SourceThatJob.com’s recent decision to reject advertising from those recruiting people for unpaid internships has attracted strong support of many journalists and others in the media industry.
www.dwpubsporadic.com/2010/01/sourcethatjob-takes-a-stand-over-exploitation.html
The recruitment site for people in the media, which is a sister site of Daryl Willcox Publishing, made the move to take a stand against exploitation and the creation of an elitist media workforce.
SourceThatJob.com found that in the period since the economic downturn there had been a significant increase in the number of internships being offered.
“The majority of internships advertised are unpaid and can run from three months to an indefinite length; a time factor which may eliminate those who cannot afford to work for free from the media industry,” said Daryl Willcox, founder of SourceThatJob.com. “We’ve attracted many positive comments supporting our stand. Obviously people have differing views, but it’s reignited an important issue.”
Internships are nothing new and debate surrounding the ethics of recruiting for long-term stints of unpaid work has been ongoing for some time. But with the number of media jobs diminishing, it is now also becoming more difficult for prospective jobseekers to tell genuine opportunities from free labour.
Daryl Willcox continued: “The noticeable rise in advertised positions requesting candidates for internships raises two questions: which opportunities are genuine, and as unpaid internships are often seen as essential to get into the media industry are companies only going to employ those that can afford to work for free? Media should represent society, yet the pressure of long-term unpaid work may mean that graduates with no financial support give up on a career in the industry.”
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ), of which Daryl Willcox is a member, writes that although there is a need for inexperienced journalists to gain experience, this ‘internship culture has huge implications for diversity in the media, barring the profession to those who can't afford to work for free.’
In response to the December 2009 ‘Final Report of the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions,’ a report commissioned to examine the issue of barriers and pathways to reaching professions for all people regardless of their background, the Government has introduced a kitemark system to highlight quality internships. More information can be found here: http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/unleashingaspiration/
Daryl’s internship exploitation podcast can be heard here: http://www.dwpubsporadic.com/2010/03/sourcethatjob-strikes-a-chord-over-media-internship-exploitation.html
