‘The intern is paying to learn, just as they pay to attend university.’
Introducing Etsio. If you’re seeking work experience, it can put you in touch with ’amazing companies’ in a range of professions. Employers advertise positions on the Etsio website which people looking for internships can apply for. It’s brilliant. Here’s an example of what’s available in the world of film and TVproduction:
Did you notice the bit at the end? Fee to be paid by intern: £65 a day?
Now, it’s not uncommon for people on work experience to go unpaid – I think it’s fair to say that it’s par for the course – but this is the first time I’ve ever come across a situation where people are invited to pay for the privilege of working. Most of the fee goes to the employer, with Etsio holding back a small admin charge.
Now before you all get on your high horses about this, I should point out that it’s all about edukashun. As the Etsio website says, ‘You aren’t paying for a job. You’re buying experience.’ – something to go on the aul’ CV. ‘The intern is paying to learn, just as they pay to attend university.’
Is it ethical? Hell, yeah. As Etsio says, ‘With students now paying £40,00 for a university education – but zero useful experience for an employer – we don’t think it’s unreasonable for them to pay a few hundred pounds to get invaluable real life experience.’
I’m sure Etsio are not alone in discovering a market for putting prospective interns in touch with employers, but this is the first time I’ve come across such a thing. And, of course, I am apoplectic. Did you expect anything less?
You bring the first pitchfork, I’ll bring the first flaming brand. A crowd will form. We’re going to burn down these fuckers’ Castle down…..
Etsio, we know where you live…
Aye, Rab. It’s just the logical extension of what’s been happening for a long time now. Successive governments over the past decades have subsidized employers to create jobs, knowing that they would never fund it out of their own coffers. But in ‘these straitened times’, when ‘we are where we are’ and ‘should be lucky to have a job at all’, it now seems sensible to force students to take out a mortgage on their education for jobs that don’t exist and then make them pay for work experience to give them a head start in the race for jobs that still won’t exist anytime soon. Genius!
This company selling this internship is Vox Pops International (http://www.voxpops.com/).
Very, very slimy.
Cheers, Mazzer.
I was sort of shocked to discover that this is considered OK. A sign of how far we’ve come, perhaps.
This company has an extremely high turn around of staff, they pay very little and dont offer any correct training. My friend worked for them last year and was treated extremely badly by their acting manager. The company is actually owned my a married couple but the daily runnings of it is the manager and her boyfriend. They have no people skills and treat their staff awfully. A company with should be avoided by any person, especially new starter to the industry.