF continues to support charities in the UK working towards a number of different initiatives ranging from cancer care to providing equal opportunities for youth, but it also seeks to promote greater awareness for the developing world.
One of the key areas on which the successful candidate will be working, will be the British Pakistan Foundation. The BPF is a new initiative set up in the UK to provide a platform from which to engage with Pakistan related issues. The board of the foundation, of which James Caan is the chair, is comprised of exemplary knowledge and experience of the region, including members of British society with strong links to Pakistan. The foundation works towards addressing key areas within Pakistan such as Healthcare, Education, Power Generation, Food Supply, Inward Investment, and water supply on a large scale. It will also strive to improve the perception of Pakistan in Britain and the way in which Pakistanis view Britain. The underlining aim of the foundation is to bridge the gap in perceptions, general sentiment and relations between the two nations.
Objective of the Internship
- Managing the role of the JCF in the BPF
As a new foundation the BPF will need a lot of support. You will play an essential role in the organisation and the coordination of the BPF, and be responsible for the smooth running of the Board and its agenda. This will include:
- Coordinating the very high profile board
Your primary responsibility will be to support the project in its entirety. You will need to coordinate it and maintain delivery.
The Board of The BPF consists of a number of high profile individuals from various professions, all with a high level experience and knowledge, who will all have ideas and input with regards to direction and the projects. In order for the Board to operate successfully it will need a high level of organisation and support. This will involve:
- Action monitoring
- Minute taking
- Organizing meetings
- Setting the agenda
You will be responsible for ensuring the balance, coverage and workability of the agenda. It will be your responsibility to understand the individual members’ contributions and subsequently set the agenda.
- Working with key players to ensure that the BPF achieves its goals
An exciting aspect of this role will be the chance to meet, correspond, and build relationships with a number of high profile individuals from diverse professional backgrounds. This important part of the internship will involve working closely with the Board; with members of the American (APF) and Pakistani counterparts; with key figures in the British Pakistani community; with government officials, in order to foster engagement. It will be your responsibility to develop these relationships and promote the BPF as a forum/platform for the coming together of various stakeholders in The BPF’s mission.
The BPF could be a serious and influential organization. With the ability to use the high profiles of the boards and members, it has the potential to influence UK policy towards Pakistan. One aspect of your role will be involved in these projects and issues.
You will also need to engage with various members of the community from all sectors and professions. This falls under the role of developing the BPF in its functional capacity as a platform for engagement. You will have the responsibility of stimulating and facilitating this engagement, and you will need to be proactive in your approach of
- Raising awareness
- Facilitating interaction between members Philanthropists, business men and woman, social entrepreneurs, civil society activists, and general members of the community.
- The BPF Launch
The Launch event will require a high level of organisation and planning in terms of logistics and PR. You will be responsible for inviting honorary guests and. For this role it is essential that you will be:
- Proactive
- Highly organized
- Able to use initiative
- Creative
- Target-driven
The long term goal of this internship is for you to contribute to the development and success of the BPF in its early stages of operation.
From your point of view, this is an opportunity where you will work in a formal working environment, with project plans, deadlines, deliverables, reporting to a manager, and having to deliver your best at every opportunity. Working for an HNWI gives you the opportunity to really make a difference as you will be working with James’ immediate projects team.
Job Location: Mayfair, Central London
closes 30 September 2010. Start date ASAP contact Please send CV and covering letter to…
Before I was made aware of the ‘voluntary worker’ loophole, I wrote to Caan’s people to express my concern about the legality of the position.
I wasn’t very nice.
His spokesperson (his daughter Hanah) promptly sent this reply:
“Dear Tanya,
Thank you for taking the time to let me know of your concerns regarding the current situation with internships and the National Minimum Wage.
I should point out that the internship on offer is to work for the James Caan Foundation, registered charity number: 1136671. Under s 44 National Minimum Wage Act 1998, workers employed by charities, voluntary organisations and associated fund-raising bodies are not entitled to the national minimum wage. This exemption is designed to allow people who genuinely wish to work without profit for good causes to do so.
Perhaps this wasn’t made clear in the internship brief posted on the website. I will make this much clearer now so that there is no confusion as to the nature of the internship.
Do let me know if there is anything else with which I can be of assistance.
Warmest wishes.”
Compared with the responses I’ve had from Tesco, Sainsbury’s, etc, this email was delightful.
And it turns out that she’s right.
Because the employer is a charity, this role can be classified ‘voluntary worker’.
It may be legal — but is it fair?
A document by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills makes it clear that calling someone a volunteer doesn’t make them a true volunteer in the eyes of the law – if their responsibilities are that of a ‘worker.’
Private sector employers can be prosecuted for failing to pay their ‘worker’ interns.
Can anybody explain to me why this should be different for interns working for charitable organisations?
Other, more senior people who work within charities get paid, so why not the intern?
From Hanah Caan’s email — and further research online — it seems that this loophole is there to protect the ability for people to do genuinely altruistic volunteering — for their local soup kitchen or church, for example.
Of course we don’t want employment laws so rigid that doing a good deed for your community is made impossible (because the soup kitchen / church is legally obliged to pay you for this).
But it’s my opinion that there is a big difference between a middle-aged housewife who chooses to volunteer one night a week in her local soup kitchen — and a young graduate who takes a full-time, unpaid job with a TV entrepreneur’s charitable foundation because s/he hopes it will lead to paid work in the future.
In my opinion, the first is volunteering.
The second is ‘volunteering’.
Although I would like to say again that James Caan has done nothing illegal (nor malicious) here, Graduate Fog has discovered that this is not the first time he has publicly displayed his difficulty with understanding the many (and sometimes subtle) points of the unpaid internships debate.
In June, Caan penned a piece for the Daily Telegraph entitled Graduates should work for free to get ahead, stating:
“Working for free has its drawbacks, but it will prove to be a great investment in the longrun.”
“…Last week I highlighted the importance of a carefully crafted CV and with work experience the same attention to detail applies.
“You’re not applying for a salaried position, but that shouldn’t stop you using your CV to highlight your achievements, transferrable skills and potential.
“Don’t expect opportunities to come to you on a plate: do some investigative work and contact local companies you’re interested in to see if you can work with them.
“Search for internships online, in the trade press and local listings.”
Like many people in the business world, Caan appears to be unaware that the internships debate has moved on significantly in the last few years. He also seems unaware that hundreds of thousands of young people are now being exploited by companies simply looking for ways to cut staff and training costs – and that (in most cases) this is illegal as well as unethical.
As Kayte Lawton, spokesperson for think tank IPPR said this weekend:
“Employers often mistakenly believe there is a ‘grey area’ around internships in the National Minimum Wage legislation that allows them to take on unpaid interns as long as both sides understand it is a voluntary position — this is simply not the case.
The law is, in fact, very clear and the problem is a failure of enforcement.”
As Caan is a high-profile UK businessman, I think it would be invaluable to persuade him that unpaid internships are not a fair, reasonable or sensible solution for anybody. I would love him to become a champion of this issue, using his profile to raise awareness throughout the business community.
I think Caan could use a cup of tea and a chat with Graduate Fog and my good friends at Intern Aware and Internocracy.
So that’s exactly what I offered in this email (sent this morning):
Dear Hanah,
Thank you for your email.
I have now checked my facts and found you are correct in stating that the internship offered at the James Caan Foundation is within the law. I would like to apologise if my earlier email was rude.
However, while I accept that this position is not illegal (because it is within a charity), I remain concerned that it is not fair. I do not believe that this is what the ‘voluntary worker’ exemption was designed to do. I fear that the person who takes this role with the James Caan Foundation is unlikely to be a true ‘volunteer’ — and is more likely to be a young graduate desperate for an opportunity to work alongside Mr Caan, in the hope that it could lead to permanent paid work with him in future — or at the very least add weight to his/her CV.
I am not suggesting that Mr Caan or his organisation have acted maliciously in running this ad — or the internship. No doubt he genuinely thinks that this placement offers an excellent opportunity for somebody. However, I believe Mr Caan maybe unaware of how the unpaid internships culture has escalated in recent years — and is now contributing to a situation where it is only the well-off, London-based graduates who can afford to gain the best experience, as many of these opportunities are unpaid. Poorer (better?) candidates who live outside London and can’t afford to work for free are excluded.
As you may be aware, last week all five candidates for the Labour leadership committed to support Intern Aware’s pledge for fair pay for all interns. This weekend, a report by Internocracy and the IPPR stated that interns are entitled to the minimum wage, prompting universities minister David Willetts to make his strongest statement yet on this subject, saying “The exploitation of interns is unacceptable and the employment legislation must not be breached.”
I would very much like to invite Mr Caan to join me and my friends at interns’ rights groups Intern Aware and Internocracy for a cup of tea. We would welcome the opportunity to bring Mr Caan up-to-date with this issue and would like to invite him to become a business champion for this cause. We could really use someone fighting our corner!
I have just posted this letter to my website, to keep my users up-to-date. We look forward to hearing from you.
With many thanks,
Tanya
So there you have it.
Today has turned out to be the day that I asked James Caan to tea.
It’s a funny old world.
*Be the first to hear when Caan replies!
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*Do you think this role should be paid?
Or should internships within charities be exempt from the minimum wage laws?
Should be paid, if not legally, then morally. Is anyone who works for the James Caan Foundation paid? And if so, why not this person who is also expected to do real work. It is true that this is a charity but charities also try to run themselves like businesses nowadays, so why not pay people who are expected to do work?
“Poorer (better?) candidates who live outside London and can’t afford to work for free are excluded.”
I know someone who was an intern who commuted into London every day from Oxford on a coach (transport expenses paid). I think she woke up at something like 5am every morning. She did this for two months. She also had a weekend job in Oxford in a restaurant. If you want it badly enough, you can find a way.
In any case, not all internships are in London.
@Mark Watson
I agree. This just isn’t fair to apply the logic people who work for charity should do it out of the goodness of their heart unless you apply it at ALL levels, whether senior or junior.
@Mrs Tebbit
Thanks for your comment – I’m sure one of my users will explain this to you. I’m knackered – heading home! In the meantime, you might find this some useful background: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/7920381/Employers-warned-that-unpaid-internships-could-break-law.html
xx
And why should young people have to put themsselves through this simply to prove themselves? This kind of hardiness does not make you a better manager, a better journalist, a better TV worker. And where the law says that people should be paid, why should a company fund their businesses this way?
This “get on your bike and find work” attitude sounds all very “school of hard knocks, we had it tough in my day” clever but we really should have moved on as a society a little further than this.
“If you want it badly enough, you can find a way.”
Dear Mrs Tebbit,
Did you read this article?
If so, did you understand it?
Your comment suggests that you don’t at all grasp the severity of this issue and the moral and ethical implications of expecting graduates to carry out work which should be paid under the guise of an internship. Fair remuneration for all work, particularly when the role is so clearly one which involves proper duties (which are part of many paid jobs) like those mentioned in the ad published for this “internship” is a basic human right. “Internships” like this one are contributing to and encouraging economic elitism in the United Kingdom, effectively excluding all but the wealthiest candidates from securing valuable work experience in their chosen field. You seem to suggest that the lifestyle which the person you know who worked as an intern had whilst she was working in London is acceptable. I disagree, for all of the reasons Tanya has pointed out above. Why should anybody be expected to work for free all week and then work all weekend to support themselves financially, even if only for a few weeks? And of course, not all internships are based in London however, as in most countries, the majority of economic activity and therefore job opportunities are located in the capital city and the United Kingdom is no exception. This is especially true for many of the most competitive industries. Those graduates who are not from privileged backgrounds and who happen to not reside in the London commuter belt are therefore severely disadvantaged in progressing in their careers in this turbulent job market. Surely you can’t believe that this is a fair situation? I understand that some people see graduates asking for fair remuneration for a role like this as them having a certain sense of “entitlement” however I honestly don’t understand why this sort of opportunity (and I do agree that this is potentially a very valuable and useful opportunity) should be unpaid. It is my belief (and the United Nations happens to agree with me) that nobody should be expected to work for free under any circumstance, particularly not when those people are very young, have invested time and money in their education, have emerged from university with over £20k of debt into an extremely difficult job market and are seeking to gain experience to try and begin their career. Expecting them to work full-time for months without pay is not an “internship”. It is called exploitation.
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 23
“Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity”
Enjoy!
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/07/20/104-unpaid-internships/
@Christopher
I LOVE that you’re never too tired for a scrap over unpaid internships! I have nothing further to add – nice one xx
@Tanya
Never! 😀
@Mrs Tebbit
“If all goes according to plan, an internship will end with an offer of a job that pays $24,000 per year and will consist entirely of the same tasks they were recently doing for free. ”
Which is completely illegal. If anything your link proves the point that unpaid internships make it more difficult for graduates who are not from a wealthy background to get a foot in the door.
If we are going to swap links (not that I find yours a very interesting or mature response for that matter) then please have a look at the following:
“Unpaid internships breaking minimum wage law”:(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8551598.stm)
“Concerns have also been raised that companies recruiting unpaid interns, like Craig, are actually breaking the minimum wage law.
Craig is expected to work full-time office hours, Monday to Friday, with a list of specific duties.
The legal definition of what constitutes work includes having set hours; being engaged for an extended period of time and being given a defined role rather than just observing.
The law says anyone who is “working” must be paid the national minimum wage – for anyone 22 or over it is currently £5.80 an hour.”
“Andy Burnham: BBC should end unpaid work experience”: (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/7904849/Andy-Burnham-BBC-should-end-unpaid-work-experience.html)
“Young, Educated and Unpaid” (http://unfairinternships.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/young-educated-and-unpaid/)
“Firms warned unpaid interns are illegal”
(http://www.scotsman.com/uk/Firms-warned-unpaid-interns-are.6450684.jp)
“Think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and campaign group Internocracy warned firms they were mistaken if they believed they were allowed to take on unpaid interns as long as both sides knew it was a voluntary post. Kayte Lawton,research fellow at the IPPR, explained: “Too many employers don’t understand the law when it comes to hiring interns…There is a mistaken belief that employers can take on people on a voluntary basis if both sides agree – but that’s not what the law says…If an intern is doing work for a company, then they need to be paid – it’s as simple as that.”…Dominic Potter, director of Internocracy, said: “We now have entire industries that rely on the willingness of young people to work for free. In the long run this is bad for business because it damages the reputation of these industries and makes it difficult for them to recruit from the broadest pool of talent.
“It also means that young people from well-off backgrounds or with good family connections have an instant advantage when it comes to finding a permanent job.”
Universities minister David Willetts said: “We will be considering the IPPR report carefully over the coming weeks. Young people have been the biggest victims of the recession. We are committed to helping them get into work and realise their ambitions.””
“Arts internships: chance of a lifetime or cut-price labour?”
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2010/feb/23/arts-unpaid-interns-exploitation)
“A recent report called Emerging Workers, produced by the Arts Group, a body representing arts students and graduates, is not mincing its words. It has called the large number of unpaid jobs in the creative sector “exploitation” and is calling for legislation to regulate the use of unpaid internships by arts organisations, suggesting that all placements over a month should be paid the national minimum wage.
This comes at a time when universities and colleges are producing ever-larger numbers of arts graduates, often from courses that often fail to equip them with the skills to find work, particularly in a recession-hit market. The colleges are happy to take the fees, but they wash their hands of the consequences. I think we should be asking why, according to the report, 40% of graduates entering the cultural sector do so through working unpaid — not least because it has massive implications in terms of access. It immediately discounts all those who can’t afford to work unpaid, and particularly disadvantages those whose family home doesn’t happen to be near London, where many of these unpaid opportunities are.”
Keep fighting this battle! The job description above is a ridiculous expectation, especially the constant mention of repsonsibility and accountability. if you want to be able to shout at someone for not doing a good enough job, you at least have to pay for the privelege!
I think your getting abit wrapped up in your mind, there are THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN dying from LACK OF WATER and you decide to wake up an fight for paid internships with most off them WANTING the expirence. This allows genuine and hard working people shine through and only after they have proved to whoever the employer may be, that they are worthy off that ROLE and have what it takes let payroll discussions take place. As far as I see it it’s another OPPORTUNITY for your sons an daughters to do something meaningful rather then dress dolls and play video games. Look at the bigger picture not just the money you chase.
Gora Pakora, that is a very ill-thought out response.
1. It is nonsense to suggest that the fact that people campaign about illegal unpaid internships has any effect on whether people do anything about children dying from lack of water. If you thought about it, you would see that too.
2. As many observers have repeatedly pointed out, unpaid internships mean that not only do you have to be genuine and hard working to shine through, but also that you must have private means that allow you to work unpaid. It is this that is the issue.
3. Wanting to be paid a basic wage for your work is not “chasing money”, it is expecting a fair (and legal) day’s pay for a fair day’s work.
4. I have no idea what the reference to dressing dolls and playing video games is about. I suspect you do not either.
Gora Pakora: You smell like a troll.