Enternships Blog

The Only Way Is The Entrepreneurial Way Posted on Monday 06 February 2012 at 13:41PM by trrpaipai

Joe Levi is the founder of studentmoneysaver.com, a website that provides students with tips and advice on how to get the most of their student years on little money. We recently visited him in his cute little office in North London to discuss the ups and downs of life in a startup and here's what we got.

So why did I do it?

The idea for Student Money Saver began when I started Manchester University in 2007. I fast realized that being financially independent for the first time at university was incredibly intimidating. For the first time I had to live on a budget much more limited than I was originally used to, manage my bills AND pay my rent. Following a quick Google search, I found absolutely nothing that provided me with the type of assistance that I would have liked and so, I took matters into my own hands. I didn’t exactly have a big budget so the movement started off with a group of like minded folk who helped me to get the website going.

When people ask why I chose ‘the road less travelled’ and decided to opt for entrepreneurship instead of working 9-5, the only answer that no one can EVER argue with is the fact that my job satisfaction trumps that of any investment banker. Making money is obviously a great contributory factor to any career path but whilst most city workers [however successful] still come beneath someone in the office hierarchy, I get the immense pleasure of being in control of my own destiny. To be fair, I think I always knew I would go down this route when as a child, I opted to sell sweets instead of eating them but it is admittedly, not for everyone.

The downside?

The immense fear associated with taking the risk of starting your own company. There is always that niggling doubt that the world will not understand your vision, however, it is this very same vision that keeps you going on those days when everything seems to go wrong. To be honest, hard times or no, I wouldn’t change my choice for the world. Alongside the bad days are good days and sometimes, there are REALLY good days and there is nothing like the deep sense of satisfaction that comes from knowing that your vision has yielded results.

To all those who agree that ‘the only way is entrepreneurship’, my key advice to you is to remind yourself of your vision – DAILY. You may get disheartened but [without sounding to cheesy] you have to keep your eyes on the price.

Well that’s all for now. My next blog will keep you updated on the goings on  here at Student Money Saver, so join me on my journey: witness my downfalls and rejoice with me in my successes.

Happy Saving!!

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Enternships Case Study: A Financial Story Posted on Monday 12 December 2011 at 12:08PM by trrpaipai

Enock Koola is a former intern at Amoo Venture Capital Advisory, a boutique firm supporting pre- and post-VC technology startups with strategic direction and business development. He has taken the time to answer a few questions, revealing how his enternship lead him to be offered a full-time position in a funky financial firm.

How did you come across Enternships?

I was referred on to the website by a friend. He had used it and thought it would be a good tool to use in search of a summer internship.

What made you decide to do an internship?

I was interested in VC/PE and felt an internship will provide me with insight on how either VC/PE work and whether it was a perfect suit for me.

What are the challenges you’re facing when looking for an internship? What’s the most difficult part?

The most challenging issue is finding the right internship to apply for. There aren’t many internship programs for working in the PE/VC sector.

How did you go about the application? How do you usually prepare your job applications?

I made sure I had done my homework. I researched and studied the company to know more about the role and the company. I kept up with the latest global financial news.  I made a specific CV and Cover letter to the companies I was applying to in order show my understanding of their businesses.

What do you think is the most important part in a job application? What helped you get the internship you applied for?

In my opinion, making yourself aware of the business and role you are applying for and whether it suits you is a very important key step in getting the job. I got the job because I researched the company and the position and I was very passionate about VC which I think came across in the interview.

What are the top 3 things you’re looking for on an employer’s profile/internship listing?/Why did you choose to intern at Amoo?

1. Track Record
2. Early responsibilities
3. Long term goals

I chose to intern at Amoo VC Advisory as I believed it was a great opportunity to learn more about VC, opportunity to work on real live projects and because the company was small, I believed I would get more responsibility and possibly even manage my own project. In addition after my interview and meeting the director and associate, I liked the atmosphere and the long term plans for the company.

What was your role there? What kind of projects did you work on?

I applied for the sales & research analyst role; this involved working on live projects. Some of my key tasks included analysing business plans, building financial models for start-ups and supporting entrepreneurs in their fund raising process. Furthermore I attended several tech events a week and this provided me the opportunity to interact and meet very inspiring entrepreneurs.

Has the enternship helped you get closer to your career goals? If so, how?

My career goal is to one-day start my own fund with an African focus. The internship allowed me to work with smart, creative and innovate people, gave me the opportunity to gain a better understanding of VC and how they work.  I enjoyed working in the VC environment and supporting clients through their different fund raising round. The internship ignited my entrepreneurship spirit and has fuelled my desire to start my own firm.

Was the internship worth it, would you do it all over again if you could go back in time or is there something you would change?

The entire experience was a blessing and I am grateful for that opportunity as I learnt valuable transferable skills. I would definitely do it all over again and again.

What would be your best piece of advice to give other students/graduates looking for internships?

Internships are good as they give you an insight and the opportunity to realise, adjust, and validate your career goals.  Sometimes we are not sure what exactly we want to do and doing an internship allows you to see whether the role suits you and if it is the right lifestyle for you.  Moreover employers nowadays look for graduates with experience so doing an internship gives you a competitive advantage over the other graduates.

What do you think about the work Enternships is doing in helping students finding internships?

I think it is great what Enternships is trying to do; it allows students to discover their entrepreneurship spirit working with small and dynamic businesses. Especially nowadays where unemployment is at an all-time high, we need such platforms like Enternships to help students get internships.

What is your piece of advice for us at Enternships? Is there anything we could improve on to help candidates in their internship seeking?

The website is great but I think the site could do with a better interface. Also there weren’t as many financial roles when I was applying. It will be good if Enternships could get even more mid-cap companies to recruit through their website.

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Start Your Own Business At Zero Cost Posted on Thursday 08 December 2011 at 11:49AM by trrpaipai

Ho ho ho! Christmas is just around the corner and it's a time when we all become more generous. So are the guys at Entrepreneur First, offering young graduates the chance to start their own business and receive all the support throughout their journey. Competition is fierce but with just enough determination and that little extra from Santa you're in for the challenge of your life. Read on and apply!

If you're a recent graduate and you know you can "put a ding in the universe", Entrepreneur First is for you. We take the country's most talented graduates and provide them with the tools, networks and resources they need to launch a high-growth startup.

This is not work experience or an internship; this is starting your own business from the very beginning.

You don't need a team and you don't need a ready-to-launch idea. We'll help you build both. We're looking for determination, passion and raw talent.

What you get:

• A top UK entrepreneur as a mentor
• Cutting-edge training delivered by entrepreneurs and investors
• Access to top-tier angels and venture capitalists
• An extraordinary peer group of other aspiring entrepreneurs
• It's completely free to participate (no cash fee, no equity taken) - but it will be tough, both to get selected and to succeed. If you have what it takes, make sure you apply online before December 31.

*About Entrepreneur First *

Entrepreneur First's mission is to make high-growth entrepreneurship the most exciting career option for top graduates. We provide a programme that supports recent graduates to build startups - from building a team and refining an idea to securing finance to scale up. 

Launched this year, Entrepreneur First is backed by Microsoft, Silicon Valley Bank and McKinsey, as well as some of the UK's top entrepreneurs. We're a not-for-profit funded entirely by sponsorship, so we can offer the programme completely free of charge to the most talented graduates.

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Enternships Q&A: How One Employer Deals With Internships Posted on Monday 05 December 2011 at 11:30AM by trrpaipai

Candidates look out, some really useful advice here! Enternships has paid Amoo Venture a visit to ask founders Nzube Ufodike and Alexey Buditskiy what is their approach on internships.

What are the top 3 qualities you’re looking for in an intern?  Resourcefulness, Commercial awareness, Technology savvy.

What do you look at first in a CV?  Experience and Qualifications.

What would really impress you in an application?  Fantastic grades, language skills and stuff done outside of the normal academic curriculum.

What would be a big mistake in an application?  Poor spelling or grammatical errors.

What’s your advice for interns? What’s your advice for other employers looking to hire an intern?  Manage each other’s expectations from the start.

How do you go through the process of shortlisting candidates?  Three step process. Phone interviews are scheduled. Successful candidates then go on to a face to face panel interview.

Once you’ve chosen your intern, what happens next?  First week is an induction and we quickly ramp up to full BAU and project work by the third week. That said, I have actually been known to ask an intern to shadow a client meeting and summarise a business plan on their first day!

How do you organise the internship? A variety of tasks and projects with weekly check point meetings to track progress and lessons learned.

What’s your advice to other employers regarding internships? It can be pretty challenging managing employees that do not have all the relevant knowledge. Best to quickly asses how much they actually know by throwing them into the deep end. However, only do this if you are able to expect the worst without blowing a fuse.

What happens when the internship is finished?  Exit presentations are delivered by the intern to the rest of the firm, and a one-on-one exit interview conducted where we go through the interns feedback.

Advice for other start-ups?  Hire slowly and fire quickly.

What do you think about Enternships and the work we’re trying to do, in helping all young people to get inspired and achieve success? Lifesaver!

Amoo is a trailblazing boutique firm, supporting pre- and post-VC technology startups with strategic direction and business development. Nzube Ufodike  founded Amoo Venture Capital Advisory in 2009 together with Alexey Buditskiy to support start-ups seeking growth capital. Nzube is an entrepreneur. His professional experience covers entrepreneurship and finance and Alexey co-authored the book “Market Valuation of a Commercial Bank” and has written numerous articles on Finance and Management in leading academic and trade journals.

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Friday Fun: Lunch Breaks. To Take Or Not To Take? Posted on Friday 02 December 2011 at 15:02PM by trrpaipai

Oh how I love the early office concerto every day around 11AM… That’s about the time when everyone has already digested their breakfast and starts to get hungry again… A musical splendour to all of our ears that makes at least one of our Enternships team member take a trip to the kitchen to fool the old breadbasket.

All this grumbling serves one purpose only: to remind us lunch is on its way! And we sit and impatiently wait for that clock to strike 1pm when we can finally pamper ourselves to some delightful sandwich (or burrito – according to the latest London fancy for Mexican). You can actually hear the hands of the clock sssslllooooowwwllyyyy moving to the right…the pain!

And then you get yourself together and get going on some work immersion. Suddenly the job matrix has got to you and when you get out of it you realise it’s already 3pm. Wait a sec, what happened to all that slo-mo ticking clock? Too late, what’s the point of having lunch now?

The thing is, there is a point! Firstly, you need those calories to keep you going through the day at a productive pace and rebank the nutrients that got depleted. Secondly, you need the good calories! When you don’t eat lunch, you are more likely to snack during the day on unhealthy foods, or overeat at suppertime. We don’t want that do we?

A survey by Monarch Airlines found that as many as 58% employees in the UK take 30 minutes or less for their lunch break, while almost 6% of workers snatch just 10 minutes. Now that’s what I call a workaholic!

I know all of us are really passionate about what we do because startup life is so cool and challenging but we must keep in mind the fact that we aren’t some magical machines that run on thin air. We need fuel. Some of it is food for thought but before we get there we need some food for body. And that means not skipping lunch. Or any other meal for that matter.

Here’s my awesome 1-2-3 why

1. Food is delicious. I love food and I love exploring all types. I get excited about each and every bite and never leave anything on my plate. I make sure my food is decently fresh and tasty. That means quality beats quantity - the classic gourmet vs gourmand battle. Take the French path, enjoy your meal, top it with a dessert if that's what makes you happy.

2. Food is nutritious. Ok, so perhaps you’re one of those rare types who don’t really enjoy the taste of food that much (bless!). In this case, think about your body as an engine that needs gas to keep on working. It can work on water too but then it will have to take twice as long to get the same thing done. Don’t kill the productivity!

3. Food is fun. When I say that I really mean it. There’s loads of fun in cooking it and eating it but most of all, in burning the calories out of it. I like lunch breaks because they remind me that I haven’t taken my stroll or that I haven’t smiled at a new person that day (it’s on my daily to-do list!). Don’t look at the lunch break as a burden in your busy schedule: it’s your chance to have some quality ‘me’ time and get some more inspiration rolling for the rest of the day! So who are you in this daily battle for lunch? The luncher or the muncher?

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New Project to Help Unpaid Interns With Their Living Costs Posted on Tuesday 22 November 2011 at 13:27PM by trrpaipai

Milena Bottero, founder of The Settlement tells us about the financial difficulties that students who take on unpaid work placements are facing and how her new initiative, Room for Tea, can help overcome them.

I founded The Settlement a few months ago, because I am passionate about addressing a particularly current issue in the UK today: unpaid internships. An unpaid intern myself within an environmental organisation, I found it challenging to cover my living costs in a city as expensive as London and realised there were a lot of other young people in my case.

There were over 250,000 unpaid interns working in the UK in summer 2010. The result of my own research shows that over a third of unpaid interns working in London are unable to live at home free of charge or afford to pay rent on an non-existent salary. With so few jobs available for both students and recent-graduates during these difficult economic times, the completion of one or multiple unpaid internships has become, in some cases, the only work experience a young person is able to gain in their chosen field.

These circumstances favour young interns coming from affluent backgrounds, whose parents are able to offer financial support that covers the high living costs they face.

So we came up with an idea. We formed a social enterprise which supports interns who struggle to cover their living costs in finding affordable, short-term housing solutions.

What is Room for Tea about?

Our most recent project, Room for Tea, is a home-sharing network which connects unpaid interns looking for affordable housing with people who have a spare room in their homes.

The scheme targets home-owners that are at risk of becoming isolated: it encourages older adults to offer space in exchange for company, security and some free help around the house. In return for this, interns are given free accommodation whilst working unpaid, an invaluable support in these difficult times.

Are you interested? We’d like to hear about you!

Room for Tea is about democratising access to internship opportunities. We wish to support young people moving down to London to start work. Are you currently an intern, or looking to be? Would you like to hear more? Feel free to contact us here.

Room for Tea aims to become a member-driven community of users: we wish to create a service that takes account of your needs and expectations. We would love to  hear your opinion about Room for Tea, internships, and anything else that matters to you. Drop us a line here.

Milena Bottero graduated with a Bsc in Environmental Policy from the London School of Ecomomics in July 2010. Prior to founding The Settlement she was project manager at FoodCycle and now she started the Room for Tea-a new initiative run by the social enterprise The Settlement and funded by Unltd and the Design Council.

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[Infographic]: How to Use Social Media to Get a Job Posted on Tuesday 18 October 2011 at 13:04PM by trrpaipai

What in the past sounded more like something of a waste of time, today  social media strategies are the way to go forward in business. Social networking websites are the most successful platforms for attracting new customers and keep the old ones engaged and thus boosting your media presence has become every company's number one target. As a result, social media positions are now a must in every business, from small businesses to big corporations.

As a social media strategist it's not enough to just tweet a bit here and there and write a few articles a week - in the context of today's connected world if you want your company to be heard you have to make sure you go the extra mile. Handling social media is not something for the light-hearted because you will soon discover the huge amount of multi-tasking involved: from launching campaigns and making sense of web metrics down to managing budgets and liaising with third parties.

This infographic made by Voltier Creative will show you what some of the most successful social media strategists have been up to in order to be the best at what they do.

[via Mashable]

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What price is honesty and how to ruin your dream job Posted on Wednesday 05 October 2011 at 10:19AM by trrpaipai

We are delighted to have Anthony Sutton, MD of Cream HR as our Guest Blogger this month to share his wisdom and insights about how much honesty can one put into his/her résumé.

There was a fascinating article in the press the other day about an unemployed, 28 year old philosophy graduate from Manchester, who had created a brutally honest c.v. in an attempt to set himself apart from other job applicants. The article claimed that he had created the world’s worst c.v.!

I’m not sure if he had or not, but I always enjoy seeing a different approach and however unusual this particular example may be - just look at the publicity received! I’m sure a job won’t be too far away! The article made me think about the importance of honesty when applying for jobs.

Most people who work in recruitment, HR or who are regular hiring managers are used to poor c.v.’s, dreadful grammar, endless pages of waffle, wholesale mistakes, impossible to read nonsense and a complete lack of understanding that many job seekers have with regard to how they should present themselves to a potential employer.

However, dishonesty is a different thing altogether.

We live in a world where the moral compass seems to have shifted – our politicians, role models and other public figures are often seen to be dishonest, greedy and immoral. Perhaps this is why dishonesty seems so commonplace in c.v.’s – if our role models and leaders lie, then why shouldn’t the rest of us?

There has been considerable research in this area and depending on what you believe, up to two thirds of people apparently lie on their c.v.’s. Wow that’s a lot of liars!

That figure may be at the top end, but if you watch programmes such as the Apprentice and recall the “tough interview” episode, what stands out for me is the number of times that the aspiring apprentices are caught exaggerating the truth.

So why shouldn’t you elaborate your own achievements? After all, loads of other people do and nobody’s going to check, are they?

The basic point that you have to consider is this: it is wrong. What is more, there is no need to do it and it can have catastrophic consequences should you ultimately land your dream job. Believe it or not and in spite of the strange world that we live in MOST employers respect and value honesty incredibly highly. It is a quality that they seek in all of their employees. Employment and employment contracts are fundamentally based on TRUST and trust is demonstrated through honesty.

If you have lied to get your dream job and are subsequently caught out – what do you think your boss might think about you? I can’t answer for everyone, but my reaction would be - if you can be dishonest once, you can be dishonest again, so how can I trust you?

In the most extreme cases lying to get a job has resulted in the person concerned being sent to prison! In 2010, Rhiannon Mackay was jailed for six months for lying about her A levels and references in order to get a job in the NHS. This is where things take another twist, not only is lying wrong, it’s illegal. Knowingly lying to secure a job is covered under the Fraud Act 2006. Misrepresenting yourself could harm your job prospects for a long time!

You should also be aware that most experienced and skilled interviewers can spot lies and misrepresentations during interviews. People react differently when they aren’t telling the truth and to a skilled interviewer it’s often quite obvious.

The most common areas that people tend to lie about are –

• Salary – it’s amazing just how many people think that it’s ok to “round up” their salary figure, sometimes quite substantially!
• Qualifications – the above example shows just how dangerous this can be, but there are countless examples of people claiming to have more or better  qualifications than they have
• Job responsibility – a large number of people like to grow their role in the same way that they grow their salary
• Skills – I once did a one day Microsoft Access course. I hated it, don’t use it and wouldn’t include it in my list of skills. Some people would!
• Results – a c.v. is an easy way to claim great success at work and to take lots of the credit where it may not be due....

Salary – this is actually pretty easy by either asking candidates to prove their earnings with payslips or similar or from the tax information that will be received with a P45 when the new employee starts their jobSo do businesses make checks and how do they do it?  There has been a significant increase in organisations making much more thorough checks of their potential and recent employees as a direct consequence of misleading c.v.’s. So just how do they check?

• Qualifications – are probably one of the least checked areas, but many employers are beginning to ask for proof to back up the claims on a c.v. Whilst many candidates may have lost their exam certificates that does not mean that their results cannot be checked, it just takes a bit more work.
• Job responsibility and results – reference checks have become a bit of a legal nightmare for many businesses, but that does not stop a hiring manager from checking with your old manager about just how much responsibility you had in your old job.

It is also quite easy to introduce checking processes in the interview rounds to get a little nearer to the truth. Skilled interviewers can spot the lies!

• Skills – are relatively easy to check and if the skills that you need are important for your job many employers set technical assessments to see if you really can use those skills you claim. Even this doesn’t stop some people and we have come across examples of people sending qualified friends to undertake an exam or test. Follow up assessments further down the interview process normally weeds them out
• Lie detectors – you may not believe it, but I read last year about an increase in the number of firms who use lie detectors to try and identify fraudulent job applications. I am also aware that Graphology (hand writing analysis) is meant to be a good method for detecting honesty. I’m not sure how successful these particular methods are, but it hopefully shows you the lengths that some businesses will go to and that misrepresenting yourself can be a risky business

Employers should (and will) check applicants as thoroughly as possible. They want to ensure that you are the honest, decent person that they hope you are.

Now if you want to talk about employers misrepresenting the jobs on offer, then that’s a different story altogether.....

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Looking for an internship? Here are five great tips to help you out Posted on Monday 19 September 2011 at 12:00PM by niraj5hah

In today's blog we hear from Niraj Shah - a former recruitment industry expert who has transitioned into the world of technology and startups. Here he shares his 5 best tips on how to make sure you get a great internship via Enternships.com:

All internships are not equal so here are some tips to help you ensure your time as an intern is productive and to help you compete for the best placements out there.

1. Get clear on what you want to learn

One of the most crucial questions you need to ask yourself is - "which skills do I want to develop?". You will typically have between a month and three months - that's not a lot of time to develop a skill or set of skills from scratch so you need to focus. If it's only money you're interested in then in all seriousness there are lots of bars and restaurants crying out for good and reliable staff and they're much less competitive jobs to get.

Once you get clear on what skills you want to develop then you can be much more targeted in what you apply for and this focus will shine through in your cover letter, CV and interviews - more on those later.

2. Take the first steps yourself

This is so important. You need to actually get the job in the first place and internship places have never been so competitive. So whatever skills you decided to focus on, the next step is to learn something about it through your own efforts.

If it's programming skills in a specific niche or industry then pick a relevant mini-project that you can complete in your spare time, if it's SEO or online marketing then there's no excuse for not teaching yourself the basics given the masses of information on the net. If it's sales then seriously think about getting a part-time sales job during the term. The point is whatever you're interested in there's a way to get at least the basic experience yourself. Why is that important? Because you can....

3. Use the experience you've gained to make your application stand out

Did I mention right now is a particularly competitive time for potential interns?? Every internship exists because someone needs something done, and the best ones exist because there might be a full time job offer at the end of it. To compete and win you need to show something over and above the average applicant - the quickest way to impress is to demonstrate the practical experience  that you've gained in the step above and link it to their needs. In your cover letter/email refer to this directly - "I have recently done X, where I gained Y skills - this is how I can use those skills to help you with problem Z". Pay close attention to their requirements and closely tailor your cover letter to match.

4. Do your research

Before you send an application find out as much as possible about the company and hiring manager. This is where you start assessing how good the opportunity really is - don't take what  they say in their advert at face value! Here's some great tools to use:

• Google - you'll be surprised what some targeted Googling of people's companies and names can bring up - learn how to use the advanced search features  - you'll be pleasantly surprised by the results.
• LinkedIn - use it to check out the person recruiting the role (e.g. if they say they are a successful serial entrepreneur does their profile reflect this?), how much experience they have, who they've worked for before, what sort of recommendations they have etc. Do the same for other employees you find.
• Social media - if this is important to the type of company it is (which it should be to anyone who sells something to the public or most things technology oriented) then have a look at their presence on Facebook, Twitter etc - do thy have a lot of followers/likes? if not why not? If it's a social media internship then you really need to go to the interview armed with a few ideas on how they can quickly increase their presence.
• DueDil and LevelBusiness - I love these two fairly new and lesser known tools for UK businesses. Use them to check the company's financials, size, progress over time etc - again this is to compare if what they claim stacks up to the reality and to assess if this is a business worth applying to. Take the results with a pinch of salt as I'm not convinced how accurate they always are, but these tools could give further food for thought.

5. Interview the interviewer

Interviews are a two way street. Of course first you need to impress the interviewer, but never leave an interview without having asked some questions of your own. Great questions to ask:

• If the interviewer is an employee ask what attracted them to the company and if they are the owner then ask what inspired them to start it. This question is great for building rapport because when asked sincerely it demonstrates a real interest in the other person. Of course you already know something about the answer because founders are usually publicly vocal about why they set up a business, and in the case of employees you usually know from their LinkedIn profile where they came from and when, but simply to build rapport you should ask anyway.
• Once you have shown you can do the job, ask what help and resources you will get. The whole point is that you have learned the basics yourself and now you want an experienced person or team to help develop your skills whilst doing something useful for them. The answer to this will show how much thought has gone into the intern's learning and development - be very wary of an answer that is only about day to day or ad-hoc support without any mention of a thought out structure such as weekly goal setting and reviews, mid-week catch-ups on progress, what you should have learned by the end of the internship etc

Those are my 5 top tips to get a great Enternship. What do you think? Please share your ideas, tips and comments below!

Niraj is on Twitter @niraj5hah and blogs at www.nirajshah.co.uk

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Unpaid Internships and Why They Are Still Awesome Posted on Tuesday 02 August 2011 at 11:35AM by josephvitalis

Unpaid internships are a contentious issue, so we asked around for a students view. Joseph Vitalis, a student of Queen Mary, University of London, will be discussing the pros and cons of unpaid internships. You can read another of Joseph's posts here on making the most of Univeristy life. 

I am one of the people who believe that internships are always a good deal, whether they are offered on a paid or on an unpaid basis, and I am pretty sure that if you stay with me until the end of this article you will adopt my point of view. For most of its part, it is not a subjective matter but instead it is something to which you conclude after realistically weighing all the pros and cons.

Pros & cons

Without any reasonable doubt the idea of not paying your interns sounds a little unfair. Nevertheless, everybody knows that nowadays many decent paid jobs have been replaced with unpaid internships for the benefit of the profit margin and (some may correctly argue) for the sake of innovation and R&D that start-ups provide the society. The question which instantly arises is if those jobs have been done once on an unpaid basis, does it mean that this will be the case from now on? Nobody really knows and ultimately the fairness of the matter depends on each individual case.

Embracing a two-sided affair

Despite the above, the facts remain unchanged. In our day and age most employers that hire interns realise that in order for a relationship to be successful it has to be two-sided and of course to entail an exchange. After all, it is always like that in every type of an active relationship. As a result, the widely held notion is that you step up and provide your interns with real structure and supervision.

This stems from the fact that interns deserve at least a real educational experience if they are to devote their time and energy in something that brings money in the pocket of another individual and it is the least that you should expect (if not demand it). A significant number of interns receive academic credit for their work (mostly in the USA) and they have their relevant expenses covered by the company.

Realising the requirements

What I fail to understand is the circumstances under which this whole scheme operates. If in order to stand good chances to get a good job upon graduation you are more or less required to intern a few times, then you are clearly in a disadvantageous position as an unemployed student.

Having to spend heavily on accommodation, food, transport and remaining living expenses for an additional two or three months without getting anything back as financial reward makes us realise that it is not the easiest thing to do in the world. To make matters worse, this situation will become aggravated if you are studying and living in an expensive city (where –by the way- most important and worthwhile roles are offered).

But you can be one as well!

In spite of all the bad weather that you are likely to face if you choose the path of an unpaid internship, chances are that you will never regret it! Richard Crosby a recent business graduate and has his own inspiring story to share with us. In his last year of university Richard discovered for himself where the value lies in working for free. Thanks to student finance he had the means to take on unpaid work. He was looking for an internship that would allow him to ‘jump in at the deep end’ and he found this in an angel investment funded venture that is creating a networking platform for entrepreneurs.

Currently an ‘entern’ in Entreper.com he said that he had the chance ‘to perform a wide range of tasks’ and ‘to share his views and opinions as to how the project should progress’! Admittedly a far more adventurous and proactive experience than what you would normally get if you were to intern in a larger firm.

Every intern is a bright intern

Effectively, to be a happy intern you have to be sure that you will manage to add significant experience to your arsenal without having to get a loan. If this is true, then you should be getting everything you need, namely; a significant amount of work experience and valuable contacts. So basically what a happy intern needs is a considerate employer; a person who can demand as well as provide. Unpaid internships are awesome if and only if the above holds true.

In the main now, internships are almost always beneficial, provided that you are getting something out of it. Please do keep in mind that waiting tables will surely pay the bill for the time being but ultimately your CV is of utmost importance. This is going to be the crucial element that will or will not give you the job you always desired. My advice… simply know where to look and dare to roll with the punches!

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