Is working for free the solution?

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

The graduate problem

The Problem
The UK has 133 certifed universities.
Each year group might comprise of approx 2000 students
That's maybe 266 000 graduates being churned out by the UK alone each year.

If each of the FTSE100 companies offers 50 graduate placements each year, that leaves 261 000 graduates not quite hitting the jackpot.

I'm aiming for that jackpot.

The Explanation
Of course, there are plenty of exceptional jobs to be had outside of the FTSE100, but for want of a vaguely tenable statistic, I'll keep this one. It gets the message across. It's a scary time for undergraduates. We want to aim high. We want our degree to push us forward and set us out from the crowd. But in this saturated* market, it won't.

I refuse, however to make any sweeping political judgements based on those statistics. Whilst I would love for the numbers of graduates to decrease, so that my pursuit of a successful career might be eased, I won't claim that they ought to decrease. If universities existed to serve HR departments and make their jobs easier by pre-sorting job applicants, then the numbers ought to decrease. Because it is indeed true that a mere undergraduate degree is no longer a distinguishing mark. But that's not why they exist. Universities exist to provide a space for rigorous research and sharing of cutting edge knowledge. Who am I to deny someone, capable of attending university, from being a part of that, if that is what they choose?
I won't fall into the upper-middle class trap of consigning the lower classes to apprenticeships and immediate work. If they're what suits you, and they're what you choose, then go ahead, and indeed they should be encouraged. But I don't believe that anyone who truly wants to learn should be discouraged from persuing further education. It's great that the barriers which held back many of even my parents' generation from going to university have been lifted. It is no longer merely the destiny of the elite.

But noble as that view might be, it is not really practical. I am still left with the problem that I started with. If I don't want to force down the numbers of graduates, then I am left with my saturated situation. How am I to set myself out from the crowd, if my degree will not do the trick?

This blog will document my search for that elusive graduate career, and hopefully it might give you some tips, or even inspire you to give me some. At the very least I hope you find it an interesting read.






*Disclaimer. I say saturated. I don't really mean saturated. I mean pretty darn full. I'm not a scientist, I'm a philosopher, and I liked the word because when it's written down it looks like it rhymes with graduate. Rhetoric makes me happy.