Job creation Fine Gael style

jbkenn · 13-01-2012 10:07AM #1

I am trying to contain my rage after reading this internship offer on Fine Gael T.D. Eoghan Murphy's website
http://www.eoghanmurphy.ie/2012/01/11/4575/

Job Description
The position will involve supporting the existing team in the areas of research, administration and general support and back up. The position will be office based Tuesday to Thursday 9.30am to 5.30pm. This position is open immediately. The successful candidate will be based primarily in the Ranelagh constituency office.
The ideal candidate should have:
Proven research skills
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Good computer skills to include Excel, Word processing and internet.
Knowledge of online social media outlets
Ability to work on own initiative
Excellent organisational and people skills
The ideal candidate should be:
Interested in Politics and current affairs
A team player
Highly motivated
To Apply:
All CV’s with a cover letter to be sent to eoghan.murphy@oireachtas.ie .This is not a salaried position and the successful candidate will not be able to apply for this position under the Jobsbridge scheme. However lunch expenses will be covered. While the position cannot be made permanent, it can be extended.
The successful candidate will need his/her own laptop.
Applications should be received on or before next Tuesday 17th January 2012.

Is this part of the 100,000 Fine Gael Jobs Initiative?

Does he not realise that what the electorate did to Fianna Fail in 2011, they can also do to Fine Gael next election?

This jumped up City Councillor is a disgrace

Seething

Ash.J.Williams · 13-01-2012 10:14AM

in fairness....if i was just out of college that would be great experience....

jbkenn · 13-01-2012 10:25AM

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

in fairness....if i was just out of college that would be great experience....

There is no fairness in this, said cheapskate is more than adequately compensated for his constituency office.
If, like me, you had to fund your son/daughter to the tune 0f €4800 for a similar "Internship" I doubt you would see any fairness in it.

Sleepy · 13-01-2012 11:40AM

where's the figure of 4,800 coming from?

cloptrop · 13-01-2012 11:44AM

i have no idea how people can say this is a good thing , this fella is looking for someone with experience and calling it work experience ,
its taking the lucky to have a job spirit to the next level
you cant even get the dole if you have this position cause you are not actively seeking full time employment , could someone with letter writing skills post this to the herald its a disgrace

baddebt · 13-01-2012 11:52AM

jbkenn wrote: »

I am trying to contain my rage after reading this internship offer on Fine Gael T.D. Eoghan Murphy's website
http://www.eoghanmurphy.ie/2012/01/11/4575/

Is this part of the 100,000 Fine Gael Jobs Initiative?
Has this cretin any shame?
Does he not realise that what the electorate did to Fianna Fail in 2011, they can also do to Fine Gael next election?

This jumped up City Councillor is a disgrace

Seething

the company I work for had 11 intern positions available , we had a list of 16 candidates for interview ....................NONE OF WHICH TURNED UP our follow up with all the candidates 10 of which stated its a waste of their time if they have no chance of being able to get a full time pos out of it.

cloptrop · 13-01-2012 11:56AM

yeah the main part of the ad is how it says the position may be extended but not changed to a paid position , will this be incase the people arnt experienced enough after the 6 months , will they have to do another 3 months ,

n97 mini · 13-01-2012 11:56AM

A TD's income is enormous and he could easily fund the position out of his own pocket. But he chooses not to.

syklops · 13-01-2012 12:09PM

cloptrop wrote: »

i have no idea how people can say this is a good thing , this fella is looking for someone with experience and calling it work experience ,
its taking the lucky to have a job spirit to the next level
you cant even get the dole if you have this position cause you are not actively seeking full time employment , could someone with letter writing skills post this to the herald its a disgrace

Where does it say he is looking for someone with experience?

The ideal candidate should have:

Proven research skills
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Good computer skills to include Excel, Word processing and internet.
Knowledge of online social media outlets
Ability to work on own initiative
Excellent organisational and people skills

If you come out of secondary school(nevermind College) without that full list of skills you should go back to the Department of Education and ask for a refund.

I personally would love to have done something like that when I was just out school. It would look great on a CV and you would meet all kinds of people.

RichardAnd · 13-01-2012 12:32PM

This TD is looking for a filing pleb at no cost to himself. It's one thing for profitable companies trying to get labour for free, it's another entirely for a state representative to do it. Things like this just depress me, yet another person out to exploit a young person.

tayto lover · 13-01-2012 12:38PM

RichardAnd wrote: »

This TD is looking for a filing pleb at no cost to himself. It's one thing for profitable companies trying to get labour for free, it's another entirely for a state representative to do it. Things like this just depress me, yet another person out to exploit a young person.

Its not right for him and its not right for a profitable company either. The "scheme" is being abused by all. Internship sucks. Its free labour and is being exploited.

RichardAnd · 13-01-2012 12:45PM

tayto lover wrote: »

Its not right for him and its not right for a profitable company either. The "scheme" is being abused by all. Internship sucks. Its free labour and is being exploited.

You're quite correct, I agree. What I meant was that whilst it's devious and self serving for a profitable company to behave in such a manner, it's not surprising that many would if allowed to (profit is king after all, to some). A TD doing it is much worse as he should be setting an example and treating others with respect.

cloptrop · 13-01-2012 01:17PM

syklops wrote: »

Where does it say he is looking for someone with experience?

The ideal candidate should have:

Proven research skills
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Good computer skills to include Excel, Word processing and internet.
Knowledge of online social media outlets
Ability to work on own initiative
Excellent organisational and people skills

If you come out of secondary school(nevermind College) without that full list of skills you should go back to the Department of Education and ask for a refund.

I personally would love to have done something like that when I was just out school. It would look great on a CV and you would meet all kinds of people.

proven research skills?

syklops · 13-01-2012 01:19PM

cloptrop wrote: »

proven research skills?

You never researched anything in school?

cloptrop · 13-01-2012 01:20PM

nope, and if i did it wouldnt be proveable

syklops · 13-01-2012 01:23PM

nope, and if i did it wouldnt be proveable

Seriously? You never wrote an essay?

Also, "proven" does not mean you will have to prove it in front of him in the interview. Its basically another word for experienced.

cloptrop · 13-01-2012 01:25PM

you didnt learn to use a thesaurus in school?

cloptrop · 13-01-2012 01:26PM

syklops wrote: »

Seriously? You never wrote an essay?

Also, "proven" does not mean you will have to prove it in front of him in the interview. Its basically another word for experienced.

experience ah thought you didnt need that

syklops · 13-01-2012 01:33PM

cloptrop wrote: »

experience ah thought you didnt need that

Are you being obtuse on purpose?

cloptrop · 13-01-2012 01:39PM

syklops wrote: »

Are you being obtuse on purpose?

Are you trolling on purpose, would you honestly have your daughter do this work, if yes then you are advising her to be a sap for the rest of her career

bladespin · 13-01-2012 01:43PM

Expects the candidate to provide the equipment as well, pretty much sums it up really :rolleyes:

cloptrop · 13-01-2012 01:48PM

bladespin wrote: »

Expects the candidate to provide the equipment as well, pretty much sums it up really :rolleyes:

yeah youd need your own laptop so you could do 200 hours at home doing extra work experience overtime

syklops · 13-01-2012 01:59PM

cloptrop wrote: »

Are you trolling on purpose, would you honestly have your daughter do this work, if yes then you are advising her to be a sap for the rest of her career

If I was starting out with no experience I would happily do this. If I had a daughter I would also suggest she do it to gain experience. I interned in Shannon Aerospace and the Irish Times in their IT departments to gain experience when I was 17. On foot of the experience and letters of recommendation I got other jobs IT related, which helped me get to where I am today.

Call me a sap if you want. No skin off my nose.

Brussels Sprout · 13-01-2012 02:15PM

I'm all for a bit of TD bashing at the best of times but I don't see anything wrong with this. The American political system has a plentiful supply of interns who don't get paid. There is an understanding that the intern is getting really good experience that will stand to them in their future career and will likely benefit them financially in the long run.

I'd have far more of a problem with the companies who have been putting dead-end jobs up on JobBridge and trying to pass them off as internships. At least this really is an internship.

StupidLikeAFox · 13-01-2012 02:23PM

If this was a long term position I would see how people would be concerned. However, if you were just out of college, applying for 100s of jobs and getting nowhere without experience this would suit. For instance, this would provide good experience if you wanted to get into politics, journalism or PR.

Fast forward to this time next year, and two 2011/2012 graduates are asked about their work experience.

1. Off the top of my head - I worked in a TDs office, fast paced environment, public facing, learned valuable people skills and how to deal with irate people, gained valuable contacts in Dail Eireann, gained a hands-on understanding of how the political establishment works, researched topics and provided presentations that were produced at the highest level

2. I was on the dole for a year as I took the principled position not to avail of a work experience scheme.

Whatever about the failings or merits job-bridge scheme, this is actually providing decent experience and is a good example of what its supposed to be about. I dont think it is comparable to supermarkets getting people to stack shelves for free

[bold]EDIT[/bold] Wait, just saw that this is neither on JobBridge or is salaried. I think the candidate should get some sort of compensation more than just "lunches paid for", however the point regarding experience still stands.

cloptrop · 13-01-2012 02:29PM

ColHol wrote: »

If this was a long term position I would see how people would be concerned. However, if you were just out of college, applying for 100s of jobs and getting nowhere without experience this would suit. For instance, this would provide good experience if you wanted to get into politics, journalism or PR.

Fast forward to this time next year, and two 2011/2012 graduates are asked about their work experience.

1. Off the top of my head - I worked in a TDs office, fast paced environment, public facing, learned valuable people skills and how to deal with irate people, gained valuable contacts in Dail Eireann, gained a hands-on understanding of how the political establishment works, researched topics and provided presentations that were produced at the highest level

2. I was on the dole for a year as I took the principled position not to avail of a work experience scheme.

Whatever about the failings or merits job-bridge scheme, this is actually providing decent experience and is a good example of what its supposed to be about. I dont think it is comparable to supermarkets getting people to stack shelves for free

[bold]EDIT[/bold] Wait, just saw that this is neither on JobBridge or is salaried. I think the candidate should get some sort of compensation more than just "lunches paid for", however the point regarding experience still stands.

ITS A JOB THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
getting it done for free does not merit giving experience t someone
if there are people out there with experience they should get this job ,not someone working for free

13-01-2012 02:33PM

here is a crazy idea
how about the politicians pay is cut and we hire someone with the savings?

jbkenn · 13-01-2012 02:36PM

Sleepy wrote: »

where's the figure of 4,800 coming from?

The Internship was in Dublin, 22 weeks
€100 a week for a room in Rathmines
Food, bus fares, train fares etc.
There was absolutely no remuneration, taken out to dinner on the night she finished up, and, informed that unfortunately there was no funding to offer her any position

p.s. this was her third internship, unfortunately the ban on Public service recruitment prevents her pursuing her preferred career choice, she has now decided to emigrate.

Sleepy · 13-01-2012 02:47PM

So why did you subsidise it? I'm presuming your answer to this is to help your daughter gain experience she can reference in a job interview / potentially get a job with the organisation she was interning with at the end of the placement?

She was lucky she had you to support her through this but if she didn't, under the jobsbridge scheme the state would have supported her through it (via JSA and top-up).

The company I worked has taken in 3 interns under the scheme since I've been here. Two of the candidates left within a couple of months having gotten paid positions elsewhere (which no-doubt their internship here helped them get, the 3rd is sitting right in front of me having been made permanent at the end of a 3 month internship because she demonstrated enough value to the company to warrant hiring her).

While I don't agree with the nod-and-wink, "it's who you know" culture of the Irish political system and it appears to be at least somewhat on the wane, an internship in a TD's office would garner incredible contacts for any job-seeker. I can see the appeal of such a position for anyone graduating college looking to get into any position dealing with the media or someone with a non-focused Arts degree who needs some real world experience to demonstrate they're capable of handling an admin position.

_Kaiser_ · 13-01-2012 02:51PM

Have to agree with the OP on this one.

Like all these "internships", it's merely a badly disguised method to get some slave labour in for a few months, turf them out at the end of it and replace them with another "intern".

I disagree with this on principle as it devalues not only the individual in question, but anyone else who is doing a similar job but getting a salary. If you're doing a job for someone you deserve to get SOME (financial) compensation for it - end of!

This however is indeed a new low as not only is the "successful applicant" required to work for nothing, they have to provide their own personal laptop to do this work on as well??! This is made even more disgraceful by the fact that it's an overpaid, over-expensed TD that's offering this "opportunity"

When Enda's not too busy looking like a schoolboy on tour to Number 10 (I saw him on the RTE news last night with David Cameron and jesus who dresses the man - seriously!), maybe someone should send him this and see what he says.

(I would myself, but the last time I contacted him - about his response to the Callelly affair - I got an email back from his iPhone no less asking what it was to do with him? When I pointed out that as the main leader of the (then) opposition he surely should/would have some thoughts, I of course didn't get a reply)

mikom · 13-01-2012 02:52PM

Goody....... not long now to wait before the first Irish political intern sex scandal.
They'll probably be given an extra 50 Euros of tax payers money per poke.

Job creation Fine Gael style

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