The Jobbridge Scandal

Mrs Garth Brooks

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Excuse me there, where did I say I wasnt willing to do a jobbridge or course?

The full story, I was told I should contact employers and ask them to take me on under the jobbridge scheme. I did this but nothing going.

So next thing, they were to force me into a course. On the same level as the juniour cert. I have a level 7 and went and re-trained for two years and finished a level 6 course last year.

I went into this fas meeting with other courses I would like to do and willing to move. It was all shot down.

It was only when I threathened to make a complaint that they gave me some choice. I have been waiting two weeks to hear back about a course.

I am looking for work. And intend to move to england by the end of the summer.

Now get off your high horse

runawaybishop

danotroy wrote: »

I currently live in London and I am trying to secure and internship/graduate role. I have a Masters in Urban Planning and I have over a years experience in the field behind me. The job market over here is highly competitive and I am applying to get on the London Council Internship Programme.

I recently interviewed for a planning role and did a group interview with other candidates, Hundreds of people apply for each role. Of the four candidates at the interview I was the least qualified. One guy had 4 years experience behind him in UK Planning. The role was a 12 month contract which paid £221 a week in a borough that is not on the tube line so a Train ticket to zone 6 would be required. I did not get the job but it was a real eye opener to the difference in work ethic in Ireland and London.

Here in London my rent is £650 a month plus bills of about £40-50 and travel to this job would have been £160 a month. So if I got the job after I paid my rent, bills and travel I would be left with £4 pound for the month for food. Competition is huge for these intern roles which have no guaranteed role at the end of them.

Contrast this with Ireland where I could have moved to Dublin to get a planning role on Jobbridge. I would of got rent allowance on a nice flat and got 50 euros on top of my 188 dole. I think we all know I would of been much better off in Dublin on Jobbridge.

I applied for 1 role on Jobbridge and got to the interview stage where I was told everyone who applied got interviewed. Now I don't now how interview processes work but my interview was over an hour long and this was a busy small firm. I don't reckon they interviewed more than 5 or 6 people as this would of been a waste of time and resources for such a small firm.

Maybe the resentment to this internship scheme says more about the Irish psyche and celtic tiger pups sense of entitlement than we care to admit.

You wouldn't see anyone here complaining about an internship for that role though.

Mrs Garth Brooks

danotroy wrote: »

Are they really? I think you have got the wrong idea of what your local social welfare officer is. They are not supposed to be treated like your guidance councillor from school.

Employment services officer.

I asked citizens information and was told they're there to help you and not bully you.

danotroy

runawaybishop wrote: »

You wouldn't see anyone here complaining about an internship for that role though.

I have popped into this thread various times over the last few months and there generally seems to be a resentment towards the entire scheme in general. I was listening to 96fm today as i saw that they were doing a piece on job bridge. The amount of negative comments towards the scheme was staggering.

runawaybishop

danotroy wrote: »

I have popped into this thread various times over the last few months and there generally seems to be a resentment towards the entire scheme in general. I was listening to 96fm today as i saw that they were doing a piece on job bridge. The amount of negative comments towards the scheme was staggering.

People rarely come to share successful stories, you will more often see people posting negative experiences and invalid internships. The scheme seems to have little enforced regulation with many positions being offered for work that does not require an internship. Thats what has people annoyed.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

danotroy

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

Employment services officer.

I asked citizens information and was told they're there to help you and not bully you.

ESO's are there to assist jobseekers with access to the job market. getting you on a course is giving you access to the job market. I don't think they are there to be used as a sounding board for ideas and as a guidance councillor type role.

lalaledge

Can I ask does anyone know what your rights are on a job bridge placement? My friend has had an awful review from a manager (who she had little to do with), based completely on her personality (her work ethic, skills etc were praised- but the manager said she would struggle to give her a reference because she's too bantery with other staff). This review has come a few weeks before she's due to finish - she wasn't appraised at all during her time there, so no time to work on criticism (or time to call it constructive).

My friend feels that her whole time there (it's a charity, she works full time and does stuff like personal care etc so no walk in the park) has been invalidated.

Can she go to HR?

Surely they have to give her a reference?

Xenji

danotroy wrote: »

I have popped into this thread various times over the last few months and there generally seems to be a resentment towards the entire scheme in general. I was listening to 96fm today as i saw that they were doing a piece on job bridge. The amount of negative comments towards the scheme was staggering.

The scheme has a success rate of 17%, it is hardly what you call a triumph, overhaul the scheme and get rid of the micky mouse internships and replace them with worthwhile ones that are properly vetted and supervised and maybe a lot of that negativity will go.

danotroy

Xenji wrote: »

The scheme has a success rate of 17%, it is hardly what you call a triumph, overhaul the scheme and get rid of the micky mouse internships and replace them with worthwhile ones that are properly vetted and supervision and maybe a lot of that negativity will go.

This would be ideal!

What do you mean a success rate of 17%? are you insinuating that an internship is only successful if the intern secures a role within the same organisation they interned with?

danotroy

lalaledge wrote: »

Can I ask does anyone know what your rights are on a job bridge placement? My friend has had an awful review from a manager (who she had little to do with), based completely on her personality (her work ethic, skills etc were praised- but the manager said she would struggle to give her a reference because she's too bantery with other staff). This review has come a few weeks before she's due to finish - she wasn't appraised at all during her time there, so no time to work on criticism (or time to call it constructive).

My friend feels that her whole time there (it's a charity, she works full time and does stuff like personal care etc so no walk in the park) has been invalidated.

Can she go to HR?

Surely they have to give her a reference?

Probably a question more suited to the work and jobs forum.

KyussBishop

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Again the 'fallacy of composition': The idea that removing the minimum wage, will increase employment for certain sectors/people, when instead it can lead to widespread wage cuts, which then reduce aggregate demand, and can then potentially reduce employment, even for the targeted 'young and unskilled' workers.

Happy to keep batting this one down, every time it comes up.

Xenji

danotroy wrote: »

This would be ideal!

What do you mean a success rate of 17%? are you insinuating that an internship is only successful if the intern secures a role within the same organisation they interned with?

Just over 8% get kept on by their host organisation and a further 8% find work after their internship according to the Indecon report.

danotroy

Xenji wrote: »

Just over 8% get kept on by their host organisation and a further 8% find work after their internship according to the Indecon report.

What period after the internship does the intern have to find work in order for them to be considered successful?

Permabear

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Permabear

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hypersquirrel

lalaledge wrote: »

Can I ask does anyone know what your rights are on a job bridge placement? My friend has had an awful review from a manager (who she had little to do with), based completely on her personality (her work ethic, skills etc were praised- but the manager said she would struggle to give her a reference because she's too bantery with other staff). This review has come a few weeks before she's due to finish - she wasn't appraised at all during her time there, so no time to work on criticism (or time to call it constructive).

My friend feels that her whole time there (it's a charity, she works full time and does stuff like personal care etc so no walk in the park) has been invalidated.

Can she go to HR?

Surely they have to give her a reference?

Under the Jobbridge scheme the host must provide a reference detailing professional development and experience acquired.

Xenji

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

The original draft of the Indecon report showed that only 8% of interns were kept on by their host organisation with a 75% dropout rate that was then lowered to 59%. So only 8.2% of people who have done an internship have been kept on by their host organisation and nearly the same figure have got employment elsewhere. Taking that into account, only around 17% of people who have done JobBridge have gotten a job out of it.

Around a fifth of participants got work within the organisation where they were doing their work experience, with nearly 17% getting a job elsewhere.

The research suggests those who worked in the private sector were more likely to get employment.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/consultant-report-into-controversial-jobbridge-scheme-recommends-more-reports-29236030.html

You fancy yourself to be Gordon Gecko, I am sure you can figure out those figures.

danotroy

from your link

Around a fifth of participants got work within the organisation where they were doing their work experience, with nearly 17% getting a job elsewhere



In any case this is more than 8% and 8% right?

CramCycle

Xenji wrote: »

The original draft of the Indecon report showed that only 8% of interns were kept on by their host organisation with a 75% dropout rate that was then lowered to 59%. So only 8.2% of people who have done an internship have been kept on by their host organisation and nearly the same figure have got employment elsewhere. Taking that into account, only around 17% of people who have done JobBridge have gotten a job out of it.

8/41(i.e. excluding those who dropped out) * 100 = 19.5%

plus 17% elsewhere

= 36.5% from those who either completed the internship or got employed before finishing.

CramCycle

danotroy wrote: »

Around a fifth of participants got work within the organisation where they were doing their work experience, with nearly 17% getting a job elsewhere

Technically it is a fifth of those who did not drop out before it was finished, so if you go by the no. of people who attempted jobbridge (dropped out or not), it is 8% + 17%.

So 25% including dropouts and 36.5% excluding dropouts.

Xenji

danotroy wrote: »

from your link

Around a fifth of participants got work within the organisation where they were doing their work experience, with nearly 17% getting a job elsewhere



In any case this is more than 8% and 8% right?

Only 41% on interns completed their internship, so the figure is taken from that figure only.

danotroy

Xenji wrote: »

Only 41% on interns completed their internship, so the figure is taken from that figure only.

But of the 59% of those who did not complete their internship how many left to take up a full time role?

CramCycle

danotroy wrote: »

But of the 59% of those who did not complete their internship how many left to take up a full time role?

I haven't read the study but I presume with my limited report writing abilities that they would have had those who left for fulltime employment, marked not as dropouts. It would be disingenuous and really daft in terms of making the figures look good, to call it anything else.

Xenji

danotroy wrote: »

But of the 59% of those who did not complete their internship how many left to take up a full time role?

We do not know and if they did it would not have much to do with the success of the scheme as we know the figure of how many people got kept on by their host organisation, I am pretty sure the people hired early would be included in that figure as well.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Xenji

CramCycle wrote: »

I haven't read the study but I presume with my limited report writing abilities that they would have had those who left for fulltime employment, marked not as dropouts. It would be disingenuous and really daft in terms of making the figures look good, to call it anything else.

It does not say, only that 17% of those who completed their internship found work outside their host organisation.

Permabear

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sligoface

The bookshop web designer internship is still rubbish even if there is some sort of mentor who is an actual designer. A web designer would need to be able to work on a variety of different projects not just one type of website. A web development firm is the ideal place for such an internship, not a bookshop. There was one last month for a glass work company that makes windows and doors for showers, etc who were also looking for a web designer intern. It is not going to make much sense on a CV to have an internship at a window installation company unless you are learning how to install windows, or at a bookshop unless you are learning how to sell books. And these businesses have been around for a while, they are not startups.

If it wasn't for these internships they'd have to pay someone, which shows how the scheme affects more than just the unemployed, a lot of people in fields like web design are freelance and self employed, they are being undercut by slavebridge.

My guess is in these cases they have hire a real designer to make the website, then leave it to the intern to maintain the database and make updates with the CMS. The scope of their learning would be very limited as once the site is up and running they'll really just be working as a free employee to keep sales and orders up to date, not learning how to design websites for nine months.

osarusan

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Are you not doing the same by arguing that anybody who found work after doing an internship in your percentages for success stories?

Consider Jane, who has experience in computer programming. She is doing an internship on jobbridge as a real estate assistant. She continues to apply for jobs and six months into the programme, gets a job as a computer programmer. Her new employer was not even aware that she was interning. To any neutral observer, Jame's internship was not a factor in finding employment. But to posters grinding an idelogical axe, Jane is a jobbridge 'success' because any employement should be counted among the scheme's successes.

Simply quoting percentages of people who did an internship and later got a job, without any examination of what impact, if any, the internship had on their employability in their new job, illuminates nothing.