Tom Cowan, a 21-year-old work experience student at Chelsea football club, discovered just how difficult internships can be when he was accidentally shot with an air rifle by footballer Ashley Cole.
While few interns have to take a bullet for their employer, toughing it out in a work placement in return for meagre pay or retaining state benefits is increasingly becoming a necessary rite of passage for graduates and jobseekers.
Internships in Ireland are traditionally associated with creative fields such as fashion or the media, where novices are expected to work for little or nothing in the hope of carving out a glittering career.
They are also the foundation of well-structured graduate programmes such as those run by Accenture and Kerry Group. But the application of the work placement model, viewed by both the previous and new governments as key to combating unemployment, is still in its infancy here.
Only young adults whose parents have deep pockets can afford to work for free for months in the hope of securing a permanent job.
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This has prompted the state to beef up efforts to enable the young unemployed to gain valuable work experience and better career opportunities through placements while keeping jobseeker benefits.
Despite initiatives from some private sector employers, the main operator of job placements has been Fas, the state employment agency, soon to be replaced by the new Fine Gael-led government.
Regardless of who implements the strategy, companies will have to improve how they use schemes to ensure young adults are not cannon fodder for exploitative employers, according to Mike McDonnell, director of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, which represents HR directors and managers.
“There’s evidence that companies in the past have seen placements as cheap labour,” said McDonnell. “Companies often get involved with the best will in the world, until the person on the work placement shows up. They can be passed on to a busy line manager who doesn’t know what to do with them or doesn’t have time, so the optimum benefit for both sides is lost.
“Companies need to be prepared and have a structured plan in place.”
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Under the skills development and internship programme announced in December by the outgoing government, the state would spend €200m on creating 15,000 workplace internships for the unemployed in the public service, the community sector and in the private sector, with the latter stumping up €38m to cover some costs.
Jobseekers who take up the placements in the private sector would receive as much as €150 a week on top of their social welfare payments.
However, the new government promised, within its first 100 days, to set up a jobs fund for 15,000 places for people who are currently unemployed and in training, work experience and education over the next few months, with 60,000 places pledged in the longer term as part of a new graduate and apprentice internship scheme.
“The language may be different but I think Labour and Fine Gael will develop this model further,” said Robert Mac Giolla Phadraig, a director at Sigmar Recruitment, which led a job creation initiative with employers that drummed up ideas for the previous government’s internship programme.
Jobseekers who secure a work placement can turn the experience into a permanent role if they make the right impression, believes Mac Giolla Phadraig.
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Of the ten graduates Sigmar hired on placement in November, eight are still working there and two are moving to Poland to work for Sigmar’s office there, he said.
“You need to demonstrate you would run through walls for the company,” he said. “It’s about always being bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, getting work done ahead of schedule and letting your boss know you want more work. Don’t wait to be told what to do. Be confident and capable, but humble in approach.”
That strategy worked for Tara Stewart, a 20-year-old who found a Fas work placement with Tom Walsh Motors through a job club she attended in Kilbarrack.
Stewart, who is studying accounting and book keeping part-time, ploughed ahead with that placement despite doing an internship as a deputy financial controller last year with another company that could not afford to keep her on.
Two weeks into a nine-month placement at Tom Walsh Motors, she was given a permanent job.
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“I would say, work as hard as you can to prove yourself, but don’t take on so much that you seem overwhelmed,” said Stewart.
Even if a work placement does not lead to a permanent position, it provides valuable experience and enables jobseekers to start building relationships, says Trina O’Connor, a former HR manager and trainer who now runs the job club in Kilbarrack.
“It’s easier to get a job when you have a job,” she said. “Once you are back in an environment where everyone is working, you can talk to people and network.”
It is easy for novices to sink into the background when joining a company, especially at organisations that have cut jobs and are too short-staffed to show interns the ropes.
Sitting back and hoping the situation will improve is unlikely to help.
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“I recently got an email from a guy I met at the job club who had two degrees, in science and engineering, and was frustrated that his skills weren’t being used at his new company,” said O’Connor. “I emailed him back and suggested that he come up with ideas to move company forward and present them to the manager.
“The company was so impressed that the manager let him implement those ideas.”
Make a good impression
- Do not show up on the first day without researching the company, its most recent projects and the latest issues affecting its industry.
- First impressions last. Consider how your attire and what you say might affect perceptions. Be polite, show lots of enthusiasm and listen carefully to your new manager.
- Try not to refuse work. When asked to carry out a task, do not hesitate but keep a close eye on your workload.
- If you don’t know how to do to a task, ask questions and ensure you know exactly what needs to be done before you start.
- Presenteeism — coming to work come what may — has its critics but interns should aim to be first to arrive and last to leave, advises Mac Giolla Phadraig.
- Try to establish a good relationship with your manager from the start, so you will be in a position in the future to discuss your career options. Strive to prove to them that you plan to be in the industry for the long haul.
- Treat everyone with respect, not just your manager. Even if you don’t secure a permanent role at this particular company, you never know where you might bump into your colleagues or the company’s clients down the line. Do what you can to make sure that everyone thinks well of you.