Why I joined Intern Aware
As soon as I decided that
I wanted to be a journalist I realised two things. One: I would need to be in
London. Two: I would need to work for free. I knew that internships would be
essential for my CV, I knew these would mainly take place in London, and I knew
I would probably not be paid for my time.
I began my internship
story at 16. Using the money I had saved from my part-time job, I travelled to
London and stayed with friends of friends whose homes I couch surfed between. I
realise I was very fortunate – not everyone is so lucky and there is no way I
could have afforded to stay in London otherwise or to pay the fare for the two
hour commute from my hometown. At the weekends I got the train back to Dorset
so I could keep up my Saturday job, heading back again on Sundays.
When I applied to
university there was only one place for me: London. I saw the student loan that
would come with studying there as my only way of affording to live there and to
do more internships (because one apparently is not enough – I was being told
that in order to stand out I would have to do more and more of these
placements).
I am now in my final year of
university. When I graduate I will need a full-time job, and it goes without
saying that in order to pay my bills and afford to eat, it will have to be
paid. Yet I am astounded by the amount of unpaid roles I see advertised in my
industry, and by the assumption that if you really want to succeed, you should
be prepared to work for free. It has been an eye opening experience. I have
always worked hard, first at school, then on my internships and finally at
university. I believed that hard work was the key to success, but I have come
to see that in the current system wealth, in fact, is often the most important
factor on your CV.
Some of my placements I
would count as work experience, and for these I wouldn’t expect to be paid.
Especially when I was 16 and just starting out, these placements were my way to
observe what goes on behind the doors of a newspaper or magazine. But on a lot
of my placements I was doing real work that contributed to a profit making
company, work that a paid employee would have to do if the interns weren’t
there. The more interns I speak to (because nearly all of my friends and peers
have done unpaid internships), the more stories I hear of unpaid interns
keeping industries running.
Internships have been my
gateway into a world I would have had absolutely no access to otherwise. A
country girl from Dorset doesn’t get to interview Rupert Everett and attend
London Fashion Week by staying at home where the job opportunities are close to
zero.
I decided to join Intern
Aware’s campaign to try and give young people the experiences I have had
regardless of their background, and in the hope that in the future hard-working
graduates will not be asked to work for free.
Libby
I think this is a brilliant post and really rings true for many wannabe journos, I write about it on my blog sometimes too. I completed a masters in Multimedia Journalism, and did various placements (national and local) that did not pay me one bit. I was so skint last summer that I ended up taking a job. I just could not afford to work for free any longer. I may be fortunate enough to be from London, but I'm not from a wealthy background, and more and more poor people forego their dreams of becoming journalists because it's not poor people friendly.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your campaign for Intern Aware - it's very honorable.