To think they should at least pay travel expenses?

[Fairyliz]

My daughter is in her second year of a four year degrees course with the third year being a year in industry.

She is currently applying for placement and the procedure usually goes - complete application form and online test, have a video interview follwed by a full day assesment at the company. As you can imagine this takes a long time but fair enough thats what she wil need to do when applying for jobs.
The problem is if you get to the assessment stage you have to visit the company which could be anywhere in the UK at very short notice meaning rail fares are expensive.
She has just phoned me in tears because she hasn't got the latest job she applied for and after paying out several hundred pounds in travel expenses (for several interviews)she has no money for food.

So do you think these companies should pay travel expenses?

One mean company even had her there for 5 hours and didn't offer a cup of tea!

[Fakenewsday]

no, I would only advocate people that could not be traced back to the applicants making a general twitter furore about non-payment of expenses disadvantaging applicants from poorer backgrounds. I think that is worthwhile

[Parker231]

For those who say name and shame - I've spent a lot of time on graduate recruitment and doing something like that would definitely get your application rejected. It's a very competitive process for a small number of places each year and you do t what to anything negative if you want to stay in the process.
A good candidate would have researched the selection process and issues such as travel, expenses and salary shouldn't have come as a surprise.

[Fairyliz]

Thanks K425
Just to confirm the several hundred pounds is for travel/accomodation for several placements.
The placements are paid in the region of £15000 - £20000 so she will have to relocate and live off this.
Her current student accommodation is only until July and she will have to look for a new place for the fourth year after her placement.
Placements start September 2017 so she will have to live at home and work during the summer break to fund the deposit for her placement accommodation.
She doesnt really have any stuff to move other than clothes/makeup laptop and a bit of kitchen stuff which I can fit in the back of the car.
Any more questions?

[K425]

For people who haven't read properly:
It's an interview for a placement, not a job or internship. It's a sandwich year;
If she gets the placement she will be paid for the year/length of placement;
It is not uncommon for students to relocate for their placement;
The university should be advising on the costs of traveling to placement interviews, and supporting where necessary.

OP YADNBU.

[GeekLove]

I think she should name and shame. The thing about interviews is that you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you.
When recruiting at whatever level surely it is basic common sense to include in the budge along with advertising, funding for interviews expenses.
I have always claimed expenses even as a student and if they would not pay I'll not go. Failure to pay expenses when they are recruiting people who have large debts and little incoming does not bode well for the overall culture of a company.

[BarbaraofSeville]

there is nowhere in the uk that you should be paying several hundred pounds to travel to and back

Of course you shouldn't have to, but if I had to travel from my home city to London 200 miles away at peak time or short notice it would cost nearly £250 for the train fare alone.

If I lived further away on the same train line, eg Edinburgh, it would be considerably more and I would have to stay overnight. There are cheaper tickets available, but they have to be booked months in advance and give no flexibility.

And as many have said, most companies don't pay travel expenses for interviews, which means travel alone for a few interviews could cost hundreds/a thousand or more, even when just in the UK.

[Idefix]

Would maybe look at flying as we have recently flown ds to gps and this was cheaper than train and about the same price as the coach but 8 hrs less travel.

Is it not possible to get a student loan if you cannot support dd on through an unpaid placement? When will she need to consider looking at the unpaid placements.

This all sounds very stressful, sorry for all the questions but interested as may will be facing the same situation in the near future.

[melj1213]

Since this is a required placement, your daughter should be speaking with her university tutor - they will have had experience of this before and so will at least be able to advise if there are any bursaries/university funds to help students afford the placement interviews.

Having said that, if this is just a placement year, if it's costing this much to just attend interviews, how is your daughter planning to fund her relocation if it's far away from her university town/city? If it's just for the placement then she is going to need a short term let (including a deposit & first month's rent), money for food/bills, to give up whatever flat/houseshare/university accommodation she's in currently, deal with storing/moving all her stuff etc and make sure that her paid placment covers all of her day to day expenses, as well as cover any of the money she's had to pay out up front to cover all these things.

[user1484226561]

if she is making these huge expensive journeys, she should maybe get an agreement to pay travel expenses first.

[user1484226561]

there is nowhere in the uk that you should be paying several hundred pounds to travel to and back.

[BabychamSocialist]

Yeah, they should pay expenses. I don't think shaming them publicly is a good idea as it's an easy way to get your name blacklisted.

[DontTouchTheMoustache]

Not RTFT so apologies (as its late and im tired) if it's already been suggested, but for future interviews tell your daughter to look at megabus as they are so insanely cheap compared to trains (I have done Leeds to Exeter several times, 8 hour journeys are pretty heavy going but for £12 return you can't really complain). You also get student discount. It may mean longer journeys and potentially waiting around (as they often leave early in the morning for the really cheap ones) but if she is serious about getting a job she needs to take the less comfortable options.

[limitedperiodonly]

Some people on here seem to have no idea.

I think some people on here talk shit because it amuses them

[Fairyliz]

Wow thanks for all of your comments and best wishes.
Just to clarify my daughter has a loan which covers her accomodation, I give her money which should cover her food and then she has to earn money for going out/clothes travel etc.

A lot of the placements are unpaid but she is only applying for the paid ones which I assume most students are, which is why there is a lot of competition. She has to do this as I cannot afford to support her during her year out and she wont get a loan.

Yes she has kept her travel receipts and asked for expenses but been told no.
Thanks for advice I will tell her to apply to any uni hardship fund.

Glad for all of the support I feel a let down as a parent as I cannot fund her to stay in London for a year where all of the best (unpaid) placements are.

[Jayfee]

definitely try the uni hardship fund..i have to admit i often transferred an extra fifty or hundred pounds to my son at uni but i could afford it and i dont know your circumstances. i wish her good luck

[MuchasSmoochas]

I really think large companies should be reimbursing this. They certainly used to. Have a look on their website/news search for a social mobility policy/ something like "our commitment to social mobility" E.g. PWC have one. Then your daughter could email them explaining nicely that their refusal to reimburse is at odds with their corporate policy, and explain her current hardship. Nothing to lose. And next time she needs to check! However I was young once and would have been the same.

[CheekySheep]

If you/she have a tesco clubcard, you can use the vouchers for train travel - they can be exchanged for double the face value to use on Redspottedhanky (train booking site). Might be a small help whilst she speaks to student services. Good luck to her.

[SunshineAllTheWhile]

I haven't read the last couple of pages of the thread I'm afraid (in case someone has already suggested this) but I would really recommend she speak to the uni finance team who will be able to offer her something, like a bursury loan (non refundable sometimes!) or an extension on her student loan of a couple of hundred pounds. I had to use this a few times during my time at uni (which included a placement year).

It's a tough old world out there trying to get your foot on the ladder but she sounds like a tenacious person - she will get there! Wishing her (and you!) all the best.

[Chickiwick]

I'd just like to say the not especially large organisation I work for offers reimburse for such things and no one would be looked on unfavourably for asking for them - a claim forn is included as standard in the interview pack.

Some people on here seem to have no idea what it's like to have no access to any spare money - its ridiculous to expect students to spend such vast sums on travel for interviews.

My mum would not have been able to send me a fiver let alone train fare. Credit card? Overdraft? Most 4th year students are maxed out - it's fucking hard out there.

OP - If I were your daughter I would probably write to the HR of each place explaining how their policy has affected me (not Technicolour detail) and urge them to reconsider their policy. Probably won't get her a reimbursement but she might feel more proactive / positive about the process.

Much luck - I hope she's successful soon.

[sailorcherries]

And I never got the London job.

[sailorcherries]

My postgrad uni would pay a set amount of travel expenses during placements because they found the placement for you and they wouldn't/couldn't guarantee you one near your home.

Any other graduate scheme or internship scheme I've paid my own way as I have chosen to apply for them, with the ability to research the company and finding out where such days are held. One time it meant flying from Scotland to London, 2 overnights in a Premier Inn and a flight back as the trains cost more and the timings were too neat. It suck, however it seems to be the way some of the job markets work. I always knew that the assessment centres would require travel, even before I knew I had been successful/applied, as most companies state it on their application process faq pages.

[Trainspotting1984]

And OPs daughter might already have credit cards, or may not be able to afford the minimum repayments for one (they're not like student loans where the company just wait until you can afford to repay them )

[Trainspotting1984]

Barinatxe you seem to have mixed up OPs daughter with a normal job interview candidate. This is a student placement

[TheEdgeofSeventeen]

@katy07 ... don't be a dick, clearly you have no idea. It's is so hard to even get to interview stage now and if I have to go to 10 interviews incurring £100 a time that's £1000 for just applying. Would you rather she didn't bother trying to get a job and got on benefits? Or went to uni with no aspiration to get a job? You sound like a spoiled idiot who thinks everyone else is below them. GOYS

[TheEdgeofSeventeen]

My friend had been through this and I am currently too - usually they allow you to claim back expenses whether you got the job or not - tell her to email the company and ask - it's usually up to £250 for travel, hotels needed etc