The Jobbridge Scandal

Iwasfrozen

Canadel wrote: »

Job-bridge isn't a true reflection of the market; without job-bridge that poster most likely wouldn't be working for the company at all as the position would not exist in the real market place. The problem isn't the minimum wage, it's the companies who are exploiting job-bridge. And of course you can't really blame them when the government is practically encouraging them to do so.

Agreed, Jobbridge it's a way of trying to message the unemployment figures caused in part by minimum wage laws.

Imagine your market value is less than the minimum wage, you might love to work for 6 or 7 euro an hour to get experience in an area you like but the bottom rung has been removed for you. We end up in a situation where employers won't hire people unless they have experience.

Minimum wage laws hurt the young and uneducated most while funnily enough helping young college graduates who are likely to be offered a wage below their market value, the people who are most vocal about rising it.

In a perfect world without minimum wage laws jb wouldn't be needed, but we don't live in a perfect world and if a person wants to get involved in an industry in which their market value is less than minimum wage they have little choice beyond jb as things stand.

mickstupp

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

Imagine your market value is less than the minimum wage, you might love to work for 6 or 7 euro an hour to get experience in an area you like but the bottom rung has been removed for you. We end up in a situation where employers won't hire people unless they have experience.

1. It's supposed to be called minimum wage for a reason.
2. Care to explain why employers are still choosing to us jobbridge instead of hiring people?
3. Care to explain why so many jobbridge positions require the experience they're supposed to be training a person in?

Jobbridge is being used to circumvent minimum wage. Employers see it as a way to get free labour, instead of doing what everyone did before Jobbridge, i.e. hire people, and pay them, for a trial period to gain experience and see if they fit in. People on Jobbridge are not employees, they're not hired, they're not being paid by the people for whom they are working.

dxhound2005

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

Agreed, Jobbridge it's a way of trying to message the unemployment figures caused in part by minimum wage laws.

It's a very poor attempt to massage the figures. They could have forced everyone on long term unemployment (over 100,000) to take up a Jobbridge.

Instead of which they created a voluntary scheme with an upper limit of 8,500 places at any one time. And which currently has 4,700 placements. Out of a potential workforce of around 2.3 million. Not much of an effort really.

CramCycle

@thedogsbollix

While they used you unfairly, its time to use them unfairly. Your educated, you have a good idea of what you should be doing there.

Time to fire up linkedin, add in all the skills you see others using. Put it down as maternity cover contract. Make it look like you were doing what you wanted to do and get the job that you should already be doing.

Make friends with a few people there to get your reference.

Don't let the time be completely wasted, the system used you, time to use the system.

The Dogs Bollix

I've been invited to their Christmas party. I told them i would go because i was asked in September and who makes plans three months in advance so i didn't have an excuse to get out.

In reality, I don't want to go. There is a free dinner or maybe i'm meant to get the scraps. I'm not a member of staff and don't feel like it.

They are talking about pre dinner drinks. They had a staff day out in the summer and they talked about it for weeks before hand but i wasn't invited.

Why was i invited to the xmas party? Do i just, invite myself along to their pre dinner drinks or what? So where's the pre dinner drinks guys and rock on up? If they're going to talk about it in front of me, jesus.

In reality, i felt shyte and put down all through out the slaveship, felt so stupid. They know im qualified and can and willing to do more. But nope.

Why do i want to go to a Christmas party with people like that.

I've never been so down in my whole fooking life.

Mesrine65

The Dogs Bollix wrote: »

I've been invited to their Christmas party. I told them i would go because i was asked in September and who makes plans three months in advance so i didn't have an excuse to get out.

In reality, I don't want to go. There is a free dinner or maybe i'm meant to get the scraps. I'm not a member of staff and don't feel like it.

They are talking about pre dinner drinks. They had a staff day out in the summer and they talked about it for weeks before hand but i wasn't invited.

Why was i invited to the xmas party? Do i just, invite myself along to their pre dinner drinks or what? So where's the pre dinner drinks guys and rock on up? If they're going to talk about it in front of me, jesus.

In reality, i felt shyte and put down all through out the slaveship, felt so stupid. They know im qualified and can and willing to do more. But nope.

Why do i want to go to a Christmas party with people like that.

I've never been so down in my whole fooking life.

Fuck them, don't go!

Chin up TDB, you deserve better & even though all is bleak at the moment, life surprises you sometimes by just shining a little light...

Your time will come

osarusan

The Dogs Bollix wrote: »

I've been invited to their Christmas party. I told them i would go because i was asked in September and who makes plans three months in advance so i didn't have an excuse to get out.

In reality, I don't want to go. There is a free dinner or maybe i'm meant to get the scraps. I'm not a member of staff and don't feel like it.

They are talking about pre dinner drinks. They had a staff day out in the summer and they talked about it for weeks before hand but i wasn't invited.

Why was i invited to the xmas party? Do i just, invite myself along to their pre dinner drinks or what? So where's the pre dinner drinks guys and rock on up? If they're going to talk about it in front of me, jesus.

In reality, i felt shyte and put down all through out the slaveship, felt so stupid. They know im qualified and can and willing to do more. But nope.

Why do i want to go to a Christmas party with people like that.

I've never been so down in my whole fooking life.

I'd love your next post to be that you absolutely f**ked the manager out of it in front of everybody, comparing the job description with your actual tasks and how completely crappily the company has treated you.

leanonme

I think Jobs bridge can work depending on the candidate and the company. In 2012 I graduate from college with a good degree, but I lacked experience and confidence. I applied for many jobs all around the country, attended interviews and was not successful. After a number of months (2013), I decided to do a three week course on CV prep etc, and during that I realised things about my self and how I presented in interviews, due to do a recorded interview which was played back, I was able to change how I was presenting. Anyway after this I started an internship. I knew starting the internship that there was no job at the end of it, so I used it to gain experience etc, and continued to apply for jobs. Four months in I was offered a relief role in a different company, after a month or working both the internship and the relief role i left the internship. I am a full time employee in the company.

My partner is quite similar. He was unemployed for a number of years after working on the building all his adult life and in 2013 was informed he had to partake in a government scheme (can't remember the name), after going into do one role, they saw potential in him for another role and he began doing extra hours in this role, and continued to work in this role and now is permanent and loving his job.

2013 both unemployed but looking for work - two government schemes and two years down the line, both full time employed and just after buying our home. So I am a firm believer that if people are willing to re skill and get experience there is work out there.

civis_liberalis

osarusan wrote: »

I'd love your next post to be that you absolutely f**ked the manager out of it in front of everybody, comparing the job description with your actual tasks and how completely crappily the company has treated you.

Or they could just say

"I'd just like to say a few words"

[Takes out folded-up printout of the original JobBridge ad]

"The intern will gain practical experience in..."

[drop mic]

trixychic

leanonme wrote: »

I think Jobs bridge can work depending on the candidate and the company. In 2012 I graduate from college with a good degree, but I lacked experience and confidence. I applied for many jobs all around the country, attended interviews and was not successful. After a number of months (2013), I decided to do a three week course on CV prep etc, and during that I realised things about my self and how I presented in interviews, due to do a recorded interview which was played back, I was able to change how I was presenting. Anyway after this I started an internship. I knew starting the internship that there was no job at the end of it, so I used it to gain experience etc, and continued to apply for jobs. Four months in I was offered a relief role in a different company, after a month or working both the internship and the relief role i left the internship. I am a full time employee in the company.

My partner is quite similar. He was unemployed for a number of years after working on the building all his adult life and in 2013 was informed he had to partake in a government scheme (can't remember the name), after going into do one role, they saw potential in him for another role and he began doing extra hours in this role, and continued to work in this role and now is permanent and loving his job.

2013 both unemployed but looking for work - two government schemes and two years down the line, both full time employed and just after buying our home. So I am a firm believer that if people are willing to re skill and get experience there is work out there.

Was your internship with job bridge???

Hermy

The Dogs Bollix wrote: »

...i didn't have an excuse...

You don't need an excuse.
These people don't own you.
If you don't want to go, then don't go.

Fukuyama

dxhound2005 wrote: »

It's a very poor attempt to massage the figures. They could have forced everyone on long term unemployment (over 100,000) to take up a Jobbridge.

Instead of which they created a voluntary scheme with an upper limit of 8,500 places at any one time. And which currently has 4,700 placements. Out of a potential workforce of around 2.3 million. Not much of an effort really.

AFAIK it was set up mainly to get youth unemployment down. So it'd affect the number of 18-25 year olds that are unemployed quite a bit really.

I get frustrated when I see data admin, sales assistant, cleaner and other such low-skilled, entry level jobs advertised as jobsbridge. Realistically, anyone with a leaving cert and a week's training could do those jobs.

PopePalpatine

Fukuyama wrote: »

AFAIK it was set up mainly to get youth unemployment down. So it'd affect the number of 18-25 year olds that are unemployed quite a bit really.

I get frustrated when I see data admin, sales assistant, cleaner and other such low-skilled, entry level jobs advertised as jobsbridge. Realistically, anyone with a leaving cert and a week's training could do those jobs.

Ah, but as our resident priest of the Church of the Free Market tells us, data admins, sales assistants, cleaners etc. are worth less than €8.65 an hour. :rolleyes:

leanonme

trixychic wrote: »

Was your internship with job bridge???

yep it was, now as I said I knew going in that I would not get a job at the end of it, but I used it to gain experience and confidence in my own ability. I feel that after being unemployed and genuinely seeking work for a number of months your self esteem takes a big knock and you start to doubt your self so you can never go into an interview and sell your self the way you would if you were in a job, so by doing the internship I felt more confident in the interview, and felt like well if this does not work out at least I still have the intership, so in a way it took a lot of pressure off me and allowed me to relax in the interview.

Unemployment play's havoc with ones mental health, from looking at the people around me who were looking for work they really got very low moods, and then the more interviews they went for and turned down for meant everything appeared so much worse. I think for the right set of people Jobs bridge, or other intern ships or government schemes can be of benefit.

Superhorse

Based in SANDYFORD - DUBLIN 18 Ref. INTE-989220Description
The intern will gain practical experience in working on a busy site , manoeuvring loads on and off high internal and external racking, Unloading trucks and checking goods inwards receipts, loading trucks and checking out goods out. Helping organising transport sheets and routes. Gaining peoples kills serving customers daily and working as part of a team. Gaining extensive product knowledge. The intern will receive formal/informal training in the following: product knowledge on an extensive range of building products, administration. On completion the intern will have attained skills in forklift manoeuvring people skills ,product knowledge, administration.

---

Skills Requirements
Forklift licence and Manual handling Cert.

---

Please Note:
This is an Internship. An allowance of €50 per week will be paid in addition to your current Social Welfare payment. See eligibility criteria above.

---

Department
Warehouse / Yard



Lol. How these people get away with this i'll never know. Basically loading and unloading trucks and breaking down pallets of tiles etc.. back breaking work all for the dole plus 50 euro. I know because I worked in a place very similar that will remain unnamed. It's not an internship of any sort and is purely exploitive. Can't post the link because I'm a new user here but it's brooks hardware in Sandyford.

The Dogs Bollix

Forklift license and manual handling certificate.

Ah jaysus, how many years did they spend in college to gain those qualifications? Two days?

Now they need training for six to nine months doing manual labour.

Saw an internship for a kitchen porter. Like, these are jobs that took a day to train young people in before. Now its minimum six months.

osarusan

leanonme wrote: »

I think for the right set of people Jobs bridge, or other intern ships or government schemes can be of benefit.

The right set of people?

I'd say it's the right set of internships, rather than the people.

The right internship will benefit the intern.

But there are plenty of internships on Jobbridge that won't benefit anybody.

The one mentioned on the previous pages isn't really doing much for the mental state of the intern now is it?

The Dogs Bollix

Hermy wrote: »

You don't need an excuse.
These people don't own you.
If you don't want to go, then don't go.

I was kind of put on the spot. And what can someone say three months in advance. "I've got plans that night"... Its totally avoiding them. And when you want work, a possible job, its not something to avoid.

I know I'm not there for a social but now that i know how its going with no progression to learn anything. I don't want to go and i probably won't. What did it for me though was their chat about pre dinner drinks. They spent weeks talking about their outing in the summer in front me. And its probably the same here. They can kind of go to hell.

ejabrod

leanonme wrote: »

yep it was, now as I said I knew going in that I would not get a job at the end of it, ......

That's exactly what's wrong with this scheme.

Wile you used the internship for good purposes (for yourself) the scambridge jobbridge scheme is used by many, many companies to get free labour and even replace actual jobs with internships (like yours) which have no possibility of generating a job for the participant.

The whole purpose of an internship is to build experience in a potential hire...

Harry Palmr

Based in WATERFORD CITY Ref. INTE-989118
Description

The intern will gain practical experience in museum documentation and exhibition planning and execution. The intern will receive formal/informal training in the following museum exhibition projects, research and programming of museum events. On completion the intern will have attained skills in documentation and education systems, exhibition development and general professional museum development.

Education Requirements:

Third Level - Post Graduate Degree in Museum and Heritage Studies essential

Yeah that's right Waterford Treasures wants to find someone in Waterford to work for 50 quid a week extra who has a what sounds like a Masters level piece of paper in an incredibly specific area.

leanonme

osarusan wrote: »

The right set of people?

I'd say it's the right set of internships, rather than the people.

The right internship will benefit the intern.

\but there are plenty of internships on Jobbridge that won't.

The one mentioned on the previous pages isn't really doing much for the mental state of the intern now is it?

Yes the right set of people. I.E someone like me, I had qualifications but lacked experience, I wanted to gain experience that would help me to build my career etc.

I totally agree that there are some crap internships, but people dont have to apply for those, and people who are being told to take up training etc I think its fair enough if you have done noting to further your self in the last year. Being completely honest I have people in my family that were unemployed since 2008, and were doing noting but saying there were no jobs in there field etc (building), but then when they were told they had to take up a tus scheme they did and never looked back and are in full time employment and in much better form etc.

I work in a field where I have people telling me that life is **** because they cant find landlord to take rent allowance etc, and in the same conversation would state that its bull **** cause it looks like they are going to have to get a job to get accommodation. These are men who have not worked in 8 years etc, some 20 years, and they dont have any one chasing them to engage in any form of course, or job.

Hermy

Superhorse wrote: »

Skills Requirements
Forklift licence and Manual handling Cert.

Surely they're the very things the internship should be offering instead of being a requirement.

leanonme

ejabrod wrote: »

That's exactly what's wrong with this scheme.

Wile you used the internship for good purposes (for yourself) the scambridge jobbridge scheme is used by many, many companies to get free labour and even replace actual jobs with internships (like yours) which have no possibility of generating a job for the participant.

The whole purpose of an internship is to build experience in a potential hire...

But I don't see the problem with them not having a job for me, and they did'nt replace my role at the end with another internship. I was there as an extra staff, not taking a job that was already there etc. and it allowed me to gain experience.

Its no different in ways to the initiative that pays company to take on long term unemployed and receive 10000 in payment to do so. The longer someone stays unemployed and not engaging in training or volunteering the harder it will be to get employment.

Hermy

Hermy wrote: »

Surely they're the very things the internship should be offering instead of being a requirement.

That one is so backwards. In order to gain a certificate in forklift driving you have to undergo TRAINING. Free labour is all they're looking for.

Superhorse

Strawberry Milkshake wrote: »

That one is so backwards. In order to gain a certificate in forklift driving you have to undergo TRAINING. Free labour is all they're looking for.

Think they have removed it now must have been caught rapid or some poor sucker has taken the position for the paltry sum of 50 euro to the employer. Absolute joke. I know lads crying out for work and are prepared to work hard. A job like that should be paying a minimum of 400 lids for a 40 hour week not 50 euro it's taking the piss pure and simple.

Tasden

Superhorse wrote: »

Think they have removed it now must have been caught rapid or some poor sucker has taken the position for the paltry sum of 50 euro to the employer. Absolute joke. I know lads crying out for work and are prepared to work hard. A job like that should be paying a minimum of 400 lids for a 40 hour week not 50 euro it's taking the piss pure and simple.

The additional 50 is from social welfare not the employer, no?

Superhorse

Tasden wrote: »

The additional 50 is from social welfare not the employer, no?

If so that's worse again. Then the employer get's free labour.

starlit

Ya its €50 per week on top of Social Welfare. It's scandalous, the minimum wage is slightly better! It wouldn't take you far when it comes to petrol/transport and groceries alone per week/per month! Just about cover it. Add in rent social welfare wouldn't cover it barely a fraction of it even if sharing. I often wonder how people survive on that in the cities in particular unless you are saving like mad, and worked a paying job previously.

osarusan

leanonme wrote: »

Yes the right set of people. I.E someone like me, I had qualifications but lacked experience, I wanted to gain experience that would help me to build my career etc.

But only because it was the right kind of internship.

Had you taken one in Centra stacking shelves, you'd still have been in the same situation, but the internship wouldn't have benefitted you as yours actually did.

Or, to question your point in another way - what kind of people are the wrong set of people for good internships?

leanonme

osarusan wrote: »

But only because it was the right kind of internship.

Had you taken one in Centra stacking shelves, you'd still have been in the same situation, but the internship wouldn't have benefitted you as yours actually did.

Or, to question your point in another way - what kind of people are the wrong set of people for good internships?

people who see an internship as below them, and take a negative attitude to work. complain about the money etc all the time they are they. Even with the top up 50 I was still on less than a normal social welfare rate. I had people telling me I was stupid to be working for the top up of 50 etc etc, these are the same people who qualified at the same time as me, and are still unemployed. but these same people believe they should walk into a permanent full time job paying 35 thousand because they have a qualification. They see doing part-time work as below them etc.