The concept of Internships - does this make anyone else mad !!

bruce wayne

First off let me start by saying that I am not in the market for an internship, I'm a fully qualified accountant, with a business degree and over 13 years experience in accounting and financial roles.

When I started out after completing a plc course I knew nothing but theoretical concepts of business practice and very basic accounting. I took a job as an office junior earning £9000 a year and began my long journey of experience/part time study and eventual qualification.

I guessed that’s the way most people did it who gained their qualifications through industry and not practice. Personally I preferred it that way.

Something I have noticed in recent months in the recruitment web sites is this idea of an internship….an unpaid period of time where you are “exposed” to various roles and tasks. I came across one this evening and I just got so worked up at how unfair this idea is.

Why would anyone do this. From reading the job spec it starts off with promises of exposure to senior financial management tasks like “managing a finance department”, but further reading details the donkey work of processing invoices, bank rec’s, reports etc. This company were offering a 5-6 month internship with the possibility of it leading to a job at the end of it and all they were offering was €100 a month in travel expenses ??? Like WTF…seriously.

This is not a rant against the company but more so the concept of an unpaid internships with promises of things that won’t be delivered and being worked like a dog.

I know in the America internships are common place, but I always assumed they were something done only during the summer months. I’m stunned that anyone would actually consider doing this

Cat Melodeon

I would do an internship if it were possible - unfortunately I live in the sticks and there are NO jobs/work placements/opportunities of any kind in the area I want to work in within a commutable distance - they are all in Dublin. The reason I would do one is that I recently returned to education, getting a degree & postgrad in an area quite different from what I was doing in my 20s. While I have lots of professional experience and transferable skills as well as relevant and current qualifications, I have not yet managed to get full time work in my new career area. I've been doing piece work, very short-term contracts and relief work and am gradually building up my CV and my contacts, but a proper job is still a ways off. So, an internship would add greatly to my CV as I would really get into the swing of the type of work I want to be doing. And if there was the prospect of a job at the end of it, that makes an internship very attractive.

bruce wayne

But would an internship look good on your cv?

Most employers would know that the experience gained on a six month entry level position might not stand up to much?

How do people on internships make ends meet? I would imagine they would lose any social welfare payments as technically they are not available for work ?

gollem_1975

bruce wayne wrote: »

But would an internship look good on your cv?

Most employers would know that the experience gained on a six month entry level position might not stand up to much?

How do people on internships make ends meet? I would imagine they would lose any social welfare payments as technically they are not available for work ?

many of the internships are under the umbrella of a scheme called thework placement program (WPP) - which allows participants to keep their benefits

at present employers are not supposed to pay any additional expenses to a person on placement.

check the fas website for details on WPP. there are also lots of posts/threads about it in the Work & Jobs forum.

MonkeyBone

bruce wayne wrote: »

But would an internship look good on your cv?

Most employers would know that the experience gained on a six month entry level position might not stand up to much?

How do people on internships make ends meet? I would imagine they would lose any social welfare payments as technically they are not available for work ?

I did one of them last year and they don't really stand up in this current climate. Don't get me wrong though, they are great experience to get but it is basically free labour for employers and in terms of going for a job they still do not stand up to more experienced candidates. I am currently employed at the moment in IT and my manager said that they looked at my internship to signify that I was proactive in my approach to gaining employment then gaining actual experience. Also, even if a person is on social welfare it is hard to get by particularly if you have a long commute everyday etc... (I lived in the sticks so long commute). Internship do offer benefits for a person but lately I have been seeing them being taken advantage of by employers especially with the WPPs.

bruce wayne wrote: »

Why would anyone do this. From reading the job spec it starts off with promises of exposure to senior financial management tasks like “managing a finance department”, but further reading details the donkey work of processing invoices, bank rec’s, reports etc. This company were offering a 5-6 month internship with the possibility of it leading to a job at the end of it and all they were offering was €100 a month in travel expenses ??? Like WTF…seriously.

and believe me when I say that this sounds like one of the better ones offered by employers....... I have seen some real stinkers in the WPPs in comparison to this.