Sam: Hello. This is 6 Minute English. I'm Sam.
Rob: And I'm Rob.
Sam: Before you got your first job Rob, did you
do any work experience?
Rob: I think I may have done a day or two
at some companies, just shadowing,
watching how they did things – but
nothing much more than that.
Sam: Some companies offer students or
recent graduates what they call
'internships'. These are extended
periods of work experience where
someone can be working full-time without
an actual contract and in many cases
without even being paid.
Rob: Ah – yes. This is a bit of a problem,
isn’t it? Some companies are being
accused of using students and graduates
as cheap or free labour.
Sam: Yes, although the counter argument
is that internships are valuable experience
for people who need it before
they can get a ‘real’ job. Well, we’ll look at
this topic a little more after this week’s
quiz question. On the topic of business
and companies, which is the oldest stock
exchange in the world? Is it:
A: Bombay, B: New York, or C: Amsterdam
What do you think, Rob?
Rob: Tricky, because I was expecting
London on that list. I’m going to take a
guess then at Amsterdam.
Sam: OK. Well, I will reveal the answer
later in the programme. James Turner is
the chief executive of an education
charity. Recently he took
part in a discussion on the BBC radio
programme You and Yours, on the topic
of internships. What does he think is a big
issue with unpaid internships?
James Turner: In many careers we’re now
seeing that it’s
almost as an expectation that a young
person does an internship before they
stand a chance of getting
that first full-time job in that profession.
And the issue with that from a sort of social
mobility point of view is that a substantial
proportion of those internships are
unpaid and that effectively rules out those
who can’t afford to work for free.
Sam: So what is the problem with unpaid
internships, Rob?
Rob: Well, if you can’t afford to work for
free, it makes it very difficult to do an
internship – particularly in expensive
cities like London. This excludes, or 'rules
out' a lot of people from the benefits of an
internship.
Sam: This is bad for social mobility, which
is the ability of people to move to higher,
better paid levels in society. So the poorer
you are the more difficult it can be to get a
good job, even if you have the ability.
Rob: Could you afford to work for free
here in London, Sam?
Sam: No, I can barely afford to live in
London as it is, so the idea of doing an
unpaid internship would not appeal to me
at all.
Turner goes on to talk about other
issues that are also problematic in
internship programmes.
James Turner: Too often internships are
open to those
with established connections in the
professions and again that rules out
those young people who don’t have the
well-connected families or friends who
can open those doors for them.
Sam: So what are these other issues?
Rob: In many cases he says that
internship opportunities are only available
to those with established connections to
the company or industry. This means they
have some pre-existing link with
the company, for example, through family
or friends’ families.
Sam: Yes, it’s a lot easier if your family is
well-connected, if it has a lot of contacts
and links to a particular company or important
people in that company.
Rob: These links make it easier to open
doors to the opportunity. 'To open doors' is
an expression that means 'to get access to'.
Sam: So it seems that to be able to do an
unpaid internships you need to have a fair
bit of money and to get an internship in
the first place you may need to have a
previous link to the company through a
family connection, for example.
Rob: So the system would seem to be
difficult for poorer families and make it
more difficult for students without those
resources or connections to get on the
job ladder. Here’s James Turner again.
James Turner: Too often internships
are open to those
with established connections in the
professions and again that rules out
those young people who don’t have the
well-connected families or friends who
can open those doors for them.
Sam: Right, time now to answer this
week’s question. Which is the oldest stock
exchange in the world? Is it:
A: Bombay, B: New York, or C: Amsterdam?
Rob, what did you say?
Rob: I went for Amsterdam.
Sam: Well done, that’s correct.
Congratulations to everyone who go that
right and extra bonus points if you know
the date. Rob?
Rob: Haven’t a clue! 1750?
Sam: Actually it’s a lot earlier, 1602.
Rob: Wow, that’s much earlier than I thought.
Sam: Right, let’s have a look again at
today’s vocabulary. We’ve been talking
about 'internships' which are periods of
work at companies as a way for students
or new graduates to get experience in a
particular field.
Rob: If they are unpaid it can make 'social
mobility' very difficult. This is the
movement from a lower social level to a
higher one and it’s difficult as poorer
candidates can’t afford to work for free.
Sam: Yes, the cost 'rules them out', it
excludes them from the opportunity.
Rob: What helps is if you have 'established
connections' with a company. This refers
to previous or pre-existing links with a
company.
Sam: And also if your family is 'well-connected',
if it has good connections, for example if
your father plays golf with the CEO, it can
'open doors', or in other words, it can make
it easier to get into the company.
Rob: So Sam, are you well-connected?
Sam: No, only to my smartphone!
Rob: Same here – but we still made it to
BBC Learning English and you can find
more from us online, on social media and
on our app. But for now, that’s all from
6 Minute English. See you again soon. Bye bye!
Sam: Bye everyone!