Pedestrian co-founder Chris Wirasinha: Don’t do unpaid internships
Aspiring journalists would be better off not doing unpaid internships and should instead focus on finding interesting ways to gain writing experience, Pedestrian co-founder Chris Wirasinha has argued.
Wirasinha, who sat on a panel at Mumbrella Publish last week, told the room he did not recommend people did internships, particularly if they weren’t getting paid.
Wirasinha (far left) isn’t a believer in unpaid internships
“If the government stepped in and said ‘unpaid work is not okay in any way, shape or form, and there’s penalties around that’, it would make things a lot clearer”
How is it unclear, exactly? It’s all there on the Fair Work website. An internship placement needs to be part of an accredited course for which the student will receive course credits. Otherwise it’s unpaid work, and therefore illegal.
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay/unpaid-work/work-experience-and-internships
>> Unpaid work experience, job placements and internships that are not vocational placements will be unlawful if the person is in an employment relationship with the business or organisation they are doing the work for.
Hi Intern Hirer,
My name is Adam Thorn and I moderated the discussion at Publish, and I also wrote the series of stories it was based on. I would say you’re right, and you’re wrong! I’ll explain…
At the moment, the law is basically a subjective minefield, in particular around phrases such as “employment relationship”. Essentially, if the business is deemed to benefit more than the “intern”, it is, as you say, illegal. But there are precious little case studies to define exactly what that consists of. Firstly, it’s easy for a business to argue that the intern wasn’t doing a “real” job and shouldn’t be paid. Secondly, because there is no need to register interns centrally, prosecutions rely on young people making complaints to the Fair Work Ombudsman. This rarely happens because they fear losing a reference.
See this story for more information: https://mumbrella.com.au/broadcasters-and-publishers-escape-punishment-for-illegal-internships-535761
Thanks for your comment,
Adam
Hi Adam, totally see what you are saying.
But from a risk and governance perspective, it’s unacceptable for Pedestrian to enable shonky unpaid internships – that are in no way vocational – to be advertised.
I think Pedestrian are being very disingenuous by making out that the internship situation is too confusing to adequately police.
Poor form.
Internships aren’t about getting writing experience or being published. They are about learning the machine of content creation and networking. Anyone can write in a number of places these days. It’s the people you intern with who remember how good you were when bringing in a new starter and having to cut down the process of finding somebody through recruitment.
…And yet Pedestrian Jobs hosts so many ads for unpaid internships that don’t pass the sniff test.