Internship/Exploiting a worker

getmore4less

getmore4less wrote: »

Is this a proper company or is it a boiler room?

Zazu wrote: »

They're in canary wharf in the citigroup building

THat does not answer the question.

Even legit companied operate boiler room techniques

paddyrg

getmore4less wrote: »

THat does not answer the question.

Even legit companied operate boiler room techniques

This is true of course - for the sake of a few months discounted rent on an empty floor of a tower block, you get a lot of credibility...

saintjammyswine

Internships can be a fantastic way of getting experience, especially for someone younger. My stepson was offered an internship as a photographer straight from college, unpaid but he had p/t work to tide him over. He thought hard about it but decided to take a gap year, travel with money from his now f/t job and build his own portfolio from around the world. It is not slave labour as they were offering more than simply work 9-5 & take photos for us, there would shadow, mentor & offer real experience & training.

Zazu

No I was not aware of anything of the bull crap that went on when I applied for the internship. It was advertised on Gumtree (apparently I've recently found out that companies that advertise there are a lil dodgey and on an interview I went to the day before the broker one, the man essentially wanted to pay me to be his companion and sleep with him)

Secondly, I was TOLD it was a 6 months internship and then told that it was a 2months internship and then told that after three months they'll give a contract of some sort. Basically, the goal posts kept changing and nothing was properly confirmed or said.

I have rights. That's why the government exists to ensure people do not get exploited. Why aren't all companies operating this way then? Why don't they all just "employ" interns then and have most of they're "employees" as interns?

I want to work in finance in the future. Preferably for a company like Bloomberg. Any sort of experience in that area is beneficial to me.

I have left them now (as of today)

Clearly I'm not a volunteer if they are expecting and telling me to work 8.30am till 5.30pm mon-fri and that I cannot have a sick day (I suffer from arthritis too so do suffer from flare ups and periods when i'm immobile). Volunteers come and go as they please.

seven-day-weekend

Can't understand the fuss about the phone, just turn it off and put it in the box.

However if the volunteer nature of the post does not meet with your requirements, you have done best to leave.

Good luck with your career.

bendix

Zazu wrote: »

This was the point I was trying to get at. From my understanding, if you've been told to come in and essentially work for an employer, and I am calling up other companies and getting them to trade £10k+ (sometimes in £500k+) per month, surely I am a WORKER. Do interns work from 8.30am (sometimes 8am) till 5.30pm 5 days a week? I think it calculates to just over £6.50 per day

I bloody know what internships are. So you don't need to be patronising all you guys who have said "if you don't know what an internship is you shouldn't be an intern..i'm surprised you don't know.." I am trying to understand if it is even LEGAL for a company to "employ" "interns" to do 45 hours a week over the course of 5 days (So 9 hours a day with one 1 hour break in the whole day, which is lunch), have them on phones calling businesses asking them to trade and what currencies they're exposed to and which companies they use to handle the FX, and be paid so little with very little security in the "job."

I find it very convenient that they say they'll offer an internship for 6 months (the max amount of time you can be an intern) and not say a 3 or 6 week internship. I think it's because they want cheap labour. They have "employed" 40+ "interns" and do dismiss them even if they have one day off sick.

I am in my 20's. If they do not want mobile phones out, I am more than happy to put it and keep it in my bag till the end of the day. However, what everyone fails to also notice and understand from my initial post is that it is ONLY my table, which consists of about 8people including myself, whose phones get put in a shoe box.

There are 6 other tables, about 8 on each, and they are all allowed to keep their phones with them. Why should I have to say "I don't have my phone" in order to keep it on me? If they're wrong and at fault and surely it's not RIGHT to be taking someone's personal property, I don't think they should get away with it.

Fine. You know what an internship is. Well done. You obviously consider yourself above being an intern, so leave. Noone is making you stay.

So far as Im aware, slavery has been abolished and noone is tieing you to the desk.

Good luck.

Interns continue to exist because mugs like you take them.

SarEl

Zazu wrote: »

No I was not aware of anything of the bull crap that went on when I applied for the internship. It was advertised on Gumtree (apparently I've recently found out that companies that advertise there are a lil dodgey and on an interview I went to the day before the broker one, the man essentially wanted to pay me to be his companion and sleep with him) Seriously? I mean, seriously? You found an advertyisment for an internship with City brokers on Gumtree - and that didn't make you slightly, even just a little bit, like, dubious? Are you for real? Reputable internships with reputable firms do not get advertised on Gumtree!

Secondly, I was TOLD it was a 6 months internship and then told that it was a 2months internship and then told that after three months they'll give a contract of some sort. Basically, the goal posts kept changing and nothing was properly confirmed or said.

I have rights. Oh dear. We are back here again. I thought we had cracked this one. No. You don't have rights. Not employment ones anyway - because you are not an employee.

That's why the government exists to ensure people do not get exploited. :rotfl:Good one! How old are you? You think reputable brokers advertise internships on Gumtree and the Government is there to stop people being exploited? Nobody is that stupid, are they?

Why aren't all companies operating this way then? Why don't they all just "employ" interns then and have most of they're "employees" as interns? Because real internships have specific meaning and the sorts of people going for them are highly qualified high flyers who understand the game - something you clearly don't. People who are looking for a job are not going to accept no wages. You again keep missing the point - this company is acting like this because the people who apply for these internships are there. If they weren't they couldn't do it.

I want to work in finance in the future. Preferably for a company like Bloomberg. Any sort of experience in that area is beneficial to me. No - it isn't. Companies like this recruit the best of the best - they are looking for highly skilled graduates and people with experience in first class companies

I have left them now (as of today)

Clearly I'm not a volunteer if they are expecting and telling me to work 8.30am till 5.30pm mon-fri and that I cannot have a sick day (I suffer from arthritis too so do suffer from flare ups and periods when i'm immobile). Volunteers come and go as they please. You clearly have no idea what volunteering is either. They do not come and go as they please. Volunteering is a professional field with professional standards. Simply because someone is a volunteer does not mean that they wonder in and out of places as they please. And you would not be able to do so in a real internship. [/QUOTE]

I am sorry - but do you have a clue what you are about? Even in the biggest and the best companies, real internships are full-time and often more. They involve both training and gaining useful experience - you may not be an employee but you are expected to act like one and to adhere to the rules set down. Only the best are accepted - and even out of those, only the best of the best will go on to be offered employment with the company or other similar companies.

Zazu

SarEl wrote: »

Zazu wrote: »

No I was not aware of anything of the bull crap that went on when I applied for the internship. It was advertised on Gumtree (apparently I've recently found out that companies that advertise there are a lil dodgey and on an interview I went to the day before the broker one, the man essentially wanted to pay me to be his companion and sleep with him) Seriously? I mean, seriously? You found an advertyisment for an internship with City brokers on Gumtree - and that didn't make you slightly, even just a little bit, like, dubious? Are you for real? Reputable internships with reputable firms do not get advertised on Gumtree!

Secondly, I was TOLD it was a 6 months internship and then told that it was a 2months internship and then told that after three months they'll give a contract of some sort. Basically, the goal posts kept changing and nothing was properly confirmed or said.

I have rights. Oh dear. We are back here again. I thought we had cracked this one. No. You don't have rights. Not employment ones anyway - because you are not an employee.

That's why the government exists to ensure people do not get exploited. :rotfl:Good one! How old are you? You think reputable brokers advertise internships on Gumtree and the Government is there to stop people being exploited? Nobody is that stupid, are they?

Why aren't all companies operating this way then? Why don't they all just "employ" interns then and have most of they're "employees" as interns? Because real internships have specific meaning and the sorts of people going for them are highly qualified high flyers who understand the game - something you clearly don't. People who are looking for a job are not going to accept no wages. You again keep missing the point - this company is acting like this because the people who apply for these internships are there. If they weren't they couldn't do it.

I want to work in finance in the future. Preferably for a company like Bloomberg. Any sort of experience in that area is beneficial to me. No - it isn't. Companies like this recruit the best of the best - they are looking for highly skilled graduates and people with experience in first class companies

I have left them now (as of today)

Clearly I'm not a volunteer if they are expecting and telling me to work 8.30am till 5.30pm mon-fri and that I cannot have a sick day (I suffer from arthritis too so do suffer from flare ups and periods when i'm immobile). Volunteers come and go as they please. You clearly have no idea what volunteering is either. They do not come and go as they please. Volunteering is a professional field with professional standards. Simply because someone is a volunteer does not mean that they wonder in and out of places as they please. And you would not be able to do so in a real internship. [/QUOTE]

I am sorry - but do you have a clue what you are about? Even in the biggest and the best companies, real internships are full-time and often more. They involve both training and gaining useful experience - you may not be an employee but you are expected to act like one and to adhere to the rules set down. Only the best are accepted - and even out of those, only the best of the best will go on to be offered employment with the company or other similar companies.

YOU were an A S S H O L E to me and obviously do not know what you THINK you know

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/nov/04/interns-work-paid-lawyers

SarEl

Zazu wrote: »

SarEl wrote: »

YOU were an A S S H O L E to me and obviously do not know what you THINK you know

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/nov/04/interns-work-paid-lawyers

And you are an IDIOT, and have demonstrrated that most ably on this thread. I would point out that:
(a) everything I have said on this thread is absolutely factual and a clear statement of law and practice in regards to internships, and
(b) the link that you have provided to a reputable newspaper (not Gumtree) actually confirms this.

Until such time as the government acts (or case law is established) to change the status of internships - which is actually what the article is arguing for and what lawyers have advised the government, then NMW claims will not apply to internships. Had you read the cases(neither of which are case law), and not the article, you would have found that the only successfully prosecuted cases have been in specific circumstances where contractual promises were breached with regard to the internship contract. And the article also clearly confirms what I told you - that the government have indicated that they have no intention of making any changes and stopping people from being exploited.

Legitimate internships with City brokers do not get advertised on Gumtree - few of them are advertised at all since they obtain more than enough applications from (a) their websites and (b) university milk rounds. And legitimate internships with the kinds of companies that you want to work in are paid, because that is the incentive for the best of the best to apply - because the best of the best is all the companies are interested in.

mountainofdebt

Yes OP I think that SarEl has got it totally wrong as well and despite being an employment barrister and owning her - no doubt successful - law firm what does she know eh?

Of course all the most beneficial internships are not advertised in the guardian and the such like but on gumtree.

And of course charities are run in such a slap dash way that they expect volunteers to turn up when they feel like it.

I'm not sure whether you're a graduate but I am being to despair at the number of threads on this board from such people who feel that just because they've got a degree the world owes them a living or that they can ask for the world and everyone will come running to give it to them.