45% SAY THE EXPERIENCE IS WORTH IT
Bizarre new research has found that almost half of graduates think working for free doing unpaid internships “isn’t a problem”.
An astonishing 45% of graduates told TargetJobs that working for free isn’t a problem and said that getting experience was more important than getting paid. Only slightly fewer – 41% – would do unpaid internships more reluctantly (but would do them if it was necessary). Only 14% said they refused to work for nothing.
These shocking statistics suggest that despite major wins for the campaign for a fairer deal for interns in the UK in recent months, there is still much work to be done on educating students and graduates about why unpaid internships are so damaging – and why it’s so important they spread the word about the battle to get the minimum wage enforced for all workers, regardless of their age or what stage they’re at in their career.
Graduate Fog has questions about these graduates were who responded to the TargetJobs survey – as we know that unpaid internships most definitely are a BIG problem for most graduates in the UK. TargetJobs says respondents all came via their home page and social media channels and can provide no further details. So we are left to draw our own conclusions. What do you think? Were the graduates representative of the broader graduate population? If not, are they super-rich – or just naive?
I am the 14%.
I would never work for free.
Absolutely no way…
Someone posted on the Facebook page:
“And there lies the problem”
…presumably meaning that those who feel unpaid internships aren’t a problem are the ones who in effect keep the whole racket going? Because if everyone refused to work for free, employers would have no interns to exploit!
Does anyone else feel the same? Why don’t all graduates just refuse to work for free? Do you wish there was more solidarity among graduates – that if you all worked together you could stop the whole problem tomorrow*?
*NB this is not my personal view – just keen to explore this idea!
I have recently joined that 14%. I have gained more than enough experience interning for free. It’s time to get PAID!
I think some people get so desperate to be able to begin a decent career that it doesn’t even occur to them to be idealistic about anything. Sadly I think unpaid internships do look better on your CV than non-graduate minimum wage work. I do wonder if some of these people are conflicted about the wider issues vs. their own needs or would be if they were better informed.
I’ve not had to work for free myself but I try not to be judgemental to those who do and do so because its the only way into some careers.
Some interesting research from America:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/06/do-unpaid-internships-lead-to-jobs-not-for-college-students/276959/
I’m the 14% too – not that I could afford to work for nothing anyway.
Asking why all graduates refuse to work for free is a bit like all problems to do with the concept of solidarity in general, like asking “why don’t all workers refuse to work for below the living wage?”, or the problems with collective bargaining by unions – especially ever increasing numbers of job are temporary, meaning in practice you can just get fired and replaced for industrial action. When faced with being reviled as a “scrounger” or destitution, high ideals like solidarity often go out the window.
If large numbers of graduates, including some with savings or parents they can live off, and with varying beliefs of work ethic, politics etc, are told by almost everyone in authority that their labour is basically worthless and they need unpaid “experience” to get ahead, many are going to start believing it. And a proportion of those able to are always going to do what they can to get a career, even if it disadvantages others. And that probably won’t change without a critical mass changing their behaviour, or proper law enforcement of the minimum wage (and even then it would still go on a bit).
I would question who filled in that survey. Obviously a lot of the intern work available on the Target Jobs site is with big corporations, if the corps are paying for ad space, etc, why would Target jobs release survey results if they were negative for their clients. It’s not beyond the internet to have surveys filled in to show the results you want, so I would take these results with a pinch of salt. We will not /should not work for free guys, no matter what your survey says!
I do think that Tanya. However most people think of themselves, not the wider picture.
If the candidate is i) supported by the taxpayer (through Job Seekers Allowance), or ii) supported by parents, the candidate is not working for free… they are being supported by other parties. Unfortunately, the State needs the tax, and if the individual works for nothing, the State loses out, not only through no salary being paid, but through the employer evading their responsibilities where the payment of tax and national insurance is concerned.
I think it’s everyone’s responsibility to stamp out unpaid internships – employers and graduates. Graduates who take unpaid internships know on some level they’re doing something which disadvantages other people – they justify it by saying that they have no choice, but the truth is the poorer graduates who can’t afford to intern unpaid are the ones who REALLY don’t have any choices open to them. The employers don’t care at all and because they’re the ones with all the power, I reserve the majority of my anger for them. But I do believe that anyone who has involvement with unpaid internships should care more about those who are less fortunate.