There's been a 'job advert' whizzing about on Twitter today (no, I'm not doing any work, I'm enjoying post-safari laziness and catching up on Eastenders - OMG dead body). Freelance writer Tiffany Wright has advertised for an 'intern'. Here's a snippet from her ad:
Tasks:
Coming up with features ideas for women’s magazines
scouring newspapers and online every day for great potential real life features and then chasing these stories
Liaising with case studies and interviewing
Contacting Prs/charities/television contacts in order to secure exclusive real life stories
Writing teasers to send out to magazines
Networking (this includes going to functions, parties etc)
General admin duties
Now, forgive me if I'm wrong, but that, Ms. Wright, is YOUR JOB. All of that stuff on that list, is what you get paid to do. That's not an internship. It's you being lazy and frankly thinking you're more important than you really are. Yes, this is me calling a spade a spade, but stuff like this hacks me off. This really isn't a personal thing, I've never met Tiffany Wright. But it disgusts me that people think it's acceptable to offer 'jobs' like this.
I've been asked about internships on Domestic Sluttery before. An honestly, we've been tempted. We're busy, we get tired and y'know, I'd like to accept a few more party invites instead of staying in working on blog posts. But I don't. Because I love my job. Every single part of it (OK, except for invoicing. And tax returns.) When we do get to the point where we need an intern, I want it to be worthwhile for them. I want them to learn something. I want them to be proud to be part of our team, and to be an asset to us. Not just do our bitch work. So yes, that means I'll stay in and finish that spreadsheet whilst "Professional partier" Ms. Wright goes out to play. And that suits me just fine.
Internships aren't skivvy jobs. Alex's thoughts on interning after she spent last summer working for magazines were really interesting. She got a couple of by-lines (one in her dream magazine) and from what I can gather, enjoyed her time. But it's still working for free. And there's a certain amount of exploitation that comes with that. And a level of mutual respect. People need to stop acting like they're doing people a favour by letting them work for free. It's them, that's doing you the favour a lot of the time. And how much are you going to learn from a writer who doesn't use capital letters, doesn't understand Twitter and gets no comments on her blog (which is the "first Fashion blog" (sic) apparently, I really beg to differ). There's a lot more to being a freelance writer than going to a swanky party and drinking champagne. Which of course anyone who applies for this role won't get to do. That's what she'll be doing whilst someone else is pitching her clients for her and WORKING TO PAY HER RENT.
There's a professional aspect to interns that some people forget about. I'm an editor, I run a business. The roles that I offer are a shop window into how well my business is doing. Into how well I'm doing, if we're talking about the freelance side of things. If you can't offer a decent internship, you're either not doing very well in your business, or you don't understand enough about your business to know how this works. I'm curious about how many editors will want a feature half-written by someone else (they will be able to tell). I wouldn't hire someone if I couldn't be sure that the work was 100% theirs. This advert gives the impression that Tiffany Wright can't cope with her workload. That she'd rather go out and get pissed instead of putting her clients first. Excellent image to portray. Editors couldn't give a shit how busy you are, they don't care how good that party is. They want their copy, they want it to be good, and they want it to be yours. It's not rocket science, that's what they pay you for.
Good opportunities when you're starting a writing career don't come around very often (and very rarely are these the ones where the ad states what a good opportunity it is). So even though people apply for jobs like this - they will, of course - that doesn't make it right. It doesn't make this kind of exploitation OK. And if you're hiring someone, and getting more out of their role than they are, that's exploitation.
I'm not suggesting that people don't need work experience, and that working for free can't be beneficial. I launched a freelance career from blogging for Londonist, they don't pay. But not once did I feel like they were ripping me off. I still do the odd piece for free if I think it's worth it (once every three months or so at the most). But the difference is, I'm in a position to decide. I can pick and choose my clients now. As long as people keep offering internships like this (this advert is really just a drop on the ocean), aspiring writers are going to think they need to take them. And they don't. People (and publishing companies) need to stop using the recession as an excuse to treat others like shit. The industry needs to get over itself and realise that very rarely is a opportunity more important than having a roof over your head.
And seriously, if someone applied for a job with me and this ad was on their CV, I'd hire someone else. Someone who had the sense to pitch their own features to magazines (what's stopping you?), to start their own blog, to see what a crock of shit this advert is. Please don't apply for this pathetic excuse for a job. I'm pretty sure you're better than that.
Flickr image from calculat0r's photostream.
28 comments:
That was indeed a lot of food for thought.
I've spent most of my life in the nursing profession as a staff nurse, so all the politics of things like this have just not been part of my life.
I guess in some ways I am too naive. Would be glad to stay in my naive bubble though instead of assuming everyone has hidden intentions.
Woah there! I see that Safari's 'chilled you out'! :)
But you make a really valid point here. It's happenning everywhere. It's suddenly quite fashionable to use the word "internship" to replace "skivvy".
Whatever happened to good ole' fashioned work experience? A few weeks unpaid work in an environment where you get to spend time shadowing professionals to learn the ropes or at very least, to get a flavour for employment within a particular sector...
Shadowing. That's the key. In the past, whenever I've taken on work experience staff - it's only been when I have been in a position to dedicate time and resources to make sure that both parties come out having gained something.
There's nothing worse than getting someone in to do the scanning / photocopying whilst the rest of the office carries on with the 'exciting stuff'.
Hakuna Matata...
I find the notion of internships baffling to be frank... but by the same token, I'm not sure it is that different from blogs that don't pay their writers.
I mean, I know one blog that makes enough money to pay the editor and the bloke who runs it, but has yet to pay a single penny to the dozen people who fill it with content every day.
I don't know if there's that much difference. You could probably argue that Tiffany is just the editor of a site that doesn't make enough money yet... which is the same model as many blogs out there.
Sadly, the world of media is a minefield and very difficult to get into... if three people object to internships (of which I've been a very vocal opponent), there's probably three people willing to do them to get their foot in the door.
No other job expects one to work for free before potentially taking you on does it? (Or does it?)
I've always thought it was simply 'polite' to at least pay travel expenses. As someone who started off my career living out in the sticks because Central London was too expensive to afford as a new graduate with no money sense, I was so grateful for the company I now work for to help me out on my tube travel into the office. I'm not saying I would ever offer an unpaid internship (having been there, done that you do feel sympathy) but for the necessities like travel it would just really help that person helping you out so much.
To an extent, Mof, you're right. But the difference is the level of respect that comes with what's expected of you. Choosing to write blog posts for someone else, in your own time is very different to being hired to do skivvy work because someone else can't be bothered.
That's not to say I don't think blog work should be paid, of course I do. Domestic Sluttery does pay now, but it's not nearly as much as I'd like. That said, I hope I do my best to offer good opportunities for the team to make their time worthwhile. I think it's about having respect for the people who give you their time. Hopefully I don't come across as hypocritical in writing this.
And as far as I can tell, this isn't a job ad for her blog - this is for her job. Her actual job, with the people who pay her wages. So she is benefiting financially from the work her intern will do, that's a different kettle of fish altogether.
Spot on.
I did two internships last year, and they both benefited me hugely. But the number of appalling internships I've seen recently has risen dramatically. Highlights include various full-time 3-6 month journalist roles and a six month web editor role! In any other industry, those would be short-term work experiences or paid temporary roles.
People like Tiffany and the big companies that take advantages of the stream of people happy to intern for free give the whole internship sector a bad name.
Internships/writing for blogs for free - there's so many parallels that I'm loathed to dismiss this woman outright.
While it does seem like she's advertising for someone to do her writing for her, she (like many blogs) are offering intangible things as bait: Press events/good opportunities/free stuff etc.
Mercifully, with blogs at least, you can sit on your arse in your undercrackers and not travel around (invariably) London at your own expense.
Whilst it certainly seems like this woman is just being lazy, I guess I'm more angered by big publications (national newspapers, glossy fashion magazines) who have more money to play with than some small-fry like this.
Maybe that's the crux of it for me - it is easier to pick on some no-mark rather than say anything outlandish about, I dunno, Cosmo or whatever, for fear of burning a bridge that might have been offered in one's future career.
If I was king of the world (god forbid), I'd outlaw internships (for the record, I'd also have a law where all writers were given a stockpile of gold, just in case the bills can't be met on a given month)
:)
Oh I've moaned about those the larger companies too (and I do mention them in this piece). I have no issue with bitching about larger companies doing things wrong - just do a search on this blog for my thoughts on Glamour magazine.
But at least with larger publishing houses, you've got something you can write on your CV, it might get a foot in the door (which will be handy once you've been evicted because you can't pay the rent). I doubt that interning for a lazy freelancer has much weighting on a CV.
Thanks for the link Sian!
I'm not totally against internships provided that both parties are getting something out of it. I've interned at one publication who wanted me to come in, answer the phone and hand out the post; and I've interned for another who paid my expenses, made an effort to give me interesting tasks and published several pieces of my work.
I guess what's sad (or infuriating) is that Miss Wright thinks it's perfectly acceptable to have someone "intern" for her in this way. And that's because it's such a widespread problem I guess. Either way, it's not one that is going to disappear overnight. Which is a bit depressing really.
Brilliant post, Sian. I feel exactly the same way. I've completed two internships in my time - one completely writing, which changed my life and the other working for my dream magazine, which exceeded my expectations. I have also turned down internships which sounded like doing admin for little to no salary. At the end of the day, you have to respect your skills and choose your opportunities wisely.
I do feel that the "internship" concept has got out of hand, and there are still plenty of companies who are abusing it. Asking people to work for no money is one thing, but you have to give them something else. They need to gain skills, contacts, inside knowledge to the industry, an understanding of what the full time job would be like. It's not fair to get someone in to do the dirty work and not pay them.
I saw this ad last week and remember thinking that someone would have to be crazy - or perhaps just naive - to apply. It would be offensive enough for a magazine to ask those tasks of someone on an unwaged basis, but for a FREELANCE WRITER to ask for that? As you said, that's their JOB! For the intern to do all of that, they might as well do it under their own name and be a freelance writer, instead of being Tiffany Wright's personal slave.
If Tiffany thinks being a freelance writer is glamorous but doesn't have the nuance/talent/energy to actually write, then she needs to look at another line of work.
This woman is a tool. What pisses me off is the cheek that she feels the need for her own personal skivvy, how highly can one person think of herself? It's wankers like her that weight the appeal of a journalism job on it being glamorous and sexy that make it such an oversubscribed profession. Girls naively going into it because they think it's all flitting around like Carrie Bradshaw, doing fuck all and going to cocktail parties.
I've moaned at length that internships exclude people that simply don't have the funds BUT on the flipside I've personally found them invaluable...I wouldn't have learned the ropes any other way and eventually landed a dream (if shortlived) job.
Anyway, I hope she gets rabies.
Thanks for your comments ladies! I do think Mof makes a good point regarding internships, but to me, this isn't one. It's a personal ego-boost at the expense of someone else's career.
Hello, I was linked this (very nice) blog by a friend and it makes so happy to see that other people are as angry as me about this. As so many others have pointed out before, there is a distinction between work experience, which is a necessary part of student life, and graduate slave labour. I hold out some hope that if enough people regularly kick up a fuss about this sort of thing, the tide will turn eventually. (I'm not normally one for cliched metaphors but heck, I'm naffed off and it's late...)
Thanks for stopping by, Maxine! I have no issues with work experience, none at all. I think it's invaluable. Not least because two weeks in your "dream industry" can make you realise that you don't really want to do your dream job (or indeed, that you do). That realistic wake-up call can be really valuable.
I'm afraid that the one thing this internship will teach someone is a bad work ethic and cutting corners.
Great post! I was fuming when I saw this yesterday. I used to write real-life features and guess what, I had to do all that myself. The fact that she seems to want an unpaid intern to do 75% of her job for her while she does goodness-knows-what is disgusting and also really depressing.
I don't know. I think it's very easy to slate someone for doing this but I'd make a few points:
- This isn't the 1st time a senior journalist has hired 1 or more students/newbies to do leg work while they do the writing. Some of those are very successful and develop into agencies.
- I've done work experience in my time, and a month is not an unusual commitment. And while, no, this isn't a formal internship with a big publishing company, I did those and I learned sod all, except how to make tea, and file press releases. Shadowing a freelancer, making contacts, getting freebies, finding out first hand how the job works - although it's unpaid you could potentially gain a lot from the experience.
- All unpaid work can be viewed as exploitation. But I do think there are worse culprits and I think there's merit to the view it's easier to slag off a fellow freelance than to talk about NatMags or News International or some other major corporation/client who exploits people for months on end, when they could easily afford to pay.
- So you spend 4 weeks no getting a byline. I never got a byline on work experience. I still sometimes don't. There are bigger problems to worry about, no?
I think ultimately what's interesting is that this issue isn't clear cut - people DO have different views on whether or not this is acceptable, or exploitative. So why not leave it up to the individual? If it's not for one person, it might be perfect for someone else.
I'm pretty disgusted by the ad - largely for the reason I posted at my blog here: http://tinyurl.com/344r62e.
This isn't like a magazine internship or a blog that people contribute to. This isn't something that will give the intern a byline or something to link to on their cv. This is a woman asking someone to do the majority of her job for her. Is she really too important to do her own research? To send out her own pitches and do her own interviews? Why become a journalist if that's so clearly beneath you?
I do see the points you're making, Sally. And I think in many ways they're valid. It's not my aim to make this a personal piece about Tiffany Wright. But as an editor, I'd seriously question someone's decision to apply for this role, and in turn, question someone offering this kind of work. I certainly wouldn't be impressed if anyone writing for me got "assistance" with their posts.
She's not a senior journalist. She's got a few years experience behind her (no more than me). There's very very little in that job ad about exactly what the person in the role will learn. Her blog simply talks about how much she needs an intern because she's oh-so-busy. I just think she should suck it up and work a few late nights.
The amount of time isn't an issue for me (I don't think it's mentioned in my post, but correct me if I'm wrong), but the level of work she's asking for IS. Why is she looking for someone with real-life experience? That's not an intern. That's someone who needs a job in that area. And if that someone doesn't have experience, I sure as hell wouldn't let them send pitches to my editors.
The byline isn't always the most important thing, of course not, but I do know how important that byline was for Alex when she was interning. My point was that working for free can be a good thing, as long as both parties get something out of it.
I very very rarely talk badly about people who freelance (my previous posts, and the fact that I run consultations for people who want to break into the industry should highlight this). But I do think it could be a better industry. Whether the exploitation comes from a fellow freelancer, or a large publishing company, I don't like it, and I'll call someone (anyone) out on it if I think it's relevant. In this case, it makes me sad that a fellow freelancer apparently has such little respect for her industry and people trying to break into it.
Great post, I really enjoy the truthfulness behind what the real world is like when it comes to hiring interns to do pointless tasks. Indeed it should be a learning experience that an individual can take home with them. The best internships jobs are those that both partners can gain from in a way that is mutually beneficial.
You'll all love this:
http://www.journalism.co.uk/journalists/forum/index.php?topic=2386.0
Feel free to find out how much profit Tesco made last year.
Last Summer I would have happily undertaken that Tesco Magazine internship - but for absolutely no longer than a fortnight.
Any more than that is a joke.
I actually used to work for that company. They paid really really well. I'm shocked by that, but I think Alex is right with the timings for internships - why are they longer? Does that help the intern? Or does it get that filing you've been meaning to do sorted out?
Incidentally, I got an email with this blog post earlier, it's pretty interesting:
http://graduatefog.co.uk/2010/914/ads-unpaid-internships-banned/
I wonder if this situation will ever change.
Hear hear. More of the above please. Aside from the general slavery-disguised-as-life-changing-opportunity being peddled by Tiffany Wright and her ilk (because she is one of many, sadly) is another very disturbing message: that print is where it's at. Anyone green enough to be answering ads like this in earnestness, needs to be told some home truths about where content, copywriting, editorial and all things journo is heading. And it's not to the newsstands anymore. Aspiring grads need to get online and start diversifying into social media, and with that learn the value of writing for different platforms, if they are going to stand out from the crowd. They need to know the trends in social web and the basic principles of community management. It's not like the old days when well crafted copy, an eye for a killer story, and hard graft got you the byline. Digital savvy is needed as well as the ability to string a decent sentence together. Tiffany Wright's ad isn't just cheeky: she and others like her are deliberately leading unlucky punters up a terrifying cul de sac. And that is the last thing that desperate grads need right now.
Well, well, well, I'm finding this very interesting. I have crossed paths with Tiffany many times and used to know her very well. I will admit that I haven't seen her in a couple of years but at that time if Tiffany wanted a really sensational story, she would write the words and get one of her friends to pose in the photos and pretend the story was real. What was most annoying, was how she was prepared to stich people up, so she'd say the story would be written a certain way, but it would actually be whatever suited her. She was prepared to use anyone to get her own way. As I said, I haven't seen her in the past two years, so maybe she's changed and actually does some work these days rather than cheating. But by the looks of the advert and the debate it's created she's still trying to cut corners. She wants the glamour and benefits of being a journalist, without any of the work that goes with it.
I've just been linked to this on Twitter, and have to say unfortunately, so many industries are doing this sort of thing now.
I'm trying to break into the charity sector, and 97% of the graduate posts I've seen have been unpaid, at least three days a week (many full-time), and in central London for anywhere between 3-6months. Some pay travel and lunch of up to £10, but that doesn't even start to cover a peak rate train ticket into London for me at £112!
I just read somewhere else, that even if companies are made to pay NMW to their interns, charities are exempt as it's voluntary. It almost makes me want to give up.
"I don't want to spend my life getting angry about what other people do"
While on the subject of tiffany wright - She doesnt even pay people for articles they did with her! Spoke in july - still waiting to be paid in november, nearly december!
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