LAW GRADUATE LOST TWO STONE DURING SIX MONTHS WORKING FOR FREE 
A law graduate has told how he could only afford one meal a day during his unpaid internship – and lost two stone in weight as a result.
Law graduate Joseph Loughnane, 27, from Galway in Ireland, came to London to do a six-month placement at a human rights organisation. But he quickly found himself struggling to manage his budget, which included rent, travel and food. He said:
“The organisation was small and couldn’t afford to pay me. My friend and I were paying £500 each a month on rent and I only had money for one meal a day. Sometimes my manager brought in food to the office and I could eat for free.
“If I was paid, I’d still be in London now because I loved the job. But I’ve been on the dole for the last five months now.”
Joseph graduated in 2011 with a masters in international human rights law, and also has a postgraduate law degree under his belt. But despite applying for jobs at solicitors’ offices for six years, he has never had an offer of paid work in his field.
Graduate Fog has been concerned about the impact of unpaid internships for several years, shaming dozens of organisations and individuals for failing to pay their junior staff, including Topshop, Harrods, Tony Blair and Simon Cowell (first for X Factor, then again yesterday for his company’s new digital project You Generation).
Discussions tend to focus on the legal aspect, and issue of fair access (namely that unpaid internships exploit those who do them and exclude those who can’t afford to do them). But Joseph’s case raises a new question. What is the potential impact on an unpaid intern’s health?
* HOW DO UNPAID INTERNS SURVIVE?
If you’ve done an unpaid internship, how did you make ends meet? Did you take out a loan, accept money from your parents – or juggle your internship with paid work? How long did you manage to survive – and did you ever go hungry? Please post your comment below, thanks…
I’ve had two unpaid internships. The first one was part-time and in the same city where I go to university. I was living with some family members (I still do) so I didn’t have to pay any bills and was also working in retail part-time. The second one was overseas and I had to take out a loan to be able to pay my host family for the room/food.
“I could only afford one meal a day during my unpaid internship”
this does not suprise me at all, when you live in london, like i do it is very costly. I think the guy should take them to court to claim his wages which can be done and has been done
That’s a pretty shocking situation to be in and you have to ask where this is heading and how instead of working for free being seen as a sign of a ‘can-do’ attitude it is in fact self-harm and a sign of a failing economy and a society that exploits its young.
It is increasingly difficult to have a career in law even with internships etc. There are many dozens of people competing for even the most basic of legal jobs (on deteriorating t&cs) and you find firms want people who meet the ‘person spec’ precisely. Experience of photocopying, making teas, running errands doesn’t cut it, and whereas firms used to invest in people, you more or less have to have done the same job before to be considered for short-listing.
“I could only afford one meal a day during my unpaid internship”
That’s bad. I ate more than that when I was unemployed and spending 70% of my income on rent!
I did an unpaid internship in London for 5 months immediately after leaving university. It left me in £4800 of debt racked up over two graduate overdrafts and one credit card.
I received full grants/loans and worked part time while studying so had an unspent student overdraft which increased to £2000 in the year after graduation. Knowing that the one overdraft wouldn’t be enough, I took out a second graduate account from a different bank (neglecting to tell them I already had a large graduate overdraft elsewhere). This bought me my second £2000. The last £800 was the limit on a credit card I had applied for while working part time during university.
Three years later all that debt has had me shifting spending onto credit cards and transferring balances to maintain low interest rates.
My pay since that internship has gone up to minimum wage (woohoo!), then to London living wage at a seperate internship and finally to a salaried position quite recently.
I’m still saddled with just under £4000 of debt that I didn’t have as a fresh graduate.
Man, I am an undergraduate and to be honest I am getting extremely afraid for my future. I have had three internships. Two of them were unpaid. I thought pursuing my passions could actually be possible, but how can I help others if I can barely provide for myself. Well, then again that may be the point, work so hard and have my time consumed on how to survive that I have no time to help my community or even start a family.
I just graduated with a BA in Finance from reputable university in my country and I have to say I was very optimistic, ambitious and excited to start my career before that. Unfortunately, now it’s been already 6 months since my graduation and I’ve applied to every entry level job ad related or.none related to my field and gone to many many interviews but nothing have worked out: the excuse i guess is my lack in experience. What can i do? Like seriously!!! I cannot afford doing unpaid work. I have a car loan that i should pay and i will need gas to go to the internship!
I feel stuck! I can’t even afford pursuing a master’s degree even though i was one of the best students! I’m not even sure a masters will help improve the situation, it will probably make me overqualified for an entry level job and still lacking experience!
Wtf is this shit!! Why are people still going to school if the majority won’t find jobs except a few lucky losers who used to fail at school but still managed to secure a decent position somehow.
I really feel miserable.