UNIVERSITIES SHOULD BACK THEIR GRADUATES, NOT THOSE WHO SEEK TO EXPLOIT THEM
Remember the unpaid press office internship at Spurs football club? And the “sales assistant internship” at the designer fashion brand Balenciaga? Both were advertised by universities (the first was by the University of Sussex; the second by the University of the Arts London).
At Graduate Fog, we feel strongly that universities should not be helping private companies to recruit young staff who they do not intend to pay a wage for their labour. Interestingly, the university careers advisers’ official body AGCAS agrees with us, warning its members:
“Current advice from AGCAS to its members is that they shouldn’t advertise or broker internships that contravene legislation.”
That sounds pretty clear to us – yet too many universities still aren’t listening.
They know it isn’t right but they continue to promote these positions so that their students (and not those from rival universities) will bag these internships. That way, that’s another graduate they can claim is ’employed’ in their chosen industry, thereby making their courses look more successful at helping graduates into work than they actually are.
And there is another reason why Graduate Fog finds this so annoying. For two years, we have been working hard with campaign groups like Intern Aware, Interns Anonymous and Internocracy to raise awareness among young people about the facts on internships (For very good reasons, the law says that if you’re doing proper work, you MUST be paid at least the minimum wage – end of story).
Yet every time a university posts an advert for an unpaid internship on their job board, or emails it out to their students, our message is undermined. Still, too many students and graduates say to us: “But unpaid internships can’t be illegal – my university advertises them all the time.” It makes our blood boil that they are not using their position to inform you of your rights (still only 10% of graduates even know that unpaid internships are illegal) and of the fierce battle that is raging – and how they can get involved.
Does your university advertise unpaid internships? How and where do you hear about them? What sort of roles are they? Do you think universities should stop advertising roles that are illegal, exploit those who do them and exclude those who can’t afford to do them? Please comment below – we’d love to know your thoughts…
I think it is disgusting that a university would promote unpaid internships ” That way, that’s another graduate they can claim is ’employed'”. It is extremely unfair that a student is being taken advantage of just for statistical purposes. I am a student at Dundee university and regularly use their job portal, and even though I am not currently in a position of needing an internship, they are shown on the sight. However Dundee uni makes an effort to present a number of different job opportunities, which I think outweigh the number of internships.
Some universities are going beyond simple promotion of unpaid internships and actively facilitating them – check out Warwick’s Work Experience Bursary Scheme:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/scs/experience/bursary/
Of course, there are scenarios where this would be a perfectly legitimate and valuable provision (e.g. for students who wanted to undertake charitable volunteering). But if that’s the case, why is it not open to students who are volunteering through Warwick’s “Warwick Volunteers” Scheme? Surely this strongly suggests its sole purpose is to prop up companies who are too cheap to pay their interns?
@Slackjawed
Thanks – that’s really interesting, I think I’ll investigate…!
Great find slackjawed. Well done.
Hi Tanya,
I’m no fan or defender of Graduate Prospects nor am I a careers adviser but before you continue your ‘fight’ you might want to take a look closer to home. I note “Graduate Fog loves…The Big Choice” have you had a look at their advice on internships? would have seemed wise before endorsing their site whilst spitting vitriol at anything you think will gain you column inches.
To save you time it reads as follows: “Although you will be working in much the same way a full-time employee of the company does, the focus of your time there will be on the learning experience and helping you gain the skills of that job. An internship can be worthwhile addition to your CV.” so far, so good, right? It goes on to, helpfully, explain “Internships can be both paid and unpaid depending on the industry and company you are working for” Really? Is that the message you are advocating in your campaigns? http://www.thebigchoice.com/Placements/Advice/What_is_an_Internship.html
They are also advertising overseas internships at a significant cost *to the graduate*
Were I a fan of publicity I might have queried this in a more public arena alongside the fact that Graduate Fog offers users a massive £1.50 of the subscription fee to the other sponsor of your site — your generosity knows no bounds.
As you say to others who do anything other than agree with you, I’m sure Graduate Foggers will have an opinion.
I am an undergraduate who wants to get into the media. Please could Graduate Fog tell me where I need to look to find paid internships in this sector? I do not wish to do unpaid work, but have no idea how else I can gain the experience I need to enter into this sector.
If I cannot enter media, I would be keen on going into Politics. I have tried to find placements with MPs, but these are all unpaid only. Where can I find paid internships with an MP to gain the experience I need? Please advise.
If I am unable to get a paid internship in Media or in Politics, I would be interested in entering PR or Advertising, or maybe Theatre, or faship publication, or scientific writing…..Please could GraduateFog give me some idea on where I am able to find paid internships in these areas?
To clarify, the Warwick work experience bursary scheme helps students cover expenses involved in gaining work experience, where the experience is unfortunately unpaid. It does not exclude voluntary work. It only excludes voluntary work which is organised by Warwick Volunteers our SU volunteering society which already covers expenses and costs and is supported, uniquely, by a team of University employees as well; as we would not want to double fund such opportunities. Any students on other volunteering experiences are welcome to, and o, apply to our bursary, as long as they meet the other criteria.
We only provide financial support for up to 2 weeks of unpaid work experience, mostof which is the type of experience that the student could walk away from if they wished – and therefore probably not bound by NMW law.
The issues surrounding unpaid work experience, for us, has two clear parts that we actively engage with and support:
1. campaigning for employers to act in a way that supports access to their opportunities by all students regardless of their circumstances whilst also supporting their employer brand from an ethical standpoint and not condoning unlawful or unethical behaviour
whilst also recognising that, as @oneortwocomments ariculates so well
2. there are some sectors where students need to have work experience to stand a chance of getting a graduate job, but there is an established track record of not paying them to get it – and helping students where they self-source such placement opportunities.
I think its ridiculous that students SHOULD be paid for short term holiday internships (besides travel costs). Do you really think a graduate has anything REAL to offer an organzition directly after graduation? No. Anyone that has actually HAD an intern knows you take as much time training and teaching them as they return – the most simple tasks such as data entry or merely shadowing the bosses. Hardly any REAL work is done by students that could not be done in 1/4 of the time by someone qualified! In the old days, you had to work your way up.. it showed commitment and ambition to take your holiday time to work as an intern – it got you in the door – and somebody actually helped you onto the corporate ladder. Now all young people want to be paid BEFORE they have anything real to offer! Prove yourself first – then get paid! That’s why companies employ people with CVS and experience!!! Remember this is an investment in YOUR future.. if your only concern is getting “paid” at a time, when you should be thinking about what you want your career trajectory to be – you should go work in a coffee shop where you can get paid immediately. But if you have higher ambitions and you want someone to show you the ropes.. then do what is necessary to get there! Soon, there will be so many graduates out there, you will either remain unemployed or you will be paying the companies to get you on the ladder. The law may be the law,but it is more there to protect abuse by companies of using serial graduates or jobless graduates to do data entry, etc. PLEASE do not confuse this with internships during your holidays designed to HELP YOU!!!! I can tell you that when I look back at my internships, they invested AS MUCH if not MORE in me than I did in “WORK” – doing menial tasks. Another word of advice from someone who used to be your age…. right now you guys think you have all the answers and can cure the world… please just go out and work for a few years and then you will see that “the more you think you know” the LESS you actually know! Good luck to all