Internships

airscotty

Interested to get a bit of feed back from people on Internships. Past Experiences? Paid or Un Paid? Did you get full time work out of it?

airscotty

Nobody ever done an internship and have any feedback on it....positive or negative?

Shelga

Hey there, doing an unpaid one at the moment. Graduated 2010 as an engineer, no sign of work, the usual. Was working full time in an unrelated field until Christmas, then had to wait the obligatory 3 months before I could do an IBEC placement whilst retaining SW payments (:rolleyes:) So have been there just over 2 months, probably not long enough to provide you with any real insight.

Mixed experience really. Very hard to motivate myself sometimes to go in, sometimes not given much to do, and the work I am given is very bottom-of-the-ladder stuff. Which is fair enough I suppose. Also the company is a huge MNC which makes billions in profit, so it's easy to question the ethics of hiring someone and not paying them. Another point is that the vast majority of people there are at least 5 years older than me, more like 15-20, so I feel detached and that a social life involving these people is just not gonna happen.

They're the negatives. The positives are that overall, there's no question that it's better than sitting around the house all day. My boss is incredibly nice and understanding. They're pretty laid-back about time off. The employees there, although older than me, are decent and friendly people. I am learning a little about various engineering programmes and software, and just being in that type of environment is beneficial in terms of seeing what 'the real world' is actually like.

Perhaps the most important positive, is that this week I secured a job offer in the UK, and it's very possible that my internship swung it in my favour. I had plenty to talk about in my interview, and made myself out to be the hard-working, humble type (!) Anyone can see that it's a hell of a lot better sounding than "Work is hard to come by so I haven't been doing much the last six months..." And that's after only 2 months, which is nothing.

That said, I can completely understand why someone wouldn't want to do an unpaid internship. They're demoralising and often don't lead anywhere. Also, I've had people whose names I don't know come up to me in work and ask outright how much social welfare I get, like WTF? People seem to think you don't have a right to privacy if you're on the dole. :rolleyes: In fact if you're staying in Ireland, there's a high chance it won't lead anywhere. Nine months will pass and you'll have experience, but it still doesn't mean any additional jobs exist out there. I can't really see any point for non-grads to do an internship, apart from to plug a gap in their CV.

Now PAID internships, that's a whole different kettle of fish!

starlit

I haven't done an Unpaid work placement, I have worked in unpaid voluntary jobs before. I worked in a paid work placement for six months, I didn't get long term employment out of it unfortunately as they were letting people go otherwise they would have renewed my contract. Work experience is better than no work experience especially for those who have none or very little depends what field they have studied and worked in before will come a long away in finding work. Years of experience is the key but having the qualities, skills and qualifications are also important. Its worth doing an internship of any kind if you think it will benefit you and gain experience working in that area whether its your field of study or not! It give you an idea what you areas of work you like, enjoy, what you are good at, what interests you and what you'd like to persue. You learn a lot I'd imagine from an internship. Its something to put on your CV too. Shows drive and ambition to potential employers that you have tried your hand at something to get your foot in the door!

Good luck

RachyPie

I worked for 2 summers in unpaid internships during college.

I agree with Shelga that it was a mixed experience.

I was working a part time job at the weekend too, so never had a day off and was very tired most of the time. After a few weeks I started to feel like it was ok to show up late, or slack off as they weren't paying me. I still did my work, of course, I just had a hard time motivating myself to do so.
The reason I decided to do them initially, was so that I would have gained some sort of relevant experience related to my degree upon finishing college. At the time, it was pretty tough to drag myself out of the bed and go there every morning, when it was actually costing me money to work there. (For transport, lunch etc).

So at the time it was pretty unpleasant, but, I would say that in the long term it was well worth doing them. Now when I go for interviews, I have lots of relevant examples to give from these positions, and it has also provided me with 2 references.

RATM

I recruit for internships from time to time (currently have 3 digital marketing internships and an IT Security one going) and I see the benefit in them. However I don't recruit for anything longer than 3 months and always on the premise that there is a full time job at the end of them (subject to satisfactory performance of course).

Anyway this year I placed 3 people in internships and all three are now working full time and fully paid so it worked out quite well for them tbh.

On the other hand I see certain companies cropping up time and time again on the CV's of candidates and they do appear to be just turning over interns for free work. My advice- do your research first, ask plenty of questions- is this the first intern they are taking on? If not is the previous one employed there? Is there a possibility of full time work provided performance is satisfactory, etc.

There are pitfalls and advantages to internships and the one actually you do is crucial to the type of experience you'll have. For example the marketing internships I'm recruiting for offer training in digital marketing for a graduate- I see them as very valuable internships for a graduate as they essentially remove the 'you've no experience in X so we can't give you the job' conundrum.

maglite

IT background. Would't dream of doing unpaid work. I have a skill set I'm entitled to remuneration.

EDIT- have done internship but traveled to do one as Irish companies were taking the mick in regards to pay and conditions.

airscotty

RATM wrote: »

Anyway this year I placed 3 people in internships and all three are now working full time and fully paid so it worked out quite well for them tbh.

For example the marketing internships I'm recruiting for offer training in digital marketing for a graduate- I see them as very valuable internships for a graduate as they essentially remove the 'you've no experience in X so we can't give you the job' conundrum.

I think these are 2 majorly important aspects of internships. What is the going rate for an internship might I ask?

RATM

maglite wrote: »

IT background. Would't dream of doing unpaid work. I have a skill set I'm entitled to remuneration.

EDIT- have done internship but traveled to do one as Irish companies were taking the mick in regards to pay and conditions.

You're right- with IT most graduates have the skills to go straight into work. In the case of the IT internship I have on the books at the moment it is an extremely specialised skill set that is practised by a IT security consultancy. The lead consultant realises that they need to train the intern extensively in many aspects of IT security before they are competent to do the job.


airscotty- some are paid, some are unpaid, some pay lunch/travel expenses. Typcialy paid at €22-26k

airscotty

RATM wrote: »

Typcialy paid at €22-26k

I think your hallucinating...and if not I want to work with you!! The starting salary for graduate going into full time paid job is aprox 24k according to grad IRL. Internship are a long way short of that.

maglite

^^ Allow me to be idiotically simple.
Graduate 1. McDonalds Burger flipper on 18000
Graduate 2 Skill IT Professional 30000
Average = 24000.
That Grad Irl is an average of all Grads. RATMs relate to those who can demand a higher salary and seem inline with what I have seen other IT Internships go for. I would also suggest that as he is claiming to be hiring Intern he might have a good idea of the market rates.

justbringit89

I'm in a difficult situation. I could have an internship for a great company for six months but its paying very little. I would love to take it as i have no experience in the field I want to work in, just a degree.

I was told, there will be payment but not very much. How much could I expect to be paid? Didn't want to ask in the interview. I'd be happy with €150 a week TBH. Should I expect something more than €50 a week?

Also I am moving from dublin to Galway for the Job so would like to try & get the dole. I would find it very difficult to move to galway for 6 months & work for little money.

Also it more than likely is only for 6 months & no view for permanent position but as I said would be great on the CV

RATM

justbringit89 wrote: »

I'm in a difficult situation. I could have an internship for a great company for six months but its paying very little. I would love to take it as i have no experience in the field I want to work in, just a degree.

I was told, there will be payment but not very much. How much could I expect to be paid? Didn't want to ask in the interview. I'd be happy with €150 a week TBH. Should I expect something more than €50 a week?

Also I am moving from dublin to Galway for the Job so would like to try & get the dole. I would find it very difficult to move to galway for 6 months & work for little money.

Also it more than likely is only for 6 months & no view for permanent position but as I said would be great on the CV

Are you on the social welfare? If so ask your employer to talk to FAS about putting you on the WPP scheme- that way you keep your dole while you complete the internship. There's also a National Internship Scheme coming very shortly whereby you'll keep the dole and the employer will top it up by an amount yet to be announced.

Otherwise its tricky because if they pay you something then you're legally entitled to the minimum wage. If its an unpaid internship then its considered voluntary work under the law and perfectly legit. However in practice some employers will pay travel / lunch expenses to their interns at the rate of €50-100 per week while they are training. It is technically not legal but government policy seems to be ignoring it at the moment given how many are unemployed.

theshield87

For anybody potentially wondering whether to pursue an internship, my experiences of working unpaid on an IBEC internship:

After graduating 2010, I worked as an engineer for the full 9 months with a major MNC which is by no means strapped for cash, doing very well based here in Ireland. I received no dole money support so I did not break even. Had and still having absolutely no social life as a result of no income.

When I came to the company first nothing was ever said about holidays etc. and I was given the impression by my supervisor that I couldn’t take many days off, which I didn’t as there was a lot of work to do. The H.R department actually wanted me to have the same days off as everybody else but when it was pointed out by somebody that that was against the law for my situation they backed off.

What was good for my C.V was how I was given skilled once-off jobs that provoked a lot of thought, and I am well used to being challenged having studied an honours technical degree. My C.V is looking very good now as I finally got an opportunity to develop some particular technical skills I always wanted but never got the chance to, and the work placement was in a industry segment where I would preferably like to work for the rest of my life.

The problem I had and maybe it is because I am not maybe thick-skinned enough is the way I was treated. People in the company generally did snipe at me over my situation over the course of the internship. I never spoke to/discussed with people about the circumstances because at the end of the day it is not their business. I was working on tasks that I know others would find hard to follow so I knew I had value and I'm not worthless.

On one occasion in the middle of the internship, I was humiliated in front of my office because valuable employees needed parts of my “borrowed” (where I was sitting for the 9 months) workstation, that I wasn’t even trying to keep, the way I was talked to was pure awful and there was no need for it.

This company also had a two tier recruiting system where there were newly qualified graduates that were working temporarily the same as the interns but were being paid. One of these people came in only just before I left and is the most ignorant person I’ve ever met and seemed to take great delight in how he was getting paid and we weren’t. This company pays its employees very well by industry standards, and of course they have plently of disposable income, so it was very difficult and would be for anybody unpaid to listen to people there gob****e on about all the places they have been – it was never about what they’ve done/saw in those exotic places just mostly listing off where they’ve been etc. to anybody who hasn’t heard constantly:mad:. I’m just glad I’m out of there now, I could’ve ended up with a mental cert if the internship went on any longer. And guess what H.R were too lazy to write me a letter stating my dates of employment there….what if the place closes……everything was only one way with them………………so it was thanks for nothing

Amtmann

Doing an unpaid internship at the moment for the next ten weeks with a major company and employer of people with my skills. There's a fair chance of a job immediately after it. The internship is very hard to do financially, but I'll acquire practical skills, improve my profile enormously, and make excellent contacts. I'd have been unwise to pass it up.