Job Bridge Internship - Not supposed to happen!

shankespony

I just read on one of the jobs sites that a large well respected motor group are looking for an intern. The last i knew there was a person employed to do that job on a full time basis, this company is expanding with new locations. Its exactly what most people feared that employers would use it to get employees on the cheap no surprises there.

manlad

Saw the job your talking about advertised. It stood out to me straight away as I am seeking an internship as part of my college course. Then I saw at the end that applicants must be eligible for the Job Bridge Internship Scheme. I really couldn't afford to live in Dublin for such a small wage.

More and more companies are going to take advantage of this scheme and abuse the system. That's just the scenario in this country and it will remain that way for quite while.

I have worked for two years in marketing and feel to go into another job which is extremely similar for less than half the money is extremely demoralisng . I'm sick of hearing people telling me to apply for the job Bridge scheme that I will gain experience and theres no other options.

Booked my flights for Australia today, I may not get a fulltime Marketing job but I've a better chance of getting a job and receiving a fair wage for the work I do.

Oranage2

A recruiting company was hounding me out of it for the past week - I didnt answer my phone as I was in work so I emailed them asking waht position it was for - they emailed me the spec and it was a Jobbridge scheme in the recruiting company - had to lol at that one -

Overall i do think jobbridge is a good idea where people can get skills in a field they studied - I know a lot of abuse takes part but ignore it and find a position to suit you.

eejoynt

You should use the contact feature on the jobbridge FAS website, giving details of the company concerned.
print out the emails
if no reply received within five working days write to
FAS director general asking when they will reply

shankespony

Hi Manlad, i dont blame you, i would love to give it a try if circumstances were different and i have a brother in sydney who loves it there. i have 18years experience in marketing & sales unfortunately in the car sector so when i see one of the few marketing positions now downgraded to jobbridge from a number of companies i despair to be honest.
good luck with oz

dunlops26

Just did an interview today for a stores assisiant in a large irish company.It was made very clear to me that they would not be offering the sucessful person a job no matter what.I thought the whole idea of allowing unemployed people to work in a company for free for 9 mnths max was to encourage the company to hire them on fulltime.Its useless you don`t know what kind of training you will get and will it be really worthwhile.Joan Burton did say she wanted people to become "embedded in organisations" so when there time is up they will be needed.I know you get €50 extra per week but some of this just smacks of free labour.The role I was being offered sounded pretty basic and I wouldn`t be allowed drive the fork truck.I have an up to date licence and experience so I scenced union oppostion.

allibastor

yeah Joan Burton is very quick to annoaunce that number that numbers taking the scheme are high, but she never had a follow through with the amount of people who stick to the job, or those in the scheme that actually get trasnfered into real jobs. its just the governement all over, they pick a statistic and run with it. same with the un-employment figure, it fell a small bit, great news. pity that seasonal workers just start now and that emigration figures are up.

the jobsbridge scheme is a farce most of the time, have seen companies looking for guys with 5-6 yr experience for roles, was the whole point of the scheme not to get people with little or no expeiecne into work.

i hope some fool from the government reads this.

good luck to all who are looking for jobs

kadman

The job bridge has effectively replaced the minimum wage with a new one, 188+50.

The new slave labour rate is now 238 for a 40 hour week. The WPP 1 and WPP 11 are every bit as bad. And neither do anything for young people and job creation in Ireland.

If you check out the multi billion euro companies that have signed up to avail of job bridge labour scheme, you will see that its of more financial benefit to them , than you.

The youth of Ireland have been sold into slavery by schemes like these. They had them in the 80,s when they were known as manpower schemes. And they benefitted the employers availing of them, and no one else.And this is the same thing by a different name.

kadman

dunlops26

The company I attended the interview with is huge with plants all over Ireland & USA.The founder of the company is a tax exile living in Monaco.When you have schemes like this going back to the 80`s is easy to see how these people become so wealthy.Speaking of WPP1 & 2`s I started one in january and the company was not set up for training me.I spent the first week moving cardboard boxes about,tidying the owners workshop,washing his jeep so he could trade up to a newer 2010 model.Finally the manager came to me after 4 weeks and said there wasn`t the the work they hoped for and as a result I was dispenced with.I rang FAS in Dundalk and complained to them.They said they would not be offering them anymore help finding WPP`s.I want to work and get a foot in the door of some local company but most are a bunch of chancers.

unreggd

Well considering that most internships you get directly from a company are 100% unpaid, the Fas scheme is a bit more doable

Yes, the companies are takin the piss, but it can still benefit you. Experience is counting for more than qualifications nowadays. And you can keep applying for full time jobs anyways. If you get one, you're under no obligation to stay at the internship

Just make sure your vigilant that the advertised training/mentoring and learning outcomes are being conducted. I think the job-bridge yoke has a monthly check-in with Fas. I think each company is limited to one internship per period, so if you go the extra mile and be someone they can't lose, you'll get kept on. Or if not, at least you have some extra work experience on the CV.

Also, it will always be a good networking opportunity. Most companies circulate job ads to their own employees before they 'go to press', so any extra contacts can help in that sense.

I personally would rather be keeping busy and gettin some fresh experience than being on the dole anyways, or slavin away on a cash register ¬¬

allibastor

unreggd wrote: »

Well considering that most internships you get directly from a company are 100% unpaid, the Fas scheme is a bit more doable

Yes, the companies are takin the piss, but it can still benefit you. Experience is counting for more than qualifications nowadays. And you can keep applying for full time jobs anyways. If you get one, you're under no obligation to stay at the internship

Just make sure your vigilant that the advertised training/mentoring and learning outcomes are being conducted. I think the job-bridge yoke has a monthly check-in with Fas. I think each company is limited to one internship per period, so if you go the extra mile and be someone they can't lose, you'll get kept on. Or if not, at least you have some extra work experience on the CV.

Also, it will always be a good networking opportunity. Most companies circulate job ads to their own employees before they 'go to press', so any extra contacts can help in that sense.

I personally would rather be keeping busy and gettin some fresh experience than being on the dole anyways, or slavin away on a cash register ¬¬

lad, dont know if you have ever worked in one of these schemes, but they are complete nonsense in most cases. i willl agree that in some cases they may have genuine jobs going, but as said before, most are to fill space left by 'proper' employees. construction companies, solicitors, shopping centers etc are just a few that advertise for jobs that require previous experience and qualifications.

and to be fair, old joan has not had any evidence published to say what percentage of jobs from the scheme actually go on to create full time jobs, its just a way to keep the live register down and say they are doing something. its a bit like the emmigration levels, great to see so many people leaving the country and not taking places on the live register. f*cking joke this country is

unreggd

allibastor wrote: »

lad, dont know if you have ever worked in one of these schemes, but they are complete nonsense in most cases. i willl agree that in some cases they may have genuine jobs going, but as said before, most are to fill space left by 'proper' employees. construction companies, solicitors, shopping centers etc are just a few that advertise for jobs that require previous experience and qualifications.

and to be fair, old joan has not had any evidence published to say what percentage of jobs from the scheme actually go on to create full time jobs, its just a way to keep the live register down and say they are doing something. its a bit like the emmigration levels, great to see so many people leaving the country and not taking places on the live register. f*cking joke this country is

I'm not sayin it isnt a scam / piss-take system

What I meant is, while that's obvious, you can still benefit from it. You might as well try it out. If you're on the dole anyways, you benefit from the top-up, and you can leave at any time when you find a paid job, or just dont like the job.

But I agree on needing qualifications etc, I wouldnt go near them. They do be lookin for honours graduates in Software Development to work on the dole. Thats fxcked up

She Devil

I had myself sorted with a job, it was working for a company my best friend works in, however on the last hour her boss approached her and asked her to ask me if I'd be interested in doing the scheme? I told her no, why would I, when he was going to pay me a full wage! And she said he had decided to change his mind and wanted to take on an intern now, his words were, why would he pay someone when he can get them for free!
So that is what he did, and I am still unemployed!

I don't qualify for the scheme anyway, so I am stuck either way! :mad::mad:

road_high

She Devil wrote: »

I had myself sorted with a job, it was working for a company my best friend works in, however on the last hour her boss approached her and asked her to ask me if I'd be interested in doing the scheme? I told her no, why would I, when he was going to pay me a full wage! And she said he had decided to change his mind and wanted to take on an intern now, his words were, why would he pay someone when he can get them for free!
So that is what he did, and I am still unemployed!

I don't qualify for the scheme anyway, so I am stuck either way! :mad::mad:

Well i'd say report them to Fas anyhow.

allibastor

unreggd wrote: »

I'm not sayin it isnt a scam / piss-take system

What I meant is, while that's obvious, you can still benefit from it. You might as well try it out. If you're on the dole anyways, you benefit from the top-up, and you can leave at any time when you find a paid job, or just dont like the job.

But I agree on needing qualifications etc, I wouldnt go near them. They do be lookin for honours graduates in Software Development to work on the dole. Thats fxcked up

yeah, you can benifit from it aslong as you have very low expectations of what you will get out of it. i am sure there is some merit to it, but they are not great. i know guys on it who end up spending more on lunch, new clothes, travel etc to do the job then they make in the extra 50 a week.

also i know of a good few companies who are now following suit with hiring interns as they call them instead of qualified and experienced people. it is a joke that companies have now started to move this way, even in the role i am in now a guy has left and i have been stuck with two interns who are from completly different background to what we are doing. they are just there to fill space and i know they will not be kept on. i hope old mouldy face joan burton reads this and realises that just because a live register may drop, its not a great metric to success.

Del007

I'm starting an internship in a pharmaceutical factory on Monday, really hope it ends up being a good experience

Noo

allibastor wrote: »

i hope old mouldy face joan burton reads this and realises that just because a live register may drop, its not a great metric to success.

But thats the thing, it doesnt drop. All these interns are still on the live register.

Bannasidhe

She Devil wrote: »

I had myself sorted with a job, it was working for a company my best friend works in, however on the last hour her boss approached her and asked her to ask me if I'd be interested in doing the scheme? I told her no, why would I, when he was going to pay me a full wage! And she said he had decided to change his mind and wanted to take on an intern now, his words were, why would he pay someone when he can get them for free!
So that is what he did, and I am still unemployed!

I don't qualify for the scheme anyway, so I am stuck either way! :mad::mad:

Report the b**tard!

fat__tony

She Devil wrote: »

I had myself sorted with a job, it was working for a company my best friend works in, however on the last hour her boss approached her and asked her to ask me if I'd be interested in doing the scheme? I told her no, why would I, when he was going to pay me a full wage! And she said he had decided to change his mind and wanted to take on an intern now, his words were, why would he pay someone when he can get them for free!
So that is what he did, and I am still unemployed!

I don't qualify for the scheme anyway, so I am stuck either way! :mad::mad:

That is absolutely disgraceful behaviour.

Id report and expose the company in question for such behaviour.

Make an example of the scumbags.

SeaFields

Noo wrote: »

But thats the thing, it doesnt drop. All these interns are still on the live register.

Nope, if you are on an internship you come off the live register. The government can then claim to be getting a handle on joblessness in the country.

As a labour minister Joan Burton should be ashamed of herself.

Jesus Wept

mfitzy wrote: »

Well i'd say report them to Fas anyhow.

To Fas? They're a shower.

Talulahh

I can't believe some fool actually came up with this idea to "create jobs"! People don't work for the love of it, they work for money and the offer of €50 on top of the dole doesn't even cover petrol and the cost of wear-and-tear on a car for a 5 day week. It doesn't create paying jobs, it actually removes them as several people on this thread have already demonstrated.

If you are on the dole you are better off doing volunteer work for a charity that genuinely can't afford to hire an employee rather than do slave labour for someone who makes a profit out of you! You can gain experience without breaking your back for a 40 hour week for less than minimum wage. At least with volunteer work for a charity you can decide your own hours (most of the time anyway) and feel appreciated AND gain valuable experience that is just as worthwhile on your CV, rather than doing an "internship", which is just another word for volunteer work!

Pope John 11

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056441314

Also Cork County Council looking for 12 Engineers for a period of 9 months, knowing that there will be no future work available for them.

Shame on you Cork County Council

Eoin

@jonh86, post deleted; don't post crap like that here again please.

lastminute

I have a small clothing design business of 4 years and I am now expanding to a larger premises and expanding my clothing range. Currently I cannot afford to employ a full time person so I enquired to FAS re: jobbridge internship. I am not suitable as businesses must employ 1 full time person.
In order to increase sales and grow the business an intern would be perfect for 6-9 months as I could train the person and after the few months I could employ them full time. It is very difficult at the moment as I cannot do everything myself and the business would certainly grow if I had a sales and marketing person.
Does anybody know of any graduate or other programmes of internship that would allow me take on an intern.

JustAThought

Pay your staff.

All our companies would look better & do more if we had people to work for free for us.

It's exactly this kind of freeloading attitude that peopleare complaining about.

Shame on you.

allibastor

Noo wrote: »

But thats the thing, it doesnt drop. All these interns are still on the live register.

They are taken off the live register as being un-employed. i am sure they are still on it somewhere, but for the purposes of reporting in the media what out current level of un-employment is, they are classed as gainfully employed.


also to the lady with the clothing shop, if it is a genuine offer to have someone work for you that you hope to turn into a full time employee then FAS should have no problem with it. the problem is that so many people before you have said the same thing you are saying now, with no job turning up in the end. many, many people have been burned with the old " ah if we stick out the tough times, when it turns good we can pay you more" line and been burned badly. you may well be very genuine, but it does not look good to have a store with one staff member and one un-paid person.

She Devil

Where do I report the guy to then? FAS? I will if I can!

CatFromHue

She Devil wrote: »

Where do I report the guy to then? FAS? I will if I can!

http://www.jobbridge.ie/ContactUs.aspx

fat__tony

lastminute wrote: »

I have a small clothing design business of 4 years and I am now expanding to a larger premises and expanding my clothing range. Currently I cannot afford to employ a full time person so I enquired to FAS re: jobbridge internship. I am not suitable as businesses must employ 1 full time person.
In order to increase sales and grow the business an intern would be perfect for 6-9 months as I could train the person and after the few months I could employ them full time. It is very difficult at the moment as I cannot do everything myself and the business would certainly grow if I had a sales and marketing person.
Does anybody know of any graduate or other programmes of internship that would allow me take on an intern.

If you aren't in a position to pay the person, then you have no right to take anyone on and pay them nothing.

Disgusting.

Its little wonder young people are leaving the country in their droves to seek jobs which actually pay a wage. Where I work (Toronto), any interns we take on during the summer, we actually pay them a wage for their time. (around $700 per week)

This type of jobsbridge fiasco wouldn't be tolerated in any other developed country.

unreggd

lastminute wrote: »

It is very difficult at the moment as I cannot do everything myself and the business would certainly grow if I had a sales and marketing person.

If you're so sure the business would grow then hire someone. Expecting a single person to work for you for nothing, which would dramatically increase business for you, but nothing for them is completely selfish

Did you ask for a free lease on your shop / studio?
Scab some free electricity off the ESB?

Disgraceful.

Delancey

We all know that Job Bridge / WPP1 /WPP2 is a total scam that actually takes real paying jobs out of the economy.
In the midst of this scandal what are the much-vaunted trade unions doing about this ?
Their silence is thunderous.......

marnieb

I totally agree, I wrote to my local politician about these programmes and he didn't even bother getting back to me, it was in relation to a shop wanting someone to work on the deli counter, I just feel this is slave labour as no offence or anything but what extra skills would you get from working on a deli counter for 9 months, and it was for 40 hours not 20 or even 30, just don't know what the government are thinking of

marxcoo

I don't think that Jobbridge is ALL bad. I do agree that there are internships advertised that are blatantly slave labour where the intern gains nothing from the experience (apart from 50 quid a week). However, depending on the industry you work on there are some good internships on offer particularly those which offer experience in working with specific systems or working towards chartership/professional membership. At the end of the day these internships are being snapped up by people who need to get experience on their CV and are not overly fussed about the employers motivation for becoming involved in Jobbridge.

Niles

What I find frustrating is that many employers listed on the site don't even bother to acknowledge your application. I know, you can use your own initiative and enquire as to whether they have received it or not but still... If they were funding the positions completely off their own bat you might say then that's their prerogative. But seeing as they are effectively getting a free employee for 6-9 months paid for by the govt., surely it would not be too much to ask that they at least acknowledge receipt of an application. A simple email would suffice. Perhaps this should become a requirement in the case of jobbridge positions, as I said if the govt. are paying for this then surely it's not too much to ask.

road_high

fat__tony wrote: »

If you aren't in a position to pay the person, then you have no right to take anyone on and pay them nothing.

Disgusting.

Its little wonder young people are leaving the country in their droves to seek jobs which actually pay a wage. Where I work (Toronto), any interns we take on during the summer, we actually pay them a wage for their time. (around $700 per week)

This type of jobsbridge fiasco wouldn't be tolerated in any other developed country.

Well said, total scam this rubbish is. "Lady" on Joe Duffy winging how she couldn't get Irish staff to work/slave for free on this sham. The barefaced cheek of these people gets my blood pressure go. You want staff go pay for them like any other resource. And stop calling them "jobs". Working for free is not a job.

road_high

Delancey wrote: »

We all know that Job Bridge / WPP1 /WPP2 is a total scam that actually takes real paying jobs out of the economy.
In the midst of this scandal what are the much-vaunted trade unions doing about this ?
Their silence is thunderous.......

Too busy defending the status quo of their own members as usual to realise what's goin on here. I think it's so damaging and toxic to the rights of workers going forward i.e. the basic right to wage for a fair days work. This is slowly going out the window with these crazy schemes. Would urge anybody in the desperate position of even considering one of these "jobs" to look at possibly going abroad and attaining a real job with a real salary. This is a road to nowhere in many cases and the benefits are so heavily weighted towards the employer (a description i use loosely seen as they are not even bloody well paying you!).

Funsterdelux

Pope John 11 wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056441314

Also Cork County Council looking for 12 Engineers for a period of 9 months, knowing that there will be no future work available for them.

Shame on you Cork County Council

12 Engineers still! I applied for the WPP for the council in January, took 4 copies of an application form, which in total was 40 pages to apply! 5 months later I got two interviews for 2 of the positions. Got offered one, they sent out a phone book of literature to sign, got offered a different WPP/internship (with a different state body) took it instead!

None of them have actual positions and cannot hire anyway, which is true.

I think for people who aren't getting the full dole, its worth it for €50 extra a week! And its always easy to get a job when you have a job.

Although looking back on it, I probably wouldn't do it again, I'd focus more on my spuds!

d9oiu2wk07blr5

Looks like the internship programme across in the UK might have landed that Government and employer's in a lot of legal bother based on minimum wage rules:eek:.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/nov/04/interns-work-paid-lawyers

nowayjosie

lastminute wrote: »

I have a small clothing design business of 4 years and I am now expanding to a larger premises and expanding my clothing range. Currently I cannot afford to employ a full time person so I enquired to FAS re: jobbridge internship. I am not suitable as businesses must employ 1 full time person.
In order to increase sales and grow the business an intern would be perfect for 6-9 months as I could train the person and after the few months I could employ them full time. It is very difficult at the moment as I cannot do everything myself and the business would certainly grow if I had a sales and marketing person.
Does anybody know of any graduate or other programmes of internship that would allow me take on an intern.

I cant believe you had the neck to post this message!!! Have you any idea what suffering people are going through in our country, there are families who are hungry and cold because of money shortages because through no fault of their own they have lost their jobs. How dare you expect some unfortunate person to help you expand your designer clothes company for free - Have you always felt that it would be ok for someone down on their luck to assist you make money and not receive an income from you?? Shame on you who ever you are - I have first hand experience of employers just like you - as I worked for 10 months on a WPP and never received a penny from my employer - I was actually used for all my experience and my expertise, the company was so busy they needed a full time employee and had the money to pay one but cashed in on the system of slave labour, after working for 10 months for the company no one even said thank you, or goodbye!! A note was on my desk saying they were in meetings all day.

unreggd

Whats the story with your JSB payment if you're doin a 9month internship?

If you get one, do you keep your payment for the duration?

I'd only receive my jsb payment for 7 months; will be 4/5 months in when I can apply for an internship

Starterbar

It is a joke of a scheme, just another way for the government to point out that they are doing something for the unemployed. I have just graduated from collage and would be interested in working for an engineering company for modest pay to get more experience (I have some previous experience). However, I work a part time job that I had during collage and my wages are little above what I would get on the dole, however I would like to stay in employment. But it seems that alot of engineering companies are taking advantage of this scheme and therefore for someone like me to gain experience in a field that I studied I would have to give up my current job and start signing (which im not going to do). Just its a ridiculous system and shame on the companies that use it.

Oranage2

Oranage2 wrote: »

Overall i do think jobbridge is a good idea where people can get skills in a field they studied - I know a lot of abuse takes part but ignore it and find a position to suit you.

I disagree, people can get experience while on probation. The state should not be funding the wage bill for any company unless they own it.