Intern Aware 373-377 Clapham Road London SW9 9BT C/O Westminster School Westminster School Little Dean’s Yard Westminster London SW1P 3PF Dear Coutts & Co Private Banking; Mary Portas; Amanda Wakeley; Maks Consultancy Limited; Denton Corker Marshall Architects; Fabergé Limited; Park Square Capital LLP; Barbara Weiss Architects; AGC Equity Partners; Officina Coppola; Sanford Bernstein LLC; Left Bank Pictures; Lumina Real Estate Capital; Simon Lee Gallery and Longbridge Recruitment. We are writing to you regarding your position as ‘lots’ for Westminster School’s auction for unpaid internships. Across the UK there are almost one million young people unemployed. Many have worked hard and secured a good education, only to find that the jobs market demands lengthy periods of work experience, without which they cannot find a...
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The precarious life of kids these days: the unpaid internship industry Kaitlin van Baarle “Able to handle multiple tasks under strict deadlines”, “devotion to work late hours when needed”: these were some of the criteria for a three to four month internship in Brussels, completely unpaid, that I applied for directly after receiving my Bachelor’s degree. I wanted to kill some time before starting my Master’s degree in Leuven, and I thought an internship would be a good opportunity to gain valuable work experience, in addition to developing connections and meeting new people. The work for the internship included “assisting in the organisation of events”, “writing summaries and comprehensive report” (sic), “data management”, “office management”, and so on. It...
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Last month Intern Aware contacted Jo Swinson MP, Minister for Employment Relations at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. We sent Jo a list of 100 unpaid internships that campaigners had submitted to us that appeared to be in breach of National Minimum Wage Law. Unpaid internships are exploitative, exclusive and often illegal. By asking young people to work for free, they exclude those who cannot afford to and limit their potential. In a recent poll for Intern Aware by Survation, 84% of people over 35 said that a young person in their family could not afford to do an unpaid internship in London. Despite the government admitting that many unpaid internships break National Minimum Wage Law, until today...
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Students and graduates are often caught in a Catch 22 situation when looking for work. It’s impossible to get a job without having had experience, and it’s impossible to get experience without having had a job. Internships exist to fill the gap. If you’re looking for a career in the creative industries, where internships are essential for getting a job. This guide is here to help you work out how to get the best internships for you and how not to get ripped off. An internship is short term job with a focus on giving young people the chance to gain skills and knowledge. Where internships work well, the intern contributes to the company, is paid for his or her...
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The National Trust is an institution that celebrates what this country has to offer, which is why we are particularly concerned to see so many unpaid internships advertised on their website. We have written to the Director General of the National Trust to explain why unpaid internships are damaging to young people and society, with the aim of changing their policy so that talented young people are not cut out because they can’t afford to work for free. What do you think? Dear Dame Helen Ghosh, Director General National Trust, I am writing to you from Intern Aware, the UK campaign for fairer internships with the view to arrange a meeting to discuss internships at the National Trust. Internships...
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As the recession bites, employers are becoming less and less willing to take a chance on inexperienced jobseekers. This has led to a Catch 22 situation for young people. It’s impossible to get a job without experience, and it’s impossible to get experience without having got a job. Internships exist to fill the gap. But Last year, 33% of all graduate jobs went to people who had already interned with their future employer. Good internships give applicants a chance to find out what their chosen industry is like, and more importantly, let them get a foot in the door. They give employers the chance to find out whether the interns they’ve picked are worth hiring on a more permanent basis....
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