INTERN NATION? How do we skill up young people to get jobs?


Blogs, Politics, WEXO Tutorial — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 10:29 pm on May 31, 2011  

Last week I was invited to attend a breakfast and ‘opinion-former panel event’ at the BIS Conference Centre. It was titled as above – apparently a coincidental duplication of the book of the same name (which I’m now struggling to ‘get in to’) by Ross Perlin – who sadly wasn’t able to attend.

If you’re interested, you can hear the whole event podcast here or read Psychology Magazine’s well written summary of what was discussed here

It was brilliant that Editorial Intelligence brought together many other parties with an interest in answering the question of how we should skill up young people to get jobs.

But I came away feeling disheartened. The panel were certainly accomplished and the talk was well attended but any opportunity to unite opinion and take real action was missed. When given the opportunity, skilling up young people to get jobs will best be achieved by Education and Inspiration on 3 levels. Sadly, the weaknesses of this event lay partly in the title and partly in the make-up of the panel.

  1. EDUCATING YOUNG PEOPLE:. Simon Waugh, Executive Chairman of the National Apprenticeship Service is clearly a successful, hard working kind of guy who has probably sacrificed the pecuniary gains of executive level roles in the private sector to try and make a difference and help others in public. So no disrespect to him, but calling an event ‘Intern Nation’ and then including someone on the panel who runs an apprenticeship service only perpetuates the semantic confusion as to what an internship is – and more importantly isn’t. In case you haven’t read my rants before, here is my take on the distinction between work experience, internships and apprenticeships. Without clarification (and education), interns, ‘workies’ and apprentices will never really understand their rights and government will continue to fuel the fire with inconsistent policies:

    * Work experience: Short placements (generally 1-2 weeks) which are usually for younger people (16-18) to get a ‘taste’ of the working world and typically unpaid though we encourage companies to pay expenses.

    * Internships: 1-3 month placements, largely for undergraduates and increasingly graduates, which should be paid for legal AND moral reasons given that the company derives financial value which should be shared.

    * Apprenticeships: Apprenticeships as we see them are long term (1-2 year) paid training programmes which leave you with a vocational qualification usually in a craft or a skill. We believe they should be seen as an equal alternative to higher education. We do not believe that ‘The Apprentice’ on BBC 1 helps the classification quandry. Realistically, we would have called it ‘The Accomplice’ or more appropriately, the ‘The Attention Seeker’.

    * Jobs: What all the above should eventually result in.

  2. COMPANIES NEED TO BE EDUCATED AND INCENTIVISE:. It’s a shame that someone as influential and expressive as Laurie Penny (Journalist, author and activist )seems to see the stick as the only solution to the ill justice of unpaid internships. “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you?” Along with many others, she is overtly focused on naming and shaming companies that might not know any better. It would be a real shame if such companies close their doors to young people all together for fear of falling foul of bureaucracy. As I explained to ‘Jilted Generation’ author, Shiv Malik, afterwards, WEXO would far rather we all focus on the carrot of incentivising companies to offer paid internships (via the STEP schemes, proposals for recouping costs of internships from VAT etc) rather than antagonise companies with the stick and choke the supply pipeline? We might also want to remind them that the average Return on Investment of a Graduate is 500% over 3 years.
  3. IMPROVING EDUCATION PER SE:. It’s The education system is this country IS partly to blame for not skilling people up to get jobs. This is as much the case as it was for the chair of the event, Brian Groom of the FT, failing to break up the childish confrontation between Citibank Head of Graduate Recruitment, Gemma Lines (I hope she concedes that the City owes the country a debt of gratitude and should sponsor other internships as well as inflating their own remuneration even at this level) and Laura Penney (in fairness it was driven by the latter). The UK’s education system has got worse and this is successively shown to be the case by numeracy and literacy statistics. Moreover, higher education (especially now that it’s paid for) should give its pupils far better careers education and include vocational experience as part of some degrees.

Strangely, the 2 panel members who were least controversial, focused least on the question in hand. This said, Martin Bright , former journalist and founder of New Deal of the Mind (who we work with on BITC’s Work Inspiration campaign) and Faye Wenman, from theTaylor Bennett Foundation, were both entertaining and informative about the good work that they do in trying to create a more meritocratic and productive society. We applaud their work (and the social enterprise, Talent to Work, that this event was ultimately launching) but look to companies and organisations with the reach and resources that we do not currently have to unite the rest of us in effecting real change.

Robin Kennedy

My WEXO Experience: Interning at Platinum Rye


My WEXO Experience, music industry — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 9:53 pm on May 24, 2011  

Regarding my career direction I’ve always felt lucky in that I realised early on that I wanted to work in some capacity within the music industry. With this in mind I was acutely aware that in order to make myself more attractive to employers I needed to build a strong CV of work experience and internship placements, something I did at a number of companies invested in the creative field (Remedy TV, FRUKT Music Intelligence, Bella Union, Warner Bros. Records). From a music television production company to both independent and major record labels I gained a strong knowledge of how different areas of the industry operated.

However, it wasn’t until I saw an internship advertised on WEXO that I really felt that I’d found the role that would directly lead me into the career line I wished to follow – that of music syncing and licensing. Whilst there were a number of outstanding opportunities advertised on the website it was the fantastic position as a music intern at Platinum Rye Entertainment that I hoped to gain. The company is the world’s largest broker of celebrity and recording artist talent for ad campaigns and PR events with recent campaigns including both Friendly Fires and Bat For Lashes for Gucci, The Beatles for Hugo Boss and the recent Lucozade advertisements that have been the talk of the town! I was therefore eager to apply as there really would be no greater education in this sector…

Having submitted my profile I was fortunate enough to be asked to interview with the two UK Directors of Music, following which I learnt I had been offered the role and I was elated! From the get-go I felt like a valued member of the team and was immediately involved in a range of tasks – from music searches to administrative responsibilities I felt that I was gaining the most invaluable experience I could have hoped for.

It’s safe to say that without the WEXO team and and the STEP scheme (which paid me a training allowance commensurate with National Minimum Wage) I would never have had this opportunity to work at such a great company that has hands down provided the best working environment I’ve ever experienced. It even looks like I might be staying here a bit longer…

Tara Lynch

WEXO REVIEW: Intern Nation and other stories…


WEXO Review — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 11:17 pm on May 17, 2011  

I’ve just started reading a new book called ‘Intern Nation‘ by Ross Perlin. Mummy bought it for me because I’m special. Actually my mother bought it for me because I imagine she’s starting to believe in what we’re trying to do at WEXO. I can’t help it that she knows where to get it or that she wanted to pay for it. And that is the issue at stake. Forgive me if I sound like a broken record (I feel like one) but there’s nothing wrong with knowing people who can get you something e.g an internship. The problem starts when other people aren’t given access to it too. The problem is compounded when a role that has a’ list of duties and work set hours’ (as per UK governmental guidance) is not paid. Legalities aside it is unethical and the biproduct is that it discriminates against other people who can’t afford to do it for free.

Despite being just 28, (as Churchill said “If you’re not a liberal when you’re 20, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative when you’re 40, you have no head.“) Perlin’s analysis is brave yet commercially aware and this guy is clearly no fool ( though he is currently writing a dictionary of a Chinese language spoken by just 6000 people). He sees value in internships, he does not want to choke the supply of them; rather he is passionate about making them work for us ALL. Here are 5 snippets that have particualarly resonated with me so far (and I’ve only just finished the preface):

1) The U.K. is apparently 5 years behind the U.S. in its use of internships but Perlin warns of what internships could become: “Until just a few decades ago, the word [internship] referred almost exclusively to a particular period of hands-on apprenticeship in the medical profession… Today…probably… between 1 and 2 million people participate in internships each year in the U.S…. ‘The rise of the internship is the market’s finding the workaround to government regulations, evidence of the tendency of liberty to grow up like grass in the cracks of sidewalks”.

2) Perhaps the worst example of how internships can be exploited: “Required by the school to take ‘a social internship’, two girls in the Netherlands, aged fourteen and fifteen, intern as prostitutes in the local red light district”

3) Who is to blame? “All of us – employers, parents schools, government agencies, and interns themselves – are complicit [albeit subconsciously] in the devauing of work, the exacerbation of social inequality, and the disillusionment of young people in the workplace that are emerging as a result of the internet boom.”

4) Hope: Perlin sees his book as “a step towards sanity and towards justice”. In a recent Guardian review, Andy Beckett lamented that things could get worse before they get better. In the Times, Kaya Burgess quoted Intern Aware and Interns Anonymous as saying there is a limit to how much they can fight the system. We do not believe that the system needs fighting. There are a multitude of well mentored, paid internships on offer to the best candidates in the UK and we like to think a lot of them are on WEXO. As ever, what we need to do is work together to make sure that there are reasons for companies to offer even more of them.

I look forward to updating you. The problem is I always seem to start books in earnest but then start others and take ages to finish them. Amongst others, I’m also currently reading ‘The Big Short‘ by Michael Lewis and Keith Richards’ autobiography. Sorry Mum, but both are infinitely more entertaining and I suspect at least one of them contains some pertinent careers advice to boot.


Robin Kennedy. Co-Founder, WEXO

Another day in the office… The PM’s office…


Blogs, Election, General, My WEXO Experience, Politics — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 6:49 pm on April 27, 2011  

I was most appreciative to have been invited in to No. 10 today to air WEXO’s views on youth unemployment…


1) What it’s like going to No. 10?
2) What was discussed?
3) What can be acheived?

1. WHAT’S IT LIKE GOING TO NO. 10?

If truth be told, I was a little apprehensive (a fair reminder of how many of you feel, when invited in for interviews). On arrival at Westminster, I manoeuvred my way through a throng of people alongside the Cenotaph and crisply announced that I was ‘here for a meeting at No. 10′. My credentials and bags checked, I strode on down Downing Street half expecting to bump into David (PM’s Question Time and a defence of GDP growth beckoned) or at least Nick Robinson (presumably contemplating whether Obama was born in America) but calm was all around.

Not sure what the protocol was, I rang the bell alongside the door which was instantly opened by an official looking gentleman who asked me to leave my phone in one of the cubby holes (Slot ‘007′ was inauspiciously unoccupied but I plumped for it). I then obligingly took a seat below a long and winding staircase which conjured up visions of an seemingly ‘home-alone’ PM/Hugh Grant dancing down it.

2. WHAT WAS DISCUSSED?

My host, an assertive yet accommodating senior policy adviser with a testing mandate (Education, Welfare and Pensions), shortly emerged and there followed a concise yet considered exchange of views which hinged on ‘supply versus demand’, budgetary pressures and the role of government. Youth unemployment it seems is shortly to be moved up the agenda and it was encouraging that players like ourselves were to be consulted in plotting its demise.

One of the key concerns seemed not to be the apparent difference of opinion between DC and NC on access to work experience (understandably – I believe the two can be aligned: sharp elbows are fine so long as everyone knows where the starting line is); rather it was the current reluctance of companies to back ‘first timers’ in lieu of ‘tried and tested’ recruits. Youth unemployment is hovering around the 1m mark. We reflected on how depressing this was when recent figures suggest that graduates (at least) offer a 500% Return On Investment (ROI) over 3 years – adding over £1Bn of value to the UK economy last year.

On the disclosure that we had previously tried to form an ‘Internships Alliance’, it was inferred that if we wanted to assemble some of the key players in this space, government advisers and representatives from BIS would be happy to invite us in to consider our suggestions. This I see as the ‘Big Society’ in action. I sensed that although the government does not see merit in state intervention, it could see value in working WITH select partners in the public and private sector to INSPIRE and INCENTIVISE (corporate) society at large to effect change (investing in an otherwise ‘lost generation’). It does not want to be seen as a ‘bully pulpit’ but it does perhaps acknowledge that it is best placed to showcase good practice and then ‘spread the word’?

Otherwise, the key issues that we touched on were:

* NETWORKING v NEPOTISM: WEXO doesn’t believe there’s anything wrong with using your network to get a job / work experience (it’s a useful skill for the working world) so long as other people are presented with the means to be considered too (and the opportunity goes to the most suitable candidate based on merit). Our technology encourages this by ranking and matching candidates to opportunities.

* SMEs: Many large companies already offer structured work experience and internship programs, but we believe the government should focus on enthusing / incentivising small and medium-sized businesses to take young people on (we have historically suggested recouping costs from VAT hike?). It is these SMEs that represent the backbone of the British economy (60% of GDP?) and which we (and other potential Internships Alliance lobby members) particularly represent. WEXO offers companies a platform to promote opportunities democratically and low maintenance cost, efficient schemes (via STEP and endorsed by Boris Johnson) to pay interns fairly.

* WORK EXPERIENCE V INTERNSHIPS: There is a clear distinction between ‘work experience’ and ‘internships‘ and this is critical in the ‘unpaid’ debate. We encourage companies to offer work experience (unpaid but preferably with expenses covered) for periods of up to 2 weeks. Thereafter (when the value generated exceeds that which is which is earned), we suggest companies offer paid internships for anything up to 3 months. For us, this is more a moral issue than a legal one (Blog here). After 3 months we suggest companies either offer people a job or let them get on with their job search. Otherwise they get stuck in the ‘internship trap’. Although WEXO is clear that work experience, apprenticeships and internships are totally different entities (based on duration, who applies, and remuneration or who derives value), the public at large might not be and so consideration needs to be given to this. Furthermore, we see the need for clarity on interns being entitled to National Minimum Wage, apprentices being entitled to £2.50 an hour and job seekers being allowed to do work experience for up to 2 months on JSA (Job Seekers Allowance).

* CAREERS ADVICE: Against a backdrop of record youth unemployment, a recent Ofsted survey suggested that one in three schools are failing to give good advice to students about future career prospects. A report by Deloitte said that 95% of young people want employers to be more involved in providing guidance about careers citing that they feel ‘bewildered’ and ‘uninformed’ by the career choices on offer. We would encourage government to back inspirational careers guidance to the like of the ‘How I Made It in…’ Events involving executives from the front line of their industries as featured on WEXO tv.

* FUNDING: As per our blog at the time, in the budget, George Osborne committed to investing in 4 times as many 8 week work experience placements as previously for 18-21 year olds. The scheme, administered by Job Centre Plus allows those doing so to collect JSA (Job Searchers Allowance). It’s a reasonably well conceived initiative but it doesn’t address the issue of finding rewarding work experience. “As George pointed out, the problem is that only 1 in 10 companies in the UK offer work experience as opposed to 1 in 4 in Germany. If George wants to see a return on his recent investment he needs to address both sides of the equation”. So funding for this and the £180m ‘Apprenticeships’ packages should address supply of opportunities as well as demand.

3) WHAT CAN BE ACHIEVED?

With the above in mind, WEXO is excited about the prospect of working with the powers-that-be to help educate companies and incentivise them to recruit and invest in young people who are better informed.

* PROBABLE OUTCOME: At the very least, we feel sure that the government will honour its offer to listen to, acknowledge and where possible, address, the consensus suggestions of the key players in this space. We trust that this will not be a repeat of the unfulfilled promises of 3 years ago when we met the Panel for Fair Access to the Professions and offered to help with The Graduate Talent Pool.

* POSSIBLE OUTCOME: Even if say just SMEs (and especially ‘STEM’ [Science, Technology Engineering and Maths] companies – the future?) could recoup the costs of one 3 month internship each from VAT at National Minimum Wage (~£220 a week), it would help them show commitment to the managers of tomorrow? Instead of giving £15m worth of funding directly to the Higher Education Authorities – HEFCE (which was largely left unspent?) – we would suggest that the government ‘atones’ itself for the recent tuition fee hikes (which we actually support) and invests some of the proceeds in subsidies that public-private sector partnerships (including HEFCE) can promote to companies that are desperate to take on young people. Perhaps funding could come from the new £50m ‘Growth and Innovation Fund’? We believe that given the ROI generated by graduates any such initiative would be cost-neutral at worst.

* PREFERRED OUTCOME: WEXO was recently a member of two syndicates that spent a considerable amount of time, money and energy submitting tenders (and being shortlisted) for grants to supply work experience and Internships across London. With the funding then being clawed back from the LDA, the projects were subsequently abandoned. We acknowledge that the government would rather let the market decide who the winners are (and we are happy to operate on this basis) but what IF this government decided that it would like to back responsible corporate and social enterprises (as well as banks) and actually INVEST in the next generation through performance related, service provision grants to the like of the ones discussed above? A little could go a long way to get the motor running and generating decent GDP growth.

My thanks for the opportunity.

Robin Kennedy. Co-Founder, WEXO

PRESS RELEASE: PLACEMENT PROGRAMME REACHES OUT TO STUDENTS AND BUSINESSES ACROSS LONDON


Blogs, General, Guest blogger, Politics — Tags: , , , , , , , , — admin @ 8:20 pm on April 12, 2011  

PRESS RELEASE: PLACEMENT PROGRAMME REACHES OUT TO STUDENTS AND BUSINESSES ACROSS LONDON

6th April 2011: Step launches 2011 programme search for London’s Most Enterprising Students and Graduates

With graduate unemployment levels at historic highs, the UK’s leading paid student placement and internship provider today announces it is expanding its programme across London to enable more students and graduates to gain the experience which could be vital to landing a permanent job.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said:

“It is essential that graduates move successfully from academic to working life and a place on an internship scheme is a fantastic way to start out. I am delighted to support a programme that not only works to provide real opportunities for graduates, but that also directly helps to enhance the competitiveness and productivity of the capital’s businesses.”

For 2011 Step is working with two new key partners to help expand the number and range of opportunities available across London. The Careers Group (University of London) are giving Step a major boost this year by offering the placement programme to their employer partners for the first time, and will be working closely with Step’s other new partner Real World Magazine. Existing partner WEXO (Work Experience Online) will continue to focus on the creative industries and SMEs and the partnership will be managed by the central Step team.

Every summer STEP places hundreds of undergraduates to run business development projects tailored to their individual skills and career ambitions. And following a highly successful trial supported by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in 2010, Step will now continue to also offer opportunities to recent graduates.

The 12-week placements give students and graduates the chance to generate results which could provide a real boost to their employment prospects whilst gaining relevant and meaningful work experience. The programme, has delivered more than 23,000 projects in SMEs since it began in 1986.

Small businesses, which still may find themselves stretched in the current economic climate, also benefit from the projects, which can deliver substantial financial rewards. Every year, almost half (48%) of Step students add more than £5,000 worth of value to their host business, while a fifth (17%) have added more than £30,000.

Students and graduates can apply for a wide range of placements ranging from designing websites and bespoke software to devising marketing strategies and identifying potential new markets.

The programmes have helped deliver paid placements to companies ranging from Manchester United’s London offices to innovative new London Gin distiller, Sipsmith and internet sensations Mydeco.com and Skimbit to property company Ivy Lettings.

Philip Donnelly, Programme Director at Step Enterprise, said: “Step is a direct and practical response to the challenge that tens of thousands of UK graduates face when they move from the world of study into employment. I am delighted that with our new London partners we will be creating more opportunities for meaningful placements right across the Capital.”

Students and recent graduates can find out more and apply for a placement in London at www.wexo.co.uk Towards the end of their placement all candidates will write a blog on their achievements and personal development, which will be entered into the ‘Most Enterprising Student’ awards.

Businesses that have a potential project opportunity should email info@wexo.co.uk or visit the website for more information. Applications received by April 30th will benefit from a special Spring discount offer.

~ENDS~

For more information contact Robin Kennedy on info@wexo.co.uk

Notes to editors:

Step is a direct response to the challenge that tens of thousands of UK graduates face when they move from the world of study into employment.

There have been around 22,000 Step placements since the programme began in 1986. The CBI and Universities UK’s report, Future fit: Preparing graduates for the world of work (March 2009), endorsed Step as a programme which can help students develop employability skills. In 2010 Step received support from BIS to deliver 400 additional graduate internships alongside the Government’s wider investment in Graduate Talent Pool.

Step historically has focussed on small businesses, but with the drive to create as many meaningful opportunities as possible, is now opening up the programme to businesses of any size or sector.

Participating students and graduates receive a minimum training allowance of £210 a week while on placement, which is free of tax and national insurance.

A network of Universities, Enterprise Agencies and HR/training specialists partner with Step Enterprise to deliver the programme across the UK.

In London we are delighted to have the support of three new partners who will be delivering Step right across the Capital:

* The Careers Group, is the largest university careers service in the UK providing high quality and cost effective shared careers and employability services to 17 colleges in the University of London. Working with over 4,000 national and regional employers The Careers Group provides innovative support and engagement channels for its students and recent graduates. It has one of the most active online graduate opportunities jobs boards in the UK and is well-known for its pioneering work on the analysis and reporting of graduate employment.

* WEXO is a matchmaking network for those offering or requiring work experience, internships and jobs. It also organises filmed careers Q+A events.

* Real World Magazine has established itself as a market leader in graduate recruitment advice, having been voted four times as the best-read magazine on campus by the High Fliers Organisation

In 2011 STEP and its partners anticipate around 200 opportunities in London and over 600 right across the UK, from the south coast of England to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

Step has received a range of national and regional Government funding in past years, and until 2009 was sponsored by Shell UK. Following Shell’s withdrawal of support in 2009-10, Step Enterprise have worked hard to develop and enhance the programme, creating a sustainable focused entirely on the needs of participating students, graduates and employers.


PRESS COMMENT


Blogs, General — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 10:21 am on April 5, 2011  



*** PRESS COMMENT: WEXO invites government to help make “It’s not who you know, it’s who you are” a reality ***

5th April 2011: WEXO (Work Experience Online) welcomes this morning’s news that the government is to focus on reversing the growing culture of unpaid internships as part of its social mobility scheme. The announcement that Nick Clegg will champion this initiative is encouraging. WEXO invites the government to actualise its commitment to private/public sector partnerships and work with it to tackle these issues head on.

Robin Kennedy, Co-founder and CEO of WEXO said: “In a difficult economy, internships have started to replace graduate schemes in small businesses as a ‘first job’ vehicle. For some time now, we’ve been trying to foster a meritocratic culture that democratises access to work experience and internships using the internet. I welcome today’s announcements and look forward to hearing more but this space is fraught with sensitivities. We don’t need rhetoric and policy; what we need is to educate and incentivise companies to take on the best people and pay them fairly. I’d be delighted to work with the government to this end.”

WEXO has teamed up with STEP to make it easier for companies to find the best interns. STEP has already successfully operated the London Innovation Placement Programme and its own Graduate STEP Scheme with The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS). Both schemes, which WEXO has worked with STEP on, have proved successful in providing a cost effective solution that helps companies find first class interns who in return receive an appropriate level of remuneration (which is the equivalent of at least the national minimum wage) for their hard work. One of WEXO’s recent proposals was that companies should be able to recoup the costs of paying interns from this year’s VAT increase.

In an earlier release, Sir Stuart Rose, former Chairman of Marks & Spencer and founder of BITC initiative ‘Work Inspiration’, said: “I’m a big believer in what WEXO is doing to help get students and graduates working again. By utilising the power of the internet, they are helping match talent to exciting opportunities.”

~ENDS~

Notes to editors:

WEXO (www.wexo.co.uk) is a matchmaking network exciting work experience, internships and jobs. WEXO’s technology now allows companies to rank and sort applications and it has already developed a strong client list of over 500 companies including Sony Music, Armani and Working Title as well as many start-ups, charities and SMEs. WEXO has been featured on BBC Television News and was a finalist for the 2009 LSE Recruitment Awards in the ‘Most Innovative Use of Technology’ category. More recently the company has launched ‘WEXO tv’ to help inspire and educate people about different industries. The company was founded in 2007 by ex-investment banker Robin Kennedy and London ‘fixer’ Harry Becher. The platform was built with seed funding and the company generates revenue from membership fees, search fees and advertising.

Step (www.step.org.uk) has over 10 years of experience in developing some of the UK’s most innovative and well regarded placement programmes. Quoted as a model of good practice by the Alan Milburn-chaired Panel on Fair Access, Step are working directly with the Department of Business to make these opportunities a reality.

For more information contact Robin Kennedy on info@wexo.co.uk or by calling: +44 (0) 203 287 7644


George Osborne needs some more work experience


Blogs, General, Politics — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 4:11 pm on March 24, 2011  


‘George, aged 39, has shown much promise this term in growth studies but unfortunately his performance in yesterday’s examination fell short of expectations. He seems to struggle with the fundamental concept of ROI. With time, we feel he can excel and we would encourage him to work with others to this end.’

That’s how George’s report on yesterday’s budget might read. ‘ROI’ (Return on Investment) might seem like an overly complex term for a school report but you didn’t see my 6 year old niece’s equivalent which talked about ‘visual-spatial awareness’ – as if she’d know what that was?

Anyway, what a shame that an MP with such a strong commercial upbringing (Daddy founded a very successful wallpaper company) should fail to inspire us in yesterday’s budget – at least with reference to youth unemployment. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a criminal act. In terms of timing it was refreshingly short coming in at just 56 minutes – though Ladbroke’s still honoured a bet that Ken Clarke would fall asleep – but on our territory at least, it could have gone so much further.


We were actually impressed with some of George’s announcements yesterday, in particular:

  1. ENTREPRENEURS: Doubling and extending the Entrepreneur’s Relief Scheme and Increasing the EIS tax break threshold from 20% to 30%. This will further incentivise angel investment in new enterprise (OFFBEAT QUESTION: When will the government start incentivising investment in music rather than just film in a world where the major labels have failed ALL their stakeholders? UK Plc used to be good at music?)
  2. FIRST TIME BUYERS: 10,000 will now be able to put up just 5% of the deposit for a house purchase with the government and builders putting up a further 10% each.
  3. CORPORATION TAX: Cuts of 2p make British corporation tax rates the lowest in the G7.

But on the measures designed to tackle youth unemployment, we think there’s ‘room for improvement’…

Naturally, WEXO has long been a proponent of incentivinsing investment in graduates (see last year’s press release) who offer an excellent ROI. The same could be said for work experience. Yesterday, George committed to investing in 4 times as many 8 week work experience placements as previously for 18-21 year olds. The scheme, administered by Job Centre Plus allows those doing so to collect JSA (Job Searchers Allowance). It’s a reasonably well conceived initiative (it does confuse the distinction between work experience, paid internships and National Minimum Wage legislation addressed in a previous blog) but it doesn’t address the issue of finding rewarding work experience. WEXO consistently has people referred to it by Job Centre Plus, who get all the funding, but don’t do the work. As George pointed out, the problem is that only 1 in 10 companies in the UK offer work experience as opposed to 1 in 4 in Germany. If George wants to see a return on his recent investment he needs to address both sides of the equation.

One of the ideas that we have been looking at with Kids Company et al is for organisations to involve their graduates in administering work experience programmes, developing their management potential whilst sharing the benefits of their training with their younger, potentially less fortunate peers. WIN:WIN. Ideas like these might persuade companies to open up their doors to the executives of tomorrow. We’d like to see more support for these kinds of initiatives.

I’d like to think that the ‘Growth and Innovation Fund’ could help foster private and public sector partnerships and ROI. It’s now new (Phil Donnelly of our partner company, STEP, was kind enough to give me a copy of it in a pre-budget meeting yesterday ) and it’s only worth £50m but as a company involved in a syndicate that invested time and money to bid on LDA (London Development Agency) Internship funding, my principle concern is the inevitable bureaucracy associated with public sector funding. Having made it on to the final 3 shortlist, six months after the deadline for an announcement we are yet to hear the result and the LDA are yet to hear if they still exist!

Along with work experience, George announced a £180m package to fund 50,000 more apprenticeships over the next four years, and 24 ‘University Technical Colleges’. We like the idea of practical tertiary education but as the Telegraph argued earlier this month, the concept of apprenticeships itself feels outdated and what about graduates? Wasn’t this the perfect opportunity to atone them for the tuition fee hikes? We disagree with the FSB that the universities (HEFCE) should be given more funding to run internships schemes but isn’t there a way the government can work directly with the private sector to help graduates?

As a parting shot (and leaving aside ‘Blairgate’), if each cruise missile we fire at Libya costs around £500k and we’re so in need of economic stimulus back home, why did the House of Commons vote so vehemently (557-13) in favour of military intervention?

Robin Kennedy

The Ever-Present Dilemma of Unpaid Internships…


Blogs, Career advice, General, Politics, WEXO Event, Your career in — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 12:06 pm on January 26, 2011  

Are you comfortable that you’re getting value for money? An inside account on the intricacies of unpaid internships…

For a long time now, there has been a debate raging about unpaid internships and I wanted to take some time to clarify our position. This follows both our original blog on this subject (in the words of the original protagonist) ‘It’s my work, he’d say, and I do it for pay…’over a year ago on 1st December 2009 (in response to a BBC debate on Intern Abuse) and the proceeding comments in August last year (following our failure to bring together an Internship Alliance to try and lobby the new government to incentivise companies to operate paid internship schemes).

The song effectively remains the same:

“Today, more and more actual graduates are resorting to internships and in the brave new world, it is only right that if you are adding value to a company you should be paid at least the National Minimum Wage (NMW – approx £210 a week). Social mobility is key and unpaid internships discriminate against people who simply can’t afford to work for free. But in these dire economic times, with companies struggling to make ends meet, we must be careful not to scare companies away from opening their doors to young people all together. They need to be incentivised to understand their obligation to help the youth of today; not named and shamed because they can’t.”

Many will argue that not paying interns NMW is illegal. I suspect this is probably true but so is smoking cannabis and approximately 1 in 4 16-25 year olds have broken the law and tried it. What I am more interested in is the morality of not paying interns.

An article on Business Link’s website makes it very clear as to who is and who isn’t entitled to NMW. As it infers, my mother who volunteers for the local hospice (a charity although by law voluntary workers can work for any of charities, voluntary organisations, associated fund raising bodies or statutory bodies) is not entitled to minimum wage (and nor would she want it) because she is a volunteer – and so does not have any contract (written or verbal) to perform work or provide services. Anyone who falls outside of this is entitled to minimum wage. This probably includes most interns.

What about undergraduates? Along these lines, for anyone who is shadowing a company or learning from them as in work experience, then there is not the obligation to pay them because they are not providing a service or working under contract. On occasion, undergraduates are exempt from NMW (usually if their tutors agree that the internship is related to their course and they are not performing a service to the host company). During my time at university I did 3 internships over 3 summers and each of these paid me in excess of minimum wage (one even gave me a bonus at the end). I’d like to think this was because in each case I provided a service that added value in excess of the value I derived from the internship experience.

Legally, isn’t this a grey area? Yes, but what matters for me, as I have suggested above, is that if someone adds (monetary) net value to the entity they work for (or be it future value) then morally they should be rewarded for it irrespective – and this we see as the acid test. Along these lines we are very happy to see companies offer ‘work experience’ for up to 2 weeks – and we would encourage them to pay expenses during this time. Any longer than this though and the chances are that an individual will be adding value and so should be paid accordingly.

What about the BBC and Parliament? I am not exempting these institutions that are renowned for not paying their interns but arguably the interns are deriving more value from the experience and so do not pass the acid test. If though (as is often the case with smaller companies) there is a ‘job description’ or a list of responsibilities then the logical conclusion is that the intern is going to be adding value and should be paid accordingly!

I am no socialist – I view myself as a liberal conservative, a proponent on free market economics and people ‘getting on their bike’ (albeit with the safety net of a welfare state) – but I am tiring of companies (particularly in some distinct parts of the creative industries) telling me that they used to work for free and so their interns can too. I do not see why anyone should pay their interns (especially in this day and age with student debts as they are) anything less than I pay my cleaner.

What about start-ups? WEXO is a start-up and we pay our interns. I don’t feel comfortable asking people to help me build a company for free. I am encouraged to see a number of start-ups round London doing the same thing. I’m all in favour of getting young people in to experience start-up life and entrepreneurship but not if they’re a substitute for employees. If you can’t afford to pay your interns or grads, you should probably wait until you can, question your business model, or look at some other form of commensurate remuneration via say equity or (bizarrely in an equivalent move to what Barclays Capital is suggesting for bonuses) even bonds (in simple terms, IOUs). This might not stand up legally but it probably does ethically. If as a ‘Founder’ you choose not to pay yourself (as I myself have done on occasion) then to my mind, that is your prerogative but I suspect that in your own interest, you would be advised to make an IOU arrangement via directors loans instead of just foregoing payment. Not paying yourself does not justify not paying your workforce.

Should there be a limit to how long internships can last? Timing is one issue that we haven’t visited in past writings. In economic times like these though, internships have become a temporary employment vehicle for graduates and in line with other players in this field (including STEP whose BIS and LDA programmes we helped deliver last year. Programmes that include schemes to help incentivise companies to pay interns) we strongly suggest that internships should last no longer than 3 months. After this time, companies should either ‘step’ up to the plate and commit to a giving them a job or let them get on with finding one elsewhere. Otherwise young people will get stuck in an ‘internship trap’.

What about the new £2.50 an hour proposals from the CIPD? The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development have suggested interns should be paid £2.50 an hour which works out as roughly £400 a month (see BBC article earlier this month) As far as we are concerned, all this does is reduce the inequality. In all honesty, could you live on this?

So what? I voted Conservative, was impressed by Michael Gove when he spoke at an event I attended; and on the face of it, I can’t stand Ed Balls. I believe in cutting the deficit, to an extent; (we still have less debt as a country than Japan and Italy have had for much of the last decade as per interesting Fresh Minds article) I will hold my hand up and say that I back the hike in graduate fees. What I can’t condone is slashing investment in jobs (be in the Future Jobs Fund or private sector stimuli) and basic education (literacy in particular in this country is poor). We called, some time ago, for companies to be able to recoup the cost of hiring interns at National Minimum Wage from the recent VAT hike. This could help solve the conundrum addressed herein. Last week youth unemployment reached new record highs. And young people don’t fully understand the roles that ARE on offer hence our event on 8th February. We issued a press release for this last week but as I said in another release in June:

“Existing public sector initiatives have made no dent in this crisis; it is our opinion that if the situation is to improve, the government needs to start properly backing the private sector [not just relying on it]. The VAT hike will help UK Plc raise a much needed £13Bn but figures suggest the average return on hiring a graduate is 500% over 3 years so that’s one of the main places I’d be investing it.”

Robin Kennedy

To pay or not to pay…?


General — Tags: , , , — robin @ 6:03 pm on May 19, 2009  

 

There is an interesting discussion going on at the moment on econsultancy.com called ‘Death to spec work and unpaid work experience’. Our take on it is this: The UK legal situation on unpaid work experience and internships IS a grey area.  See our FAQs for more details. The real point is that this is a free market and companies can decide whether or how much to pay their interns (if they are not constrained by the government regulations). Equally, students or graduates can decide what they are prepared to accept as reward for gaining important experience. So the big question is: why should interns be paid – isn’t the experience payment enough?

Whilst work experience placements and internships help get students and graduates on their chosen career path, the work they do still adds value to a business, and this should be rewarded. We encourage the companies on WEXO to offer interns payment if possible and paying our own interns above the National Minimum Wage guidelines.  We think this is fair given what we are looking for but no two ‘experiences’ are the same… I’m sure some people would happily do an unpaid internship at The Playboy mansions in New York (and I can see how it could fulfil all 6 of the US legal restrictions – especially ‘If the training, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in a vocational school!’).

Now more than ever, we believe that internships give companies AND interns a cost-effective and non-binding solution to financial and commitment concerns allowing them to try each other out before they pursue more permanent arrangements.

And in conclusion, I defer to Sir Arnold Bax (English composer and poet): “You should make a point of trying every experience once, excepting incest and folk dancing”.