To think that cash-for-internships shows what the Tories think about who should have opportunities

[Himalaya]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356469/Tory-backers-pay-party-2-000-buy-children-work-experience.html

Folks at tory party HQ don't think that it is a problem that access to first steps on the career ladder in jobs with influence in finance, policy, media, PR etc depend on who-you-know networks and the ability to work for free and live in London... In fact they think it's a good fundraising opportunity and have been selling off internships at top firms for 2-3K.

Tells you all you need to know, really about their views on social mobility and equality of opportunity.

TheSecondComing - my DH is a Partner is a major London firm. All trainees get their job by applying to a central department - the process is transparent and is on the websites of all these firms.

A very good friends of ours son is currently trying to get work experience in a law firm. There is absoluetly no way my DH could even get him through the door for a one week work shadow experience let alone a training contract. He has to apply like anyone else (as it should be) and will get in or not on his own merits.

That is what my DH, the son of refugees did. And he got in.

OP YANBU. I couldn't agree more.

Agree with the OP, so not much to add, but I must take issue with Gramercy's comment about the docks.

My great grandfather was a docker in Liverpool. Every day he had to go down to the docks and stand in a pen, like an animal, hoping to get picked by one of the foremen of the shipping companies for work. If he didn't get picked, he didn't get paid the pittance they offered and his family went hungry. In fact you wouldn't treat an animal like that. Most dockers really didn't want their children following them into such a shit life. None of his descendants worked on the docks and he'd have been horrified if they'd wanted to.

fabbychic that's rubbish about any internship pays if you have the right degree. internships in the not-for-profit sector, in law and for intergovernmental organisations are frequently unpaid. and extremely competitive to get. plenty of oxbridge, rg, graduates and post graduates and foreign equivalents working for nothing.

Agree with hatwoman. It's a murky area because there's no real definition of an "internship" in employment law AFAIK so there are some blurred lines between what's "volunteering" (perfectly legal to do unpaid in the voluntary/charity sector) and what's an internship (which involves doing proper work and should attract at least minimum wage).

The last government set up a thing called the graduate talent pool. They had a website with loads of internships. You didn't have to trawl through for long to find loads of proper jobs (designing websites for private companies, working in production or editing in the media etc) for long periods of time (6 months +) for zero pay. Fucking outrageous.

This website is worth a look if you've got DCs thinking of doing an internship. Helps you to work out what pay you're entitled to etc.

oh yes - you could definitely add media to my list of unpaid internships that people with fabbychic's "right" degrees do.

Well, TheSecondComing, at the risk of outing myself, I can tell you that down here in London, I did a law degree and secured a training contract with a Magic Circle firm WITHOUT paying to do the LPC - my firm is paying the fees for me. I applied just like everyone else - I did not know anyone at the firm I shall be training at, nor did I have to grease palms or tug at my forelock. However, the fact that I am typing this from the library at ridiculous o'clock in the run-up to exams may eventually prove my decision to take up the TC to be an unwise one ...

On my course, there are two people I know of whose parents are in "the law", but that is not the case for the majority, and those two had to go through the same process I did and were rejected on a number of their applications. So, for that reason, I would love to know the firm at which the son/daughter/neice/nephew of X barrister was welcome open armed with a TC without having go through what are ridiculously vigorous assessments by the majority of London City firms.

TheM and secondcoming - I don't think what you're saying actually conflicts. tcs are indeed like rocking horse shit (as 2ndcoming says) but the process to get them is, at one level, completely meritocratic and transparent - and gob-smackingly competitive (as TheM says). the opportunity to do unpaid work does, however, add to the merits on which you will be assessed and, is, be definition, more open to those who can take a break from earning a crust.

I'm not denying that your sister did not secure a TC following the LPC - that in itself is a far too common occurence (though do not get me started on the misrepresentations made by the LPC/BPTC providers in this country, as that's a different story altogether). I fully understand that there are a number of firms who offer terribly paid to no-paid paralegal roles whilst dangling the carrot of a potential TC for that to never materialise.

What I was wondering is what firm gave the son/daughter etc of X barrister a TC with open arms without them going through the normal recruitment process. I'm not denying that that happens either, just that at firms of/at a certain level, it is rare to non-existent nowadays. Having said that, it would be understandable if you'd rather not say. It's just that I have lots of people who have not yet secured TCs tell me the same on the course I'm on, expecting me to join in the complaints of, Oh, people only get TCs when their parents are well connected etc, who then act terribly coy when I mention that I have a TC without that background.