Jobbridge Internship

Cactus466

Hello everyone,

Hopefully someone might be able to answer this. I have been on an internship since Sept 2012 (duration of internship I'm on is 9 months).

I knew from 2 weeks in I was never going to get a job with them as I learned there were many interns before me who did my role. The company I am doing the internship with has at least 10 interns that I know of and if the intern leaves they are just replaced or if the internship has run it's course they just bring in someone new as well.

I was told before Christmas that (career wise) I was wasting my time here by my boss if I can call him that. Everyone is very happy with my work and all the effort I put in.

My questions is 1) would I be better off leaving as there is no future/hope of anything out of the internship? and 2) Are there any consequences for me if I leave before my time is up as I have only worked 4 of the 9 months?

I am treated quite well by everyone and I work hard for them but I can see they are completely "going to town" with interns. It's just a cycle.

Thanks for reading and would be interested in hearing other peoples opinions.

Lumbo

Jobbridge is an opportunity for you to get some experience. There's no requirement for the employer to give full time employment after the internship is finished. I tell candidates that I interview that there will be not job at the end of the internship because there won't be, no matter how well they perform. We created positions, as per the requirements of the scheme and there's no budget to take on more employees at the present time.

I wouldn't leave if you don't have anything else lined up, something is better then a gap in your CV.

SCOOP 64

Is that how a internship suppose to work ,replace one internship with another,why dont all company's do this and make better profits?

TaosHum

A cooling off period of 6 months must elapse before another placement in the
same area of activity is approved. This applies whether the previous placement
or the new placement is a WPP placement or an internship placement.

Have to give 6 months before they can take on another intern

sligoface

You can leave whenever you want as it is a voluntary scheme, one week notice is the req. in the contract. Go to your SW office and inform them as well, they may ask you why you left, and you can just tell them you were flat out told you were never going to get a job and didn't want to waste your time. There is no penalty , and if you leave before the internship is up, I think you will keep your eligibility for the scheme (definitely still eligible for the five months not worked, not sure about a full nine) which would mean you could take on a more promising internship if you desired. But as myself and yourself found out, most of these are a waste of time and free labor for employers under the guise of giving valuable experience. When they asked me at the SW office would I consider another internship I told them 'No, I want a job.' and they just said fair enough and put me back on the dole.

As mentioned, there is a 'cooling off period' but it is easily worked around by changing the title of the internship and the scheme is barely monitored or regulated. I quit an internship a few months ago and I was replaced within a month, that person then quit, and has been replaced also. The scheme is a joke, it's just a way to skew unemployment figures. It takes advantage of the unemployed and also takes plenty of jobs that would be paid out of the market.

It sounds like you are very employable and while jobs are scarce, don't give up and I'm sure something will come along, I had given up hope and nearly didn't bother applying for the job I just got because I was not even getting responses half the time when I applied for something. Also, as someone mentioned the dreaded 'gap on your CV', don't worry too much about that, esp. if you have other experience. I left the internship off my CV since I had quit and it was unrelated to the position and my nearly one year gap was never mentioned in the interview, everyone is well aware of the recession and it's pretty horrible to think that on top of being unemployed, people suffering from the effects of the jobs crisis are expected to work for free if they can't get paid work just to prove they are not a layabout. I know internships have been around for a while in many countries, but only in Ireland could a scheme like this be dreamed up as an answer to a jobs crisis, where companies can get endless interns and never have to give any of them a job. Since they take you off the live register when you are on jobbridge, it is just a way to get the jobless numbers down, ie: get people off the dole without giving them a job.

If you want Cactus, PM me and I'll give you the name of the recruitment agency that got me the job, I don't know if they are looking for more people where I work, but it's a possibility, though you may have to relocate/travel to Sligo.