[cagefan]

Hi,

thought I saw a thread about this but couldn't locate it. Anyway, Im on the job bridge scheme and enjoying it. But I am sick of seeing companies trying to take advantage of it.

Anyway, latest attempt is insure.ie are chancing their arm to hire an intern for customer services. Require a degree and all. I have done this work for years before retraining. I pity anyone who does it for free. Its time the goverment fixed this disgrace

[quietriot]

Where do we draw the line between an actual opportunity and abuse?

I would have said something like:
"Shelf-Filler Internship" at Tesco would be abuse
"Customer Service" with Insure.ie, one of the countries well known insurance companies, would be an opportunity, no? Customer service is a skill that many coming out of college certainly don't have, they'd learn secondary skills that they might not already have and it'd certainly look good on the CV.

It's €185+€50 per week for it also, isn't it?

Sounds fine to me really. A person could get a lot out of that and use it when they're finished, unlike a shelf-filler who'll learn nothing of value.

For whatever it's worth, I've met the management in insure before and they're certainly not "scabby". I don't think they'd be the type to exploit people and as I know how much their base staff are paid, they aren't exploiting who they have there now either.

[cagefan]

Originally Posted by quietriot

Where do we draw the line between an actual opportunity and abuse?

I would have said something like:
"Shelf-Filler Internship" at Tesco would be abuse
"Customer Service" with Insure.ie, one of the countries well known insurance companies, would be an opportunity, no? Customer service is a skill that many coming out of college certainly don't have, they'd learn secondary skills that they might not already have and it'd certainly look good on the CV.

It's €185+€50 per week for it also, isn't it?

Sounds fine to me really. A person could get a lot out of that and use it when they're finished, unlike a shelf-filler who'll learn nothing of value.

For whatever it's worth, I've met the management in insure before and they're certainly not "scabby". I don't think they'd be the type to exploit people and as I know how much their base staff are paid, they aren't exploiting who they have there now either.

well, from my experience and I actually have quite a bit in customer service its not a job that requires a college degree or you to have experience in it. There are still quite a few jobs in that area for people even without experience (entry level) and if you are going to hire/take on someone to get abused all day then the least you can do is pay them. I'm definatley not trying to slate CS as a job - in fact I have alot of respect for people who can stick it out or even enjoy it - I certainly didnt.

As I said, Im on jobsbridge - I think it has a place but only in certain fields (Science, Enginneering, ect ect) Not jobs that anyone from any background can hypothetically do.

[quietriot]

They're most likely just trying to give the job to a college graduate for the sake of giving it to a graduate so. They obviously see that they can get the most out of a graduate who has shown they can work hard and that the same graduate will be able to get the most out of the experience with them.

Well isn't the whole point of the scheme to give people an opportunity to enrich their cv to make themselves more employable? At the end of the day, it's not like they can hand out high level jobs or highly technical jobs to people with no experience.

I don't see a valid reason that it need be exclusive to people in the science and engineering fields, and this is coming from someone in the science and engineering field.

[cagefan]

Originally Posted by quietriot

They're most likely just trying to give the job to a college graduate for the sake of giving it to a graduate so. They obviously see that they can get the most out of a graduate who has shown they can work hard and that the same graduate will be able to get the most out of the experience with them.

Well isn't the whole point of the scheme to give people an opportunity to enrich their cv to make themselves more employable? At the end of the day, it's not like they can hand out high level jobs or highly technical jobs to people with no experience.

I don't see a valid reason that it need be exclusive to people in the science and engineering fields, and this is coming from someone in the science and engineering field.

Well in my opinion they are probably trying to save themselves some cash. If they wanted a graduate why dont the pay them. Its only fair. They might benefit from having CS experience on there CV but in my experience all that it gave me was entry into more CS jobs. I never said they should hand out highlevel jobs just jobs which are relevent to a graduates career. Why dont they provide an internship for someone in marketing or something like that? Many other companies are. Instead they choose an entry level position that really probably isnt what a graduate wants to do. No graduate comes out of college and says I'd love a career in customer services. I wasnt saying restrict it engineering or science exclusively - I said restrict to fields which will be relevent to their future career. These guys are trying to save a few euro at someone elses expense. If they need someone why not pay them? Dont expand if you cant afford it.

[quietriot]

You could accuse every single company involving themselves with Job Bridge of just trying to save a few euro at the expense of someone else though and it is apparent that the difference between exploitation and opportunity is entirely subjective at this point.

If they want to offer it and a graduate wants to take part, what's the harm? The graduate is obviously interested in it and the company is interested in having them, both will benefit. Nobody is forcing anybody into it, it would seem?

Sure, it might not be the ideal job for a graduate but what would they prefer? To sit at home on social welfare doing nothing but putting a big gap on their cv? Flipping burgers in McD's, but with "pride" or something?

I've no idea. The scheme is here at the moment and isn't looking like it's going away and this seems to be one of the better things on it.

I don't agree that the taxpayers purse is being used to pay for the labour of private companies, any private companies, but that's how it is at the moment and is applicable to someone offering a science internship as someone offering a customer service internship.

[cagefan]

well I do accuse every single company but at least some of them offer decent work experience. GRaduates dont want to be at home on the dole they want to be out working and if they apply to that its because the feel they have no choice. I doubt one single applicant will want to be a CS agent. I think there is a huge harm in this, as if the scheme excluded these jobs they would have to offer a paid position. Anyway, I for one can speak about this from experience. I am at least getting good work and an enjoyable job if not paid so I can only imagine what it would be like in insure.ie. I'll leave there though as this is just going around in circles

[cagefan]

one other thing, I emailed company at info@insure.ie told them my thoughts..would be great if others did likewise! I'm probably a bit bored in my unpaid job today

[Delancey]

One of the most important principles of Job Bridge is that ' real ' jobs should not be displaced in preference to unpaid interns - pleanty of examples showing this is not the case. Scheme is mercilessly abused and should be wound up.

[okiss]

I know a company near me looking for a job bridge applicant with work experience. This company could afford to pay someone min wage for this job and even then they would be paying less than the going rate for this job.
One of my friends is looking for work but said why should I work for €50 pw on top of my dole for ////.
My friend has a lot of work experience and does not like or want to be out of work like a lot of people at the moment. They have applied for jobs and had some interviews and are hopeful of getting work soon.
Job bridge appears to be that gov is doing something to help out the jobless but the reality is that some companies are using it as a form of cheap labour.

[gw80]

i found a job on fas yesterday advertised as a permenant job,20,000 a year, minimum 1 year expierience, job fitted me perfectly, job was for general op in a workshop, mig tig and arc welding and steel erecting i have around 7 years expierience in this area and could probably teach this company a few things as i dont think they have done much on site steel erecting, sent in me cv by email, happy days, said ill ring aswell to seem eager, i got threw to the owner and explained why i was ringing, but staight away he said i acually put that ad in the wrong place, it was meant to be in as an intern job and im in the process of changing it, now obviously this fella new nothing about the intern scheme until after he put the ad up, and either jobs bridge or just some random person informed him of this slave labour scheme and taught it was christmas again, whats stopping this guy from getting 6 to nine months of free labour from someone and then saying byebye,fair enough if he,s willing to take someone just out of a welding course with little expierience and is willing to take the time and train them on the job, then that works out good for both parties, as i would have loved this scheme when i was just out of training but no way would i do steel erecting for an extra 50 yoyos it can be quiet a dangerous job at times, in the future this scheme if kept running in its current format will be looked back on as a complete disaster, just my two cents

[CatFromHue]

Originally Posted by gw80

i found a job on fas yesterday advertised as a permenant job,20,000 a year, minimum 1 year expierience, job fitted me perfectly, job was for general op in a workshop, mig tig and arc welding and steel erecting i have around 7 years expierience in this area and could probably teach this company a few things as i dont think they have done much on site steel erecting, sent in me cv by email, happy days, said ill ring aswell to seem eager, i got threw to the owner and explained why i was ringing, but staight away he said i acually put that ad in the wrong place, it was meant to be in as an intern job and im in the process of changing it, now obviously this fella new nothing about the intern scheme until after he put the ad up, and either jobs bridge or just some random person informed him of this slave labour scheme and taught it was christmas again, whats stopping this guy from getting 6 to nine months of free labour from someone and then saying byebye,fair enough if he,s willing to take someone just out of a welding course with little expierience and is willing to take the time and train them on the job, then that works out good for both parties, as i would have loved this scheme when i was just out of training but no way would i do steel erecting for an extra 50 yoyos it can be quiet a dangerous job at times, in the future this scheme if kept running in its current format will be looked back on as a complete disaster, just my two cents

If you see the position advertised on Jobridge and it states the candidate needs 1 year experience you should email Jobridge and complain. I've emailed and complained about a few jobs which stated the position needed experience, which obviously an intern wouldn't have, and they were removed.

[thebman]

Originally Posted by CatFromHue

If you see the position advertised on Jobridge and it states the candidate needs 1 year experience you should email Jobridge and complain. I've emailed and complained about a few jobs which stated the position needed experience, which obviously an intern wouldn't have, and they were removed.

I saw a job on it that I know requires two years experience minimum that just didn't say it needed the experience.

Saying the person will get on the job training which nobody in the company is actually trained to provide.

Doesn't matter as they didn't fill it because anyone that read the description would have been able to tell, they were trying to replace two people with experience with one person without.

This job bridge thing is being scammed left, right and centre from what I can see and I'm not even looking for work and can see this. I'm sure the minister and FAS themselves know it too.

[Sala]

I've seen worse.

At the moment there is a waiter / Waitress in Dundrum (I'd name and shame but it look like they set up a different email address for it), Cleaner/ Canteen Assistant, Tyre fitter so on.

I have been a waitress, there is no need to do an 9 month internship to qualify for it. Imagine slaving away, long unsociable hours, working really hard and taking in loads of money for your boss who doesn't even pay you..

I would do an internship if it was some job that I really wanted to do, but hadn't a chance to get in without experience.

[motherelements]

Who do I email about obvious abuses of the job internship scheme?? A car valet position in Lusk??!!! Total abuse of vulnerable people......