Dragon's Den entrepreneur, James Caan wrote in the Telegraph recently, that graduates ought to work for free to get ahead in the saturated job market. http://bit.ly/bWqpTH He argues that "Working for free has its drawbacks, but it will prove to be a great investment in the long run."
Well I'll agree. At the moment, I'm working as one of these unpaid interns we hear so much about. And it has its drawbacks, namely that I have no money. And that's a fairly sizeable drawback. But the thing is, that the investment is already beginning to pay off. I've landed a paid internship for the rest of the summer at a top marketing firm. My CV is padding itself out as we speak. I no longer have to rely on scraping the details of my week long work experience in year 11. I have some tangible experience, and that's only going to be beneficial in the long run. So, yes. Caan is right. But that is not the end of the story.
Caan seems to have ignored the fact that unpaid internships are by their nature exclusive to the well off. Some graduates simply can't afford to offer their services for free and as a result, are left, forced to find a minimum wage job to support themselves. That is surely not career boosting. Caan must exist in his own bubble of super-riches if he believes that everyone can stamp up the capital to support themselves through this "long-term investment" of unpaid work.
But at least he is merely confused. There is a more sinister problem at the heart of this issue. That is the problem that forcing people to do unpaid work before they can access paid jobs in that industry is nto only unethical and exploitative, but it is illegal. For Barbara Ellen, of the Observer no less, this is neither here nor there. In her day, exploitation was the norm, and so she advocates its continuation. http://bit.ly/90jsY0 In her article entitled, "Hey intern, get me a coffee," she sneers, "while some of these interns may have a genuine complaint, on the whole, diddums." and "Didn't most of us go through this kind of thing in our early years of work?" Firstly Barbara, whilst the problem might be widespread, it doesn't make it right. It's a crude example, but how would our Guardian reporter respond to a similar attitude to slavery in the 17th century. "It's widespread, it's a fact of life, get used to it"?? I think not.
Further, the problem isn't industry-wide. For trainee barristers, there used to be unpaid pupillages but a legal challenge in the '90's saw to that being overturned and pupils now are guaranteed at least a minimum wage. In fact it is often a highly competitive package in order to attract the most talented individuals.
Graduatefog.co.uk make the point far more eloquently than I could try to: http://bit.ly/deeizA
"The unpaid internship debate IS a legitimate one. It is not about ‘whinging’ or about your generation expecting ‘life on a plate’. It is about standing up to arrogant bullies who want to continue getting something for nothing when they should be paying you a proper day’s wage for a proper day’s work."
And yet, still, I have participated in this scheme, perpetuating the cycle for future generations. I feel guilty for that. But it will get me further in life. Whilst I vehemently support the work of campaigns such as http://www.internocracy.org/ and http://www.internaware.org/ I will have to selfishly concede that it has got me far. For now, if you can afford to, take an internship. But when it's my turn to take on graduate recruits, it will be a fair living wage all round.
Rhianna
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