Features: Internship Issues

With a growing supply of interns, are employers beginning to take advantage? We spoke to Heather Collier, Director of NCWE to get her take on some current issues.

‘Virtual internships’ seem a big thing at the moment. What are they, and are they as useful as regular placements?

Virtual internships are conducted remotely rather than from the usual office environment. It can be from home, the library or a cafe, anywhere that you could use a laptop or mobile phone.

They are usually market research or sales related but the downside is that the intern does not benefit from learning about the subtleties of the  world of work from other colleagues, and they can’t get a feel for the company ethics and broader core values.

Virtual internships don’t allow the individual to network, learn about other roles or integrate fully with the company culture. Saying this, a brief stint would be better for the CV than nothing.

Auctioned internships have also been in the news. Is this a fair way of offering experience?

Auctioned internships are a relatively new phenomenon whereby a charity asks a large company if they can provide an internship opportunity which will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, the charity using the money for their bona fide purposes.

The demoralising aspect to this is that they are only really available to individuals who have independent means or wealthy parents. They don’t necessarily go to the people who would benefit most and the company doesn’t necessarily get the best person. For most people graduating with huge debts, they are unattainable. 

 

Finally, the payment of interns is a rapidly growing issue, what is the NCWE’s view on the subject?

NCWE don’t want to discourage companies from coming forward with opportunities for graduates or discourage graduates from taking them. It has to be a balance between getting the experience that is crucial for the first permanent job and not encouraging exploitation.

The main thing is for graduates not to allow themselves to be exploited. They should establish a time limit for the internship, get as much as they can from it, network for contacts and opportunities and when it is no longer mutually equitable i.e. fair to both parties, they should move on and use what they now have to look for the next internship or job.

We recommend that if a graduate is adding value to a company they should be paid the national the minimum wage, to find out if you’re entitled to the National Minimum Wage see the GOV.UK  website.