“WE SHOULD HAVE BACKED YOUNG JOBSEEKERS FROM THE START”, BOSS ADMITS
*GRADUATE FOG EXCLUSIVE!*
Today Milkround, the leading UK job board for graduates, has made a stunning announcement that they will no longer run adverts for unpaid internships – and they would back new legislation to make it illegal to advertise illegal unpaid internships. But that’s not all – they’ve also admitted they should have done it much, much sooner. In a jaw-dropping exclusive article for Graduate Fog, Jenni Joplin, General Manager at Milkround, explains why their website is proud to join the fight for a fairer deal for job-seeking graduates…
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The UK’s biggest job boards have announced we are united in calling for a ban on the advertisement of illegal, unpaid internships.
Frankly, it’s about time. For too long, the recruitment industry has stayed shamefully silent on this issue. The truth is we were nervous about challenging our advertisers over the positions they wanted to promote on our sites. We now see that was a mistake. We should have backed young jobseekers from the start.
But it’s never too late — and we plan to make up for it now. In May, Monster became the first UK job board to state publicly that it would remove any adverts for unpaid internships that appear to break the minimum wage law.
And they went a step further, saying they would back legislation to make advertising unpaid internships illegal. (At the time, this meant a ten-minute bill proposed by Labour MP Hazel Blears.)
It was a bold move which took the rest of the industry by surprise. But it has not taken us long to realise that we must all follow — and now Milkround, Total Jobs, Reed, Prospects, Target Jobs and Guardian Jobs have all made the same pledge.
This is significant for many reasons. Job boards have accepted our responsibility to support young people in their search for paid work in the UK without being exploited.
It is also vital for them to know that their contribution has real — yes, monetary — value to the UK’s businesses. At Milkround, we are passionate about giving job-seeking graduates career confidence. How can they have that when unpaid internships imply (wrongly) that their labour is worth nothing?
We also feel we have an important role to play in educating the surprisingly large number of businesses who simply don’t realise that having unpaid interns is illegal.
We accept the case presented by Tanya de Grunwald, campaigner and founder of Graduate Fog, that the display of these adverts across various job boards has served to normalise an illegal practice and created confusion among jobseekers and employers alike.
We hope that removing adverts for illegal unpaid internships from our websites will undo that and accelerate the cultural shift towards employers accepting that they have a legal and moral responsibility to pay young people a fair wage for their work.
And there is one final reason why our announcement is so significant. Now that the online recruitment industry has joined young people, parents and universities in taking a tough stance on this issue, we are only waiting for one group to get behind young jobseekers in supporting a ban on unpaid internships: our politicians. Many of whom have unpaid interns themselves.
Earlier this year, Hazel Blears announced plans to propose her bill in parliament to make it illegal to advertise illegal unpaid internships. Shamefully few MPs supported her idea, which was also publicly criticised by Nick Clegg.
His spokesperson said he feared that one of the “unintended consequences” of a change to the law would be the creation of a “black market” for the best (unpaid) internships. But there is no evidence to suggest that this would happen, and experts and campaigners like Graduate Fog and Intern Aware say the risk is small versus the huge gains to be made by tightening the legislation.
Meanwhile the website Work for an MP (w4mp) — run by the House of Commons — continues to advertise dozen of unpaid internships with MPs. MPs believe they are protected by an Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) ruling which states they are exempt from having to abide by the national minimum wage law. Campaigners and legal experts remain puzzled about how this can possibly be the case — but they are yet to find a former political intern brave enough to challenge it.
But — like us — the politicians will soon discover that they can’t stay silent on this important issue forever. When the moral and legal case for action is clear, you know it’s time to do the right thing.
*WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS ARTICLE?
Is it right that the big UK job boards are finally backing young jobseekers by pledging to remove adverts for unpaid internships? Please take a second to comment below – thanks!
I’m not sure whether I agree with removing adverts for unpaid internship positions. It depends on the length of the work and whether it can subsequently lead to a paid position. I also think there are many cases where unpaid internships provide valuable skills and work experience to young people that would put them in better stead when applying for jobs.
Overall I agree with the aims of this notion (increasing rights of students) but don’t think it’s as clear cut as removing them altogther.
This post is getting a tonne of traffic – but nobody is commenting! Why?
Anyone want to address Adam’s thoughts?
Adm,
here’s how the law stands.
You can’t offer an unpaid job with the carrot that there’s a paid job at the end of it – that’s illegal. So I disagree with you ‘pot at the end of the rainbow’ point of view.
The law also says that work experience is a specific thing, its not, as you have done, conflated with skills. Work experience must be for a short period of time, (usually under 12 weeks) must involve shadowing (not working) and typically must be linked to a recognised educational institution. ie. its for students as part of their coursework.
Young people have every right to expect that once they’ve finished their studies they ought to be paid at least the National Minimum Wage. Many of them have studied vocational courses and have learnt many of the skills to do the jobs they are applying for. I acknowledge they are at the bottom of the ladder, but the rate of pay they receive reflects this – however that rate of pay is not legally set at zero.
I disagree with you about the notion increasing the rights of students. Those rights are already in place, they don’t need to be increased, they already have the right to the National Minimum Wage (like everyone else), its not as if they are lesser human beings by virtue of being students. The problem we have is employers ( and perhaps the misinformed) assuming its legal to not pay the National Minimum Wage where its due.
@Peter F
So are you pleased Milkround and others have banned these adverts? What do you make of the objection that it could create a black market for the best unpaid internships?
I don’t think this is as big a deal as you are making out with the sensationalist headlines – it’s not a stunning announcement but it is good news. Sadly the majority of the unpaid internships are not advertised and are awarded based on nepotism. If you could get all MP’s to pledge not to take on unpaid interns – that would be big news and worthy of all the noise.
Milkround, and all the other graduate job boards, charge for advertising – if a company doesn’t want to pay it’s interns, it’s very unlikely to want to pay to advertise the roles? Admittedly some do appear – but very very few!
It’s fantastic that you are campaigning but it could be argued that this result is something of a pyrrhic victory because it will not force companies to pay interns – rather it will mean they will return to the traditional routes of filling the unpaid internships ie employing rich kids who know someone in the company.
@ Tanya,
I partially agree with Barry. Many internships are gained via word of mouth, that wont stop (or decrease), but I don’t think it will increase.
What the ban will do is educate more employers who are naive, misinformed or simply disreputable that they MUST pay interns.
Great leadership from Milkround.
Just got a Milkround email about Graduate advantage – its says ” Most are paid, can last up to 12 months and could lead to a permanent position.”
So – didn’t take them long to go back on that one then!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Barry:
They said most are paid, as opposed to all are paid? 😉 So still indirect advertising of unpaid internships then I guess you could argue, but a bit greyer I suppose if you’re linking to another site where – apparently – the majority of the internships are legal.
Put it this way: the economy may be starting to pick up now but it’s still not ideal, and vacancies for graduate positions are still not at the same level they may have been several years ago. Looking around job boards at the moment, it seems an overwhelming proportion of vacancies available are for OTE “Recruitment Consultant” positions. I’d much rather take an unpaid internship in which I can gain valuable insight into a professional corporate world and which offers the prospect of full-time employment afterwards, than go into a forced career which it seems has only flourished so much due to the lack of available jobs elsewhere. If you’re smart, you can find a company which is willing to take you on and pay for transport and lunch costs – still not amazing but better than nothing, and has the potential to add a lot more to your CV than sitting around sat on the phones all day cold calling people who don’t even want to talk to you in the first place.
I should add I’m not saying I fully support unpaid internships – on the contrary, it would be lovely if all positions were paid at NMW at least. But I also fear that it might lead to fewer positions available overall as employers don’t want to risk taking on new graduates with little professional experience, AND pay them at the same time. So it seems that unpaid internships (although with extra costs paid for) are a necessary evil if it means you can further enhance your CV with transferrable skills.
Hi Barry, thanks for bringing the Graduate Advantage post to our attention, we have spoken to the employer and the advert for unpaid internships has been removed. We have also added a ‘Report this opportunity’ button at the foot of each job ad, so you can let us know immediately if you feel a job does not meet the requirements set by National Minimum Wage law.
Thanks!
their promises didn’t last very long!!! http://www.milkround.com/graduate-employers-companies-institutions-organisations/the-springboard-charity-and-springboard-uk/kickstart-your-career-after-school-college-or-university/