Chelgate articles
Politicians should leave internships alone
Peter Cuthbertson
It is unfortunate that firms offering unpaid work experience to young people have received such a negative press recently. Companies benefit greatly from taking on interns to do certain pieces of work – but far less than the interns themselves often benefit. They get the sort of experience that makes them more employable. In some cases, it also gives them the benefit of trying out a job and discovering it is not for them.
Critics have gained the attention of Nick Clegg by charging that companies exploit interns. Some argue that law or social pressure should be used to prevent unpaid internships altogether.
What would justify action to end these opportunities for so many young people? Few seriously maintain that requiring interns to be paid would mean many new jobs would be created. Instead, it is argued that at least the job market would be fairer, with the privileged no longer able to garnish their CVs with unpaid opportunities that most people cannot afford to take up.
It is dubious that just because a privileged person can afford the opportunity to try out a field of work for a short period then it harms the less advantaged in society. Certainly in absence of the range of internship opportunities that are currently available, it is very likely that factors such as family connections would play a much greater role in who gets full-time employment, and where.
When it comes to cold applications, without this kind of experience on people's CVs to judge them by, all a prospective employer can go on is academic record. There is already (rightly) an assumption by almost all employers that a good degree from a good university indicates someone will be better at many jobs. But this assumption can be rebutted by a strong record in other areas, such as successful internships. A bright young person who performs poorly in his A levels or his finals can still hope to get highly sought-after jobs by proving himself in his chosen field as an excellent intern. Is there any good reason to prefer a world in which almost nothing except academic qualifications and connections determine ones career chances?
Most of all, it is important to dispense with the notion that the internship experience is unaffordable for ordinary people. Every argument along these lines seems to assume there are only two types of student or recent graduate in the world. One is either born into grinding financial difficulties or to super-wealthy parents with a big house in Chelsea and limitless financial resources to support ones every job market whim. What one never hears about are the vast bulk of young people in between, who face financial constraints but still have enough money that they can make choices. Many internships do cover travel expenses. Where they do not, it is reasonable to expect ordinary young people to save some money in order to live in London or Manchester as an intern, or to commute. Young students and graduates are very good at finding the resources to fund trips abroad and evenings in bars and nightclubs. If some choose a summer holiday over an internship that's quite a different concern from the absurd scenario in which no matter what they do they simply cannot afford a month's rent in zone 3, or a weekly train ticket.
As I have seen first-hand (both as a former intern and from working with the interns Chelgate takes on), short periods of unpaid work experience do many young people much good – and they do no one any harm. This is more than can be said for the ill-informed campaigns to scale back these opportunities. Politicians should leave internships alone.
Peter writes in a personal capacity
