Nice people thread part 8 - worth the wait

silvercar

PasturesNew wrote: »

When did this term internship start sneaking into the language? I'd not heard the word before 2-3 years ago, when chatting to one particular American online in my long-standing online chat group ....

When the recession hit and companies realised that graduates were so desperate for jobs they could get them to work for nothing!

Now there is a bit of a backlash and companies that want to be known as decent need to pay their interns something or at least cover their costs.

They are all more honest now about whether they are offering the internship as a way to get employment at the end of it, whether it is just cheap labour and something to add to the CV or whether it is a training/ experience role.

The previous internship was definitely a training / experience role and they made it very clear it was unpaid and there were no jobs at the end of it. This one is paid and they have said a lot of their employees first joined as interns, so there is no guarantee but a distinct possibility.

lostinrates

silvercar wrote: »

When the recession hit and companies realised that graduates were so desperate for jobs they could get them to work for nothing!

Now there is a bit of a backlash and companies that want to be known as decent need to pay their interns something or at least cover their costs.

They are all more honest now about whether they are offering the internship as a way to get employment at the end of it, whether it is just cheap labour and something to add to the CV or whether it is a training/ experience role.

The previous internship was definitely a training / experience role and they made it very clear it was unpaid and there were no jobs at the end of it. This one is paid and they have said a lot of their employees first joined as interns, so there is no guarantee but a distinct possibility.

Unpaid internships were going on in some industries at least pre crunch. Not even sure my sibling didn't do one in her youth in media.

silvercar

PasturesNew wrote: »

I can't believe how cheap their garages are round that way - cheaper than a lot of other areas of the country.

Get one of these .... and reverse a camper van into it to sleep. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-25626150.html

But that is Hemel H. not St. A.

silvercar

zagubov wrote: »

Anybody thinking you should buy near London to work further out (like i did years ago) needs their head read.

OH does that, travels 25 miles north each. Year ago he used to work in St. A, then in London and then very near here. So we have established ourselves here, enough that when the current job appeared we stayed in the area.

I'm sure we could get more house for our money, but then we would have to live in L and I am not sure we could do that!

silvercar

Spirit wrote: »

SC that is a good thing...I am quite sure DD will never fledge...far too happy and comfy here.

He is happy and comfy here, but the lack of public transport through the night and the fact none of his friends live here and the town isn't "edgy" enough, all mean he wants to move out.

Financially, his rent will be about £600 a month and his travel costs drop £100 but he will also need to pay utilities and council tax and food.

His commute drops to 12 minutes any time of day, rather than 50 minutes peak - 1.5hrs late at night/ impossible at some times.

We have tried to tell him to wait. We also think he is making some bad choices, he intends living with 4 friends, but i think big house shares are hard when you are all working and no longer students. Also the house they have found, albeit convenient only has 1 bathroom.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

lostinrates wrote: »

Unpaid internships were going on in some industries at least pre crunch. Not even sure my sibling didn't do one in her youth in media.

I did one 25 years ago, learned a lot, and it made me far more employable.

silvercar

lostinrates wrote: »

Unpaid internships were going on in some industries at least pre crunch. Not even sure my sibling didn't do one in her youth in media.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

I did one 25 years ago, learned a lot, and it made me far more employable.

I may be wrong, but I thought that then they were holiday placements for students. There certainly wasn't the expectation that you would need to do an internship to get the job, that there appears to be now.l

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

silvercar wrote: »

I may be wrong, but I thought that then they were holiday placements for students. There certainly wasn't the expectation that you would need to do an internship to get the job, that there appears to be now.l

I did both holiday placements, and a 6 month internship post graduation to gain experience.

Of course we actually did appropriate work, learning on the job, but also distracting the paid employees who graciously invested their time and effort teaching us what to do and how not to make fools of ourselves. I imagine we cost the company involved a fair bit in lost time, money and efficiency.

That is perhaps different from how some people will portray internships, ie, that they are effectively being used as free labour and not learning anything relevant, but that wasn't my experience at all and I certainly don't think it's the experience of the majority even today.

PasturesNew

silvercar wrote: »

But that is Hemel H. not St. A.

It's an RM search of StA + 1 mile.....

hjd

silvercar wrote: »

I may be wrong, but I thought that then they were holiday placements for students. There certainly wasn't the expectation that you would need to do an internship to get the job, that there appears to be now.l

My DD graduated in Scandinavian Studies last year. She managed to get a paid internship in Helsinki for 3 months which has been very valuable and given her plenty of contacts; she has now started freelance translating and has made enough to cover all her living costs each month. She comes back to the UK at the end of this month to do another internship on the South Coast for 3 months; this one is unpaid, although she has already done some paid freelance work for them. This company often employ people who have interned with them.
In September she will do a Masters in Translation Studies and hopes to continue freelance translating/proofreading throughout to help support herself. It seems that the masters degree is very helpful on the cv for what she wants to do.
DS is studying Economics at university and has tried to find an internship for this summer (end of second year) - he applied for quite a few without success. A lot of companies, when recruiting, will go for previous interns so not having that under your belt makes it harder.
Things are very different from when I was a student/looking for work!