What is an internship?
An internship is a form of work experience that is outwardly offered to help young people get professional experience in the job market. Internships have no official definition and encompass a wide number of roles and employers sometimes exploit this ambiguity to suggest that work experience is far more worthwhile than getting a wage. Employers offering to only cover expenses hamper those from low income families who cannot afford to work for free, thereby making unpaid internships both exploitative and a block on social mobility.
Internships can be very valuable where they offer relevant experience of a given career path with opportunities to take on real responsibility, a structure that ensures your progression and consistent supervision. Watch out for employers offering poor internships who will either treat you as free labour and assign you low-skilled tasks that will teach you nothing or simply let you shadow them as they work may simply be wasting your time.
Your rights
Any employer who offers an unpaid internship, in which the role description contains responsibilities describing a worker, is contravening employment law. Therefore interns should be paid at least the National Minimum Wage (£6.08 per hour). HMRC and the Department of Trade and Industry have issued statements that they view unpaid internships as illegal however due to their commonality and lack of means to enforce this law the following guidelines have been set for employers offering placements:
- Placements should last no longer than 4 weeks and the working should be no longer than 40 hours.
- Workers should have an appointed supervisor throughout their placement.
- Employers must meet health and safety and insurance standards.
Any form of unpaid internship should have a degree of flexibility so that you can fit it around other commitments.
Questions to ask when considering an internship:
- Is it paying at least the minimum wage?
- What expenses will be available
- How long do I have to commit for?
- How many hours will I be expected to work and how flexible are they?
- How much opportunity will I get to experience different aspects of the organisation?
- What things I will do will I be able to put on my CV at the end of my internship?
- Is there a written structure of the internship that I can look at?
Resources
To find paid internships and apprentice schemes try www.internavenue.com and http://www.stopgap.co.uk/apprentice.
For more information on your rights as an intern visit TUC’s www.rightsforinterns.org.uk.
For campaigns and case studies visit www.internaware.org and www.graduatefog.co.uk.
For information about employment law visit www.directgov.uk/en/Enployment/index.htm.