With unemployment tide throughout the rich world, more and more young people are seeking internships. Many firms, nervous about the future, are 1 to hire permanent staff until they have 2 them. Intern-recruitment agencies are 3 to help. Inspiring Interns, a London firm, boasts that it can provide 4 interns within three days. It 5 300 applicants a day, and claims that 65% of the interns it has placed have been hired.
Many intern candidates have no previous job experience and only a 6 notion of 7 work involves. Inspiring Interns screens them 8 personality tests, coaches them on interview 9 . Many internships are unpaid; the firm charges employers ￡500 a month for each intern plus 10% of the starting salary 10 an intern is hired permanently.
Some 11 that unpaid internships are exploitative. They also worry that only well-heeled youngsters can 12 to work for nothing. If an internship is the first step on the career ladder, the less 13 will never climb it.
Others disagree. They think anything that gives people an opportunity to 14 experience is a good thing. Official statistics about internships are not enough, 15 surveys by the National Association of Colleges and Employers 16 that they work quite well. The average hourly wage for an intern studying for a bachelor"s degree in America is $16.21, 17 arty organisations 18 pay nothing. Most important, more than 60% of interns in America are 19 offered full-time jobs. Staff who first work as interns are also more likely to 20 than those who do not.