Aibu at people expecting students to work for free

[aryto]

I've just graduated from a prestigious university in London and to be honest I'm crippled with debt, I know it was my decision to incur these costs but I am fed up with receiving emails from people wanting to use my (hard earned) skills for free and it then being dressed up as an "amazing opportunity". On a daily basis, my department is forwarding emails from people expecting to utilise my skills and I've had enough of these freeloaders. (I've volunteered and interned for a number of organisations and see the value in doing so but some of the requests are quite frankly bullshit).

Yep a friends son just graduated from his masters and they advertise for a job note that he has limited experience then offer him the job on condistion he works 3 to 6 months free with only £3 to £5 a day travel expesnes being paid..... than afterwards have the chance of him being paid the advised amount...

Yanbu!

and it then being dressed up as an "amazing opportunity
It is.
For them.
YANBU.

Not unreasonable at all. Unpaid internships are a massive barrier to social mobility, if you've not got ongoing financial support then you don't get a chance to prove your worth. Plus if you are doing a job then you have a right to be paid for it.

You could always go for a role and then remind them of minimum wage legislation, but it's likely they'd find another reason not to employ you.

Contact your students union and suggest they advise departments to stop advertising unpaid roles (except when explicitly volunteering roles). Things will only change if the companies who aren't willing to pay get frozen out and nobody applies for their bullshit schemes.

YANBU. Unpaid internships immediately cut out the huge chunk of people who can't afford to work for free, it only leaves those who a) live at home/live off bank of mum and dad b) the rare few who are working elsewhere at the same time to finance it, leaving them with zero free time and a lot of stress.

YANBU. I read that the EU has recently abolished unpaid internships although I appreciate that may not have taken effect yet.

argumentativefeminist
Contact your students union and suggest they advise departments to stop advertising unpaid roles (except when explicitly volunteering roles). Things will only change if the companies who aren't willing to pay get frozen out and nobody applies for their bullshit schemes.

Excellent advice here. I agree.

I agree during my degree I was unable to take inpaid internships. Then when it came to graduation and applying for jobs I was always questioned as to why I didn’t do any. But it was impossible I had to work just to get through uni so I simply couldn’t find it. Then I was rejected for post graduate funding and one of the reasons was my lack of internships.

It’s really not fair.

It's exploitation, pure and simple. Arguementative has it right on the money.

Un-fucking-believable! Just received another one and this time they've had the nerve to refer to the unpaid work as "collaboration", they can shove their "exciting project" (which is essentially just bookkeeping) up their arse.

I think unpaid internships are a dispicable way for some employers to sift. Now that most people (providing they are prepared to get into debt) can access a university education and better jobs more social mobility - low and behold the door is shut further along the line.

3 to 5 a day. That doesn't even cover an oyster card.

YANBU. Even if the opportunity is a good one it's massively unfair on graduates who don't have parents who can put them up and feed them for 3-6 months.

YANBU. These companies get on my wick, bad enough when they pay a pittance but nothing to a graduate is ridiculous.
I believe this is only something that has happened over the last decade or so when the whole climate for employees changed including lack of unions, people doing multiple jobs for the same money and zero hours contracts. The massive increase in the number of students seems to have exacerbated these issues further.

Your uni should not be supporting such activity. Great advice about SU.

Yep its obsince it would cost him money to go and do this "job" a weekly ostler card is £35 i think (i might be mistaken as i have not lived in London for a long time) so even at the company paying the most for travel he would be £10 down every week this does not include the uniform he would have to pay for (most of the companies have a uniform and they take the cost out of the first wage packet but since he would not be being paid they wanted the £120 up front for the uniform costs.... its a bloody scam).

I do not understand why companies still get away with this. It gives a nice list of places to avoid working for.

In what way are you crippled with debt? I bet you dont pay any much back on your student loans every month!

Well it's not like you actually have to pay your debts yet is it? Many students are grateful for the opportunity to get some work experience because the market is saturated with graduates. If you don't need the experience then don't take it. No need to get annoyed by it.

And so many of these tight arses are offering one-off projects that are so insignificant that you would be unlikely to include them on your cv. A coursemate mentioned how she spent two days (in a grimy flat) translating for an artist working on a (rubbish) vanity project. Not how it was described at all!

Not unreasonable at all. Unpaid internships are a massive barrier to social mobility, if you've not got ongoing financial support then you don't get a chance to prove your worth. Plus if you are doing a job then you have a right to be paid for it.
This this this!

If they have enough of a job to be advertising then it's enough of a job to pay someone properly.

It's just another way of ensuring certain industries remain closed off and it limits social mobility.

No grant, central London rent, minimal assistance from parents and a loan that did not cover outgoings (based on income from high-earner parents who don't see it as their duty to fund my studies- which is fair enough) = debt.

Unpaid internships are really, really shit. For all the reasons everyone has pointed out. It's so depressing.

So many of these "opportunities" turn out to be people taking the absolute piss. I know people who have basically ended up working as waiters/telephone operators/cleaners when the ad described something entirely different- it is incredibly common, not sure what skills can be picked up in one afternoon being a doormat. I'm an economics student at LSE with slightly higher ambitions than being a skivvy. I really don't want to come across as a snob but I've had to work bloody hard to get to this position and it's quite frankly an insult.

There is a lot in this world to be insulted at, but some emails asking for you to 'work' for free, just needs a click on the spam button to ignore.

Be happy you have your degree and find something less trivial to be insulted by.

OP Don't just go to your SU. Go to the NUS and ask them to make it a campaign.