The Government’s internship scheme was supposed to take 5,000 people off the dole, but misuse by some employers has heaped negative publicity on the initiative. Is it justified?

‘OUR NEXT meeting is going to be a long one.” James Doorley, the assistant director of the National Youth Council of Ireland and a member of the JobBridge steering group, is remarking on how the next gathering of steering-group members will go. It is 10 weeks since the Government’s national internship scheme went live, and public sentiment towards the initiative has soured since what Doorley describes as “a lot of rubbish” has been advertised on the JobBridge site. “It’s an awful pity,” he says, “because the concept is good, the idea is good. But because quality control wasn’t exacted at the start, a lot of people won’t engage with it, thinking that it’s all waiting tables or cutting grass.”

Fás, the Department of Social Protection, Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton and the JobBridge steering group envisaged the scheme as something that large businesses would latch on to as a way of recruiting 5,000 unemployed people, lending them valuable work experience, skills and opportunities to re-enter employment. But with lax moderation of intern advertisements, and the enthusiasm of employers to post positions outside of the realm of traditional internships – everything from waiters to managerial roles were thrown into the pot – JobBridge has a lot of cleaning up to do.

“Everyone in the country has an opinion about [JobBridge], but no one is asking the interns,” says Niamh (not her real name), who takes up her JobBridge internship on Monday, her fourth internship in two years. Part of a young demographic who can’t afford to emigrate, Niamh has “done everything” in internships, “18 hours a day, organising people’s lives, dropping their kids off to school”.

Like many people her age, she was left with virtually no job opportunities when she graduated. “We [JobBridge interns] earn €1.25 a hour for a 40-hour week,” she says, referring to the €50 stipend they receive on top of a social- welfare payment. The contract she signed “was pretty basic. But it’s kind of funny, because it has all this stuff about what’s expected of the intern, but there’s nothing – absolutely no document out there – to protect the intern, or a group to speak for interns.”

According to the Department of Social Protection, as of last week 2,613 internship opportunities were available on the website, and 1,124 people have started internships. Although Burton said in the Oireachtas on Wednesday evening, “We have refused large numbers of would-be internships and gone back to employers to tell them they must look at what an internship is,” a spokeswoman for the department said just 56 internships “were clearly not in accordance with the intent of the scheme and were removed”.

For stretched employers who are running low on cash to hire staff, JobBridge has filled a gap. While there are plenty of genuine internships on JobBridge that offer promising learning opportunities and valid experience, the advertisements are pockmarked with pet-grooming jobs, barista work, menial retail work and vague job descriptions.

Helen Quinn, the manager of the Lansdowne Hotel in Dublin, decided to advertise for a waitressing intern on the JobBridge website, encourage by a leaflet that came through her door. She has since found a local candidate but has been bogged down by “red tape” and paperwork from Fás and has been unable to take on her waitressing intern nearly two months later.

The JobBridge to Nowhere blog (see panel) has been documenting what it sees are dubious “job opportunities” dressed up as internships. But Quinn says employers aren’t to blame, as the JobBridge system allows them to advertise.

“I didn’t put the word ‘internship’ on it – the Government gave it that phrase,” Quinn says. “Even when you fill out the form on the internet, they give you six or nine months’ [internship duration]. You can train to be a waiter in a shorter time. You know that. I know that. But I didn’t make these rules. JobBridge made these rules. She wants to get off the dole. She wants to work. I want to employ her.”

Gary Randford is advertising on JobBridge for a marketing/PR role in a start-up company in the health industry. Randford sees the scheme as beneficial to employers. “It offers me an opportunity to get my company off the ground with little dent in the revenue. Costs are everything when you start.” With JobBridge, says Randford, “there’s very little downside for a company, really. As a scheme to get people back into the working environment, it’s a great idea.”

In a wave of bad publicity, especially online – JobBridge’s Facebook page features comments from members of the public criticising the scheme – there’s also the oddity that even though a candidate needs to be on the Live Register to qualify for the scheme, and remains in receipt of the dole throughout the internship, they are no longer counted in the Live Register figures.

“The hard part is trying to get paid,” says Andy Donlan, a 27-year-old from Whitehall, in Dublin, who has been ping-ponging from post office to social-welfare office to Fás trying to figure out how to get his €50 weekly payment after starting a JobBridge internship in an air-conditioning and heating-systems company. “The problem is, when things go across two departments – Fás and the Department [of Social Protection], they can’t cope.”

Several companies have their own graduate programmes and intern-placement schemes that run independently of any Government schemes. Employers such as Deloitte, Google and Accenture (whose placed graduates start on €31,000 and receive international training) run successful graduate and placement programmes that seem to benefit employer and graduate alike. It’s these kind of schemes that JobBridge is attempting to emulate.

Farther down the scale, companies in the creative, media and PR sectors have a record of taking on interns, offering deep-end experience and a way into a competitive industry. For their part, employers get young, enthusiastic interns who are ready to lend an extra pair of hands and learn.

Koh Creative is a marketing agency based at Junction Studios on Lombard Street in Dublin. Its creative director, Gemma Randles, regularly gets e-mails from people interested in interning. “When we were in college ourselves, we were told that’s how to get our foot in the door in a design agency,” Randles says.

This summer, Koh Creative hosted two American interns, and generally uses Gumtree or the CreativeIreland website to advertise. “Any help we’ve had has been hugely beneficial,” Randles says, “and I think anyone we have had here has hugely learned from us. It can be very basic things: when we give them our time to show them how to use design programmes, they’ve found it very beneficial. In design you get better the more experience you have, and there are simple things you just don’t learn in college. It’s very hands-on; anyone who has been here has enjoyed their time.”

Randles says they advertised for a receptionist before, through the Fás work-placement programme. “It was live on the website for two or three months, and we got a very poor response.”

Sarah Gunn, a 30-year-old from Cavan, has been interning with the Darklight film festival since July. Gunn secured her internship through the Fás work-placement scheme, which has seen many of its potential interns and placements migrate over to the JobBridge system. “The actual placement itself is fantastic,” Gunn says. “It’s my dream job. If the work-placement scheme hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have got it. I’m really lucky. I got in with a really good company. They want to show you things, they want to push you and advance you. They see you as one of their own.”

And some are happy with JobBridge itself. Alan Donlan, despite his difficulties with pay, is enjoying his internship. “There’s not much incentive paywise. You’re getting your social welfare plus €50, and forking out €20 a week on transport. But, on the flipside, I’m getting into a really good company, getting into the private sector and getting to do things that I want to do and things I haven’t done before.”

Donlan doesn’t know anyone else who has signed up to a JobBridge internship, as most of his friends have emigrated rather than take up internships.

But, having spoken to other people availing of the scheme, Niamh doubts whether many will finish their six- or nine-month contracts. “I can see this whole thing exploding before Christmas,” she says. “I’m just thinking, How the hell am I going to pay my rent?”

Opportunity knocks? JobBridge internships

JobBridge To Nowhere(jobbridgetonowhere.tumblr.com) is a blog set up with the mandate of "naming and shaming companies that list jobs under JobBridge that they should be paying people for." The jobs include:

Assistant psychologist, Castlebar"We are looking for an assistant psychologist in relation to a specific project in the area of dementia and older adults with intellectual disability."

Shop assistant, Ardee"The intern will gain practical skills and experience in dealing with customers in the retail operations in shop; handling cash, using a modern computerised till, opening up and locking the premises, bank lodgments, balancing of accounts."

Greenkeeping assistant, Castleisland"The intern will gain practical experience in the general upkeep and maintenance of a golf course."

Unemployment project officer, Kilkenny"The intern will gain experience providing administration/resources/IT supports to adults in a Family Resource Centre."

Bakery assistant, Terenure"The bakery intern will learn to handle food hygienically and create attractive displays."

Breakfast chef, Galway"The intern will gain practical experience in preparing and delivering meals in a health care environment. This will include experience about [sic] creating a positive dining experience for residents."

Dog groomer, Dublin"The intern will gain practical experience in all aspects of dog and cat grooming including health checking."

PhD chemist, Clonmel"The intern will gain practical experience in technical problem solving, laboratory processing, new technologies."