JAN MORTIER LASHES OUT FOLLOWING OBSERVER STORY
The boss of a London thinktank which has been charging former ‘junior associates’ £300 for a reference has defended his actions – and suggested that many UK graduates are “unemployable” without the help of paid-for training programmes like the one his organisation offers.
Alongside suggestions that Observer policy editor Daniel Boffey’s story (which has had over 7,700 shares so far, and was based on a tip-off from Graduate Fog) included several inaccuracies and omissions, Jan Mortier claimed the ‘real issue’ was that many UK graduates lack basic skills and knowledge in comparison with young people from other parts of the world. This makes training programmes like that run by Civitatis a necessity for those who want to get their career started. Here is the statement in full:
Graduate Fog thinks that Jan Mortier should stop ranting and just apologise. For everything. When nearly 8,000 members of the public feel compelled to hit ‘Share’ on a story calling you out, even the most arrogant of bosses should consider whether perhaps it’s their judgement that’s bad, not everybody else’s. There’s a word for such moments: “sorry”. Jan Mortier, we’re waiting.
* WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF CIVITATIS’ STATEMENT?
Is it fair to say that UK graduates are unemployable without additional paid-for training programmes like the one they offer? Do you feel graduate from other countries have the edge when applying for jobs in competitive industries?
Here’s an advert that Jan Mortier posted a full eight years ago. For someone to do real work for him, unpaid:
Travel & Lunch
Civitatis International — Researchers Without Borders is seeking to recruit a Webmaster to construct a website to act as a monitoring resource on an intergovernmental organisation.
The successful applicant will work over the next few weeks at our office in Islington with our researchers to construct the site.
Skills required:
Advanced knowledge and skills in website creation.
Must own you own wireless laptop and have your own creation software.
Applicants with political experience will be at an advantage.
Applicants should submit a active weblinks of websites they have created.
Hours of commitment are flexible and this post would suit someone looking for experience in working for a Non Governmental Organisation promoting Democracy.
This is an immediate start position.
When I asked him why it was not paid, given that he wanted someone to do real work for him he said that it was “only a commitment for a few hours” and when I questioned that, he said that “Our terms are non negotiable”.
Charming then, charming now.
‘Commitment of a few hours’ = expecting a set level of work. Paying at least the NMW for which, is non negotiable
It is frequently said “never give a sucker an even break”…hence, I trust that the candidate who was offered the chance to develop a website, a fairly trivial task even some years ago, would have simply added in a Logic Bomb to the system. After delivery, the Logic Bomb would come into effect, and make the website inaccessible.
I imagine these graduates from other countries have knowledge and skills that we may not because someone has taken the time to train them.
A bit late to this, but I was one of these unpaid interns and the situation is actually much weirder than the paid for reference.
Jan Mortier believes in the idea that the whole world was governed by one king some thousands of years ago and that the appearance of pyramids in Mexico and Egypt are evidence of this.
He also stopped the internship when I refused to sleep with him, and his idea of “training ” is sitting in a pub emailing academics to give his ideas credibility.