Unpaid internships

Soldato
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Illegal now? They have always been illegal as far as I'm aware.

37 hour weeks unpaid? Whether you agree with it or not, this is just circumventing minimum wage rules.

edit: Emailed them and reported them to the relevant authorities, absurd as someone on jsa would have to forgo their benefit to do this.
 
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Caporegime
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I thought the rules changed recently to crack down on this thing hence what I said, I assumed they were at least partly legal beforehand?

Personally I'm fine with short term internships (few weeks etc) but that is just taking the ****, especially as those sort of jobs would probably only pay early-mid teens in salary anyway.
 
Associate
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My cousin was doing something like this, all his travel and living expenses were covered but no actual pay.... never really thought about it but maybe it was illegal.
 
Associate
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There was a segment on this the other week on Radio 4. Ultimately, it is commonplace, as it is essentially work experience. There are calls for it to end though. As an aside, a friend of my wife's is an unpaid intern at the House of Lords.
 
Associate
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Yep. I know plenty of people who've done it just because it's a way to get contacts and improve their chances of actually getting a job.

There better alternatives to getting contacts. They might give you job at the end of it, but if they don't in most intern places all the contacts are going to have made are going to be in the company anyway which just denied you a job. if they were serious about the job, they would have just advertised for a real job.

Just any contacts won't magically increase chances. I think thats just a myth, spread by the companies =P

Experience might useful, if actually end up doing anything related.
 
Consigliere
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It is the only way to 'survive' these days. My 1 month unpaid work experience was worth more than my degree and provided me a full time job. My degree and other experience would not have done that.

If i could go back in time, i would have gone for a degree that had a placement year at least.
 
Soldato
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It is the only way to 'survive' these days. My 1 month unpaid work experience was worth more than my degree and provided me a full time job. My degree and other experience would not have done that.

If i could go back in time, i would have gone for a degree that had a placement year at least.

This is over 6 months though.

Surely they could decide if you're competent inside a month and start paying you. This is nothing but a council trying to save money.
 
Soldato
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I know that it exists in all industries....but its rife in the Art / fashion world. My sister and her friends are constantly rotating around interning at galleries and fashion houses. They actually help out in selecting the next intern...not nice.
 
Soldato
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Im currently working as an unpaid intern for a large relatively well known company. Its for 3 months, being paid just over £50 a week for expenses.

I have 2 weeks left but hoping for a job offer this week.

The experience has been great but its been very difficult on such low money, especially as my car got towed last week (not my fault!) and needed an MOT and taxing the week before that!
 
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Consigliere
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This is over 6 months though.

Surely they could decide if you're competent inside a month and start paying you. This is nothing but a council trying to save money.

True and i don't dispute that.

But it is a 'win/win'. You gain 6 months of experience that can help you gain a job with them or elsewhere and they get someone in to work for them. Yes you are working for nothing (well, travel) but if you are living at home and have some form of other income or savings, this is perfect.

In this day and age, jobs are so difficult to come by so at least by doing this it keeps the CV fresh and certainly better than helping out in charity shops.
 
Caporegime
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Man of Honour
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My 1 month unpaid work experience was worth more than my degree and provided me a full time job.

How can a single month be that useful? It's 4 weeks... 20 days. Worth more than your degree? If that really is the case then I'm absolutely amazed. 20 days is nothing at all!
 
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[TW]Fox;20100005 said:
How can a single month be that useful? It's 4 weeks... 20 days. Worth more than your degree? If that really is the case then I'm absolutely amazed. 20 days is nothing at all!

It's really just a very long interview I suppose
 
Soldato
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Im currently working as an unpaid intern for a large relatively well known company. Its for 3 months, being paid £67.50 a week for expenses.

I have 2 weeks left but hoping for a job offer this week.

The experience has been great but its been very difficult on such low money, especially as my car got towed last week (not my fault!) and needed an MOT and taxing the week before that!

If your paid a set amount for "expenses" then you are considered an employee of that company.
 
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