So you want to be a police officer; enforce law, fight crime, and generally look out for the health and safety of your community. But however much your passion to work towards the good of the nation is, would you be prepared to do it for free – for up to 18 months?

Well you might have to, if new recruitment plans proposed by the Metropolitan Police go ahead.

Reports yesterday explained how the procedure – to scrap training schools and make recruits work as unpaid special constables before they join up – could save Scotland Yard millions of pounds, a necessity if the Home Office’s 25% policing cuts are to be met.

The change would mean that two thirds of recruits would have to commit to working 16 hours a month for 18 months as volunteer special constables before they would be considered for permanent full-time employment. The rest would come from the Met’s community support officers or have law and policing qualifications.

Martin Tiplady, the head of the Met’s human resources, described the move to the BBC as the “right way forward”.

He said: “This will deliver savings of between £12,000 and £20,000 per officer in salary costs during their training period. More importantly, our future police officer recruits will hit the ground running with full patrol status at the outset.

“This approach simply allows those considering a career as an officer to sample the job and acquire the right skills.”

With Police forces nationwide having to cut back on recruitment to solve financial problems, the move is hoped to offer an alternative way of getting people back into the forces, whilst also maintaining the high level of policing service which can only be sustained with sufficient manpower.

The scheme, however, has been heavily criticised, with opposition groups claiming that the plan was “fundamentally flawed”, and would lead to the recruitment of only middle-class people who have the time / funds to comply.

Jenny Jones of the Green Party, said. “Many people just won’t be able to afford to become a police officer. It would mean they would have to work part-time for the Met for the first 12 to 18 months. I think this will narrow the field of people who are able to join the force.”

Police unquestionably play an important, vital and often risky role throughout the country. To enforce an 18 month voluntary obligation will undoubtedly frustrate many of those eager to get in and get crime fighting. However, some perspective on the situation needs to be maintained.

Whether this plan gets officially passed or not, those eager crime fighters will still have some time to wait before they are on the streets chasing law breakers. The fact is the government wants the 43 police forces in England and Wales to find total savings of £545m by 2014, meaning that there simply isn’t the money available to recruit people right now. Just earlier this year the Met admitted that they had 2,000 successful applicants waiting to start their jobs – but didn’t have the funds to place them.

So assumedly these people have had to find other jobs to support themselves in the meantime? It may be disappointing to have to work at what was considered a ‘temporary’ role for a bit longer, but the time will fly by – especially with their policing goal to look forward to at the end. Plus, the scheme includes extra official training, and provides the opportunity to really experience what the job entails. This allows candidates to quickly realise if policing is for them, rather than waiting eighteen months and then having to figure out that career plan all over again.

Furthermore, the requirement is 16 hours of voluntary work a month. This equals less than four hours a week. To suggest that people cannot afford to give up four hours a week of their time seems a little far fetched. What’s more, most would undoubtedly really enjoy the change in their schedule – and if they didn’t? Then maybe policing isn’t the job for them after all.

What do you think? Is making new police recruits volunteer for up to 18 months a step too far? Let us know!

York University, a member of the 1994 Group

Volunteer
- noun
1. a person who voluntarily offers himself or herself for a service or undertaking               .
2. a person who performs a service willingly and without pay.

A significant feature of volunteering is the element of choice: to volunteer or not to volunteer –that is up to you.

Whether you are volunteering at an orphanage in Uganda, in the county’s animal shelter, or with your local MP, the assumption would be that you are volunteering because you choose to, you want to, and you appreciate the greater value of the unpaid experience.

Online Guardian article; The 1994 Group of universities advertises for graduate volunteers, however, questions whether it is a good idea for the 1994 Group of universities to “seek unpaid ‘volunteer’ graduates for admin jobs”.

Ben Lyons, co-director of Intern Aware, accuses the 1994 Group of failing graduates overall as “working for free is impossible for the majority of graduates”, whilst Heather Collier, director of the National Council for Work Experience, questions whether the successful graduates can really be called ‘volunteers’, arguing that “if an intern is required to attend work on particular days, and perform particular tasks, then they are a worker and not a volunteer, which means they should be paid.”

Lyons and Collier both make valid points. But then couldn’t their responses be applied for all volunteer opportunities?

It doesn’t matter if you are working in a charity shop, helping to conserve reefs in the Philippines, in the offices of an international NGO, or at your regional radio station; you will have had to organise your time and funds appropriately to partake in your chosen volunteer opportunity – even if that does require taking on a second job or saving up beforehand (and not just dipping into ‘The Bank of Mum and Dad’ as is so readily accused and yet so often not the case.)

It will also rarely work as a “drop in when you want – do whatever you want” – free for all. Usually there will be an organised structure to your working day with set shifts (like bedtime in the Uganda orphanage), and of course it will require helping out and working – why else would the organisation require volunteers?

A spokeswoman for the 1994 Group defended their volunteer scheme: “The 1994 Group believes in providing worthwhile opportunities for graduates, which enhances their learning of work place practices. The group does so in the form of internships, which are undertaken by the individual on a volunteer basis… and is fully compliant with Volunteering England’s code of practice.

“Our volunteers lend their time for a few days a week over a short period of time with all out-of-pocket expenses paid. The 1994 Group universities have a proud public record of supporting student volunteering and continues to support this.”

Interestingly (and notably an important element that has been evidently missed by Janet Murray, the author of the article), are the comments (volunteered…) from previous interns at the 1994 Group universities. Hayley01 believes she wouldn’t have achieved her current employment without the internship, and acknowledged the scheme as career building, “The 1994 Group offered internships focused on policy and communications – both competitive sectors where an internship is the recognised route to full employment,” she explained. “In this sense you could see the 1994 Group and its universities as supporting graduates at the beginning of their careers.”

And whilst MarioCreatura found his internship at the 1994 Group challenging, he maintains that the experiences and skills gained were valuable ‘real life’ lessons, and significantly, that it was “far from” slave labour; “As a graduate, much maligned by the state and society as a whole, it was refreshing and downright encouraging to be finally working in an organisation that truly valued your work,” he commented. “We weren’t there to make tea and coffee; we were there to learn and work as if we were professionals within the sector.”

JustinBJacobs further defended the scheme, “My time at the 1994 Group was an extremely productive and educational one and I was fortunate to work with great colleagues who were all dedicated to advancing the aims and profile of higher education in the UK. As my time and involvement in the Group’s projects gradually increased it felt good knowing that I was playing my own part in helping them communicate their members’ messages and achievements to a wider audience.”

Of course, the challenges of living on a considerably reduced income were broached within the intern’s candid comments, with often a second job or strict personal budgets having to be upheld.

Despite financial setbacks however, the overall indication was still that no-one regretted their internship decision. Instead, they appreciated the scheme as a unique graduate opportunity, and were enjoying the longer-term benefits it had created for them individually, like in JDuggie’s case: “As a direct result of the 3-month internship I was able to bypass entry-level positions and start on a higher salary,” he wrote.

JDuggie continued, “For those organisations, such as the 1994 Group, offering internships out of a genuine desire to create opportunities for young graduates where otherwise no role would exist at all, the alternative is to narrow opportunity by offering nothing and in turn increase competition for other internships.”

The notion behind the ‘volunteering scheme’ is that it is justified because it is usually seen as meaningful work, and again, importantly, has that element of choice. It should always be a mutually equitable arrangement with clear objectives to benefit both parties, that are clearly set out before commencement of the internship.

The central point is that ultimately how the experience is organised, and what you make of it is up to you. As Peetm nicely reiterated, “it’s up to the individual to assess whether or not they feel there’s a benefit to working as an intern. End of story.”

It’s fair to say there was a strong feeling of apprehension in the air travelling to work yesterday. Groups of parents quietly muttered expectations together on the regular commute, the headline of the daily freebie spoke of record results, and parades of nervously giggling young people – something of an unusual sight at that early time after weeks of summer holiday – indicated which day it was: results day.

And yet this year everybody’s concern wasn’t necessarily about what grades they got. For weeks the headlines had reiterated the same gloomy forecast for this year’s school leavers hoping to go to uni: that there are too many applicants and not enough places. With multi-million pound cuts leaving universities particularly feeling the sting, and student applications ever rising – a said result of heightened media emphasis on the necessity of having a degree mixed in with the effect of recession scare mongers crying about the lack of any employment opportunities right now – the future looked bleak for a generation where even hard work and good grades couldn’t save them from an already pre- determined fate.

The final published statistics said it all. A record 97.6% of students passed their exams, 27% of which acquired an A and one in 12 scored the new, media hyped A* grade. With such consistent high achievers there is no longer an obvious divide between those bound for academic greatness, and those who face a different (and often just as successful) route to their future careers. Instead, a top-end scramble for the 200,000 of those who didn’t quite achieve their predicted results (including notably a large number of brighter school-leavers who just missed out on achieving a set of ambitious grades) is occurring through clearing. Some – the lucky ones – will claw back a last chance second place option. The rest will leave empty-handed, disheartened and dejected by a system that has let them down, and often, with no back-up plan.

Go abroad for a degree the headlines shouted today at the crestfallen.  Take a gap year, go travelling, do an apprenticeship, enrol on a college course. Certainly it is a bewildering time for those whose aspirations were focused on being achieved via a university experience to suddenly have to rethink their strategy. Yet, however great the initial disappointment, and however patronising the media , they do have a point. A pro-active attitude to what could now be a new beginning (especially for those believers of everything happening for a reason…) is the only way to get through such grim times. After a summer of post-exam relaxation and fun it really is time to get off the sofa and get practical.

And by practical we mean making it count. It is time, as John Guy said in a recent Guardian article, “to be selfish and think about what would help your career most in the next five years.” A year out shouldn’t be viewed as a waste, but instead as an invaluable opportunity to not only get some life experience, but to also enjoy the luxury of time – away from the professional and peer pressure – to truly consider what to do in life and which career path to take.

Of course, just considering is often still not enough. How is anyone expected to know what they want to do when the options are things they have never done before? One of the main problems today is that a lot of life-affecting decisions are being made on assumption. As law graduate Ben found out, choosing a degree in something you think sounds good doesn’t always work out; “I hadn’t had any previous experience in Law before choosing to study it,” he explains, “but had always liked the idea of becoming a barrister one day from what I had seen on the TV. I had no idea how boring it was going to be and by the end of my three years knew that law was the last thing I wanted to do. I wish now I had done some work experience or an internship beforehand to give me some better direction on what to do with my life.”

Internships are always a great option – the value of work experience should never be underrated. Not only will an internship allow a proper, lengthy working insight into a particular job sector (rather than just the kettle boiling insight of a work experience kid…) but also, unlike with most work experience placements, they will pay travel and lunch expenses, meaning that there is nothing to lose via the experience, just lots to gain. Plus, in the midst of the current university administrative chaos, more companies are coming round to the concept of taking on interns of all different academic backgrounds – not just university graduates – meaning that finally the opportunity really is getting there for everyone.

Though for some it may seem like a huge defeat to have to wait another year, the professional and personal development that can be achieved during that time (not to mention all those extra points on the CV) can more than make up for it. A portfolio of working experience will not only heighten any candidate’s credentials, but also assist a far more informed decision of where to go and what to do next, and hopefully – if the perfect job has been discovered – drive the motivation to succeed in achieving the realised goal. Recent statistics have even shown that students who take a gap year often achieve better academically than those who go straight onto university – so don’t write off the year just yet.

Hopefully for those who did miss out on the grades, the potential that can be achieved during a year out will be realised, and rather than disappointment, a sense of new beginnings will join me on today’s trip home.

Inspiring Interns is a recruitment agency that place students and graduates in internships with a view to full-time employment.   See http://www.inspiringinterns.com for all the latest news and vacancies.

The first hurdle to leap over is actually securing a place at university.  We all know that this year has seen record numbers of university applicants, following a trend of eager teens on the quest to continue their studies (or delaying their entrance into the real world of work).  If they do manage to secure a university place, then two more giants need overcoming.

Student debt.  For the lucky few out there, student debt is not a major concern.  However, for the majority of university students and graduates, student debt forms a menacing black cloud that stands as a threat to the financial stability of themselves and their families.  New figures have now been released by online university guide Push which estimate university starters of 2010 will have to endure up to £25,000 worth of debt when they finish their degrees.  The average amount of debt accrued per year has risen by 5.4 per cent, with some universities costing even more; Goldsmiths, University of London, expect their graduates to leave with an average debt of £36,638, while London’s Central School of Speech and Drama graduates bid their university farewell with an IOU of £38,071.

Push editor Johnny Rich is right in his concern that “many talented potential students may shy away when they hear a degree will cost £25,000”, though there are means to support students through their years of tough budgeting, aside from the bank of mum and dad.  The Student Loans Company is a UK public sector organisation established to provide financial support to over one million students annually across the UK.  In theory, this should induce a sigh of relief from many a student-to-be, but beware the woes of applying for a student loan!  It may not be as peachy as it should be.

Thousands of students will shudder at the mere memory of last year’s student finance fiasco; by the start of the 2009 academic year the Student Loans Company had processed a mere 43 per cent of applications, forcing many to simply hold tight and ‘manage’ for a number of weeks at university without any financial support.  The company are looking to avoid a similar situation this coming year, beginning with the appointment of Ed Lester as the interim chief executive.  Under his leadership, 63 per cent of applications have already been approved. Of those outstanding, 103,000 require applicants to provide further information, while a further 37,000 have been classified as “works in progress”.  Despite Mr Lester’s efforts, including hiring more than 520 additional staff to deal with telephone enquiries and to process applications, he has already stated that “it may be uncomfortable for a week or two” come September.  Is it too cynical to presume that the word ‘uncomfortable’ was deliberately ambiguous? Perhaps Lester wanted to dissuade  students from rashly deciding to forfeit their place for fear of not being able to survive financially.

The question remains: is a university degree enough of an investment to persuade the masses into thousands of pounds worth of debt?  According to a spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, “graduates on average have better employment prospects and can expect to earn at least £100,000, net of tax, more than non-graduates across their working lives.”  Perhaps it is worth feeling uncomfortable after all.

If the term ‘internship’ makes you think of tea-making and picking up the boss’s dry cleaning then think again – internships are now being hailed by the BBC as almost a ‘guaranteed rite of passage’ in the ever-competitive job market.

2009 saw record numbers of university leavers and new figures show more than 660,000 people have applied for a university place for the next academic year.  This staggering amount is up by 12 per cent from last year, once again breaking the record for the number of university applicants.  With these figures on the rise, the coalition government have made an extra 10,000 university places to support the hefty amount of applications, meaning more students than ever will be graduating with degrees in the coming years.  It is becoming even harder for employers to recruit graduates when they simply cannot distinguish who is more qualified for the job – how does one chose between the graduate with the 2:1 History degree from Durham or the 2:1 English Literature graduate from Bristol?

The answer, I hear you cry, is internships.  These are becoming the latest box that graduates need to tick in order for them to increase their employability and stand out from the other hundreds of applicants after the same job.  According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency, 21.7% of graduates in full employment within six months of graduating were taken on by employees who had previously provided them with some form of work experience.  It would appear that employers are less willing to gamble on a new recruit who may look fantastic on paper, instead choosing to take on someone who has already experienced working at the company and who therefore has a “basic grasp of workplace dynamics”, according to a BBC article.  In other words, the internship has become an ‘extended interview’ whereby the intern has a chance to showcase their abilities and see if they fit into the company lifestyle.

One could even go as far as saying personalities are coming back into fashion as far as job placements go – seemingly, it’s no longer just about the prestigious university and impressive degree result; employers are interested in who they are recruiting rather than trusting the CV alone.

So where does this leave graduates? With competition for entry-level jobs as tough as it has ever been there is no room to rest on your laurels. A good degree is not enough to take you onto the career ladder: experience, contacts and demonstrable skills are your key to a first job. An internship will give you all three. So the message is clear: don’t get left behind – call us, email us, tweet us, facebook us, send us a pigeon or do anything to get in touch so that you can do an internship and realise your potential.

Anja is 18 years old and is interning in the UK for six months.   She is originally from Leipzig in Germany and is now living near Canary Wharf in London.  It took her three months to arrange her placement through an international recruiter in Germany and she is just coming to the end of her third week in London.

Why did you choose to work in the UK?

My boyfriend had planned to move out of the country and we wanted to go somewhere together.  He could have gone elsewhere to Singapore or Spain, but I also wanted to move out of Germany and improve my language skills.  I am almost fluent in Spanish and I also know a lot about Spanish culture, I could tell you practically everything about the country!  I wanted to live in a country where I could learn about the culture and people who live there, so we chose England.

What do you hope to gain from your experience?

Hopefully I’ll be able to figure out what I want to study, because there are so many areas that are interesting and it’s hard to make a decision.  From my internship I want to get some experience of the working world.

Did you have to prepare a lot for moving to London?

I actually packed my bag the evening before I came away!  It was less preparation than I had thought.  Obviously there are some things to organise when you move to a new country, but in the end it was quite easy.

What are the things you like about working in a foreign country?

It’s really different from my own country, especially the people – it’s amazing to observe them and learn and laugh.  There are also lots of shops here that don’t exist in Germany so it’s fun to go in and look around and get a feel for English tastes.

Are there any negatives about living and working in a foreign country?

I do miss my friends and my family but I knew this would happen.  I’m German and my boyfriend is French and we both don’t speak each other’s languages, we needed to move somewhere outside of France and Germany.  I sometimes have difficulty with business vocabulary but the language is not a problem – I think in internships and work it’s important that people from another country get a chance to prove themselves even if English is not their first language.

Do you think doing an internship abroad will make a difference back home?

Yes it will.  My language skills are going to be much better, and being independent will help to expand my knowledge.  I like the idea of making friendships so in the future I can visit the country again and the friends I have made can visit me.

Although you’ve only been in London for a short while, do you think you will want to work here in the future?

I actually expected a little more from London, but I’ve only been here for three weeks.  It is hard to find friends outside of your work – in the first few days it seems impossible but I’m beginning to find my feet and I’m sure I will meet new people.  I can imagine living in London for a while.

Inspiring Interns is a recruitment agency that place students and graduates in internships with a view to full-time employment.  They help both British and international candidates.  See http://www.inspiringinterns.com for all the latest news and vacancies.

There have been whispers in the media about the introduction of a training wage for all interns, proposed by the CIPD (The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development). The £2.50-per-hour minimum wage would align interns with apprentices who will be entitled to this sum come October, with other increases to the national minimum wage happening at the same time. It seems like a interesting proposal – all interns will legally be entitled to a nice pay packet in their pockets, no longer walking home empty handed with only vague dreams of earning money. Like me, you may already be envisaging rolling around (somewhat uncomfortably) in a pile of crisp £50 notes, casually throwing wads of cash around the room. Sadly, however, this may be a slightly overenthusiastic reaction to the new proposal.

In reality, a growing number of internships are based in Central London, which on the surface sounds rather glamorous for the humble student or graduate, but in actual fact amounts to a laborious and costly journey, as well as an overpriced sandwich for lunch and a meagre window-browse of the shops after work. I asked a friend of mine who has recently graduated from the University of Manchester about her internship and the amount she has to pay to get to work every day. It turns out it costs Rebecca over £100 per week travel-wise, which includes catching a National Rail train, followed by two changes on the Tube. And then there’s her lunch on top of that. Fortunately for Rebecca, her travel and lunch expenses are subsidised by the company at which she is interning, so there is never a risk of her losing money. The training wage, however, would fail to cover her costs, causing her to be significantly out of pocket. Of course this does not happen with everyone; for many the proposed wage would give interns a modest amount of spending money, and according to Jenny Lee, a recent graduate doing an internship in London, “it feels better to actually be earning something, rather than striking even without a faint whiff of cash coming my way”.

Is it worth it though? Should interns be legally entitled to a training wage, or do you think travel and lunch expenses suffice? We want to hear your thoughts and comments, let the debate rage on!

Anyone who follows the news cannot have failed to notice the current debate about the value and legitimacy of internships. Obviously this is a subject we at Inspiring Interns feel quite strongly about, and felt it was time to chip in with our thoughts on the subject. One of the main concerns we are seeing is that many young people are unable to afford to carry out an internship. Unfortunately, there are actually funding options to help such individuals, but these tend to be poorly advertised. We at Inspiring Interns are able to advise you on the available options so feel free to get in touch with any questions. I asked Royal Holloway lecturer Nigel Saul to give an opinion on the matter, having spent years guiding students into careers upon graduating. Nigel tells me that he believes, ‘As completion for graduate-level jobs increases, so it becomes all the more important for applicants to show that they’ve got some experience of the workplace. These days, the process of gaining such experience begins at school, when pupils do a week’s work experience in a setting of their choice. The idea of internships builds on that and helps to bridge the gap between the process of thinking and studying at university and the business of working on graduation. Internships help both the graduating student and the employer. They help the employer by proving them with better trained, more experienced and mature graduate applicants. They help the graduate by providing them with experience – and perhaps to assist in helping them decide which career path to ultimately pursue.’ This is just the opinion of one individual; however we are finding that across the board, the happy endings earned through internships are far outnumbering the horror-stories the media often pounces upon in order to generate a social panic! This is just our belief however, please feel free to comment with your own experiences on internships, good and bad so that we can continue to tailor the services we offer to best suit our clients.

Last week the new Inspiring Interns marketing team enjoyed a jolly to the Marketing Week Live exhibition at Olympia in order to spread the Inspiration. Though initially a little apprehensive, the lovely Natalie Parnell and myself were amazed at just how many exhibitors were excited to talk to us and discuss interns and graduates more generally. We are proud to announce that Inspiring Interns received a warm reception, and is now linked with a number of exciting new corporations to which we cannot wait to send our ambassadors. What stunned us even more however was how few young people were there networking. Marketing, like many other popular career paths, is an industry where entry-level positions are fairly few and competition is fierce. Networking is a fantastic way to get your name out there and meet the right people – my flatmate Lina for example got her place on a grad scheme for a great agency after getting talking to an employer she met at a marketing event. She is now living the dream hobnobbing with high-profile clients. Further to this, and possibly most importantly, Natalie and I had brought large bags and played ‘Supermarket Sweep’ with the freebies on tables – I got two boxes of couture chocolates and a mug in my haul! Natalie picked up enough pens to get her through her final year at uni!

So many graduates underestimate the importance of making themselves stand out from the crowd during an interview. Even if you don’t get a job simply by attending events, you will certainly learn things worth discussing in interviews and prove your genuine interest in your chosen career path. It is easy to find relevant networking events online, they are often free to attend and well worth your attention. While we always recommend internships to gain valuable work experience, it is important to consistently do what you can in every aspect of your life to present yourself as not only an Inspiring Intern, but someone who has brilliant potential to become a valuable addition to any work-force. Cheesy? Yes. Clichéd? Yes, but it’s true.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and its sole purpose is to maximise the visibility of a website on search engine result pages aka SERPs. Search engines like Google will trawl through the entire internet, looking for keywords found on websites. A keyword is a word that describes what your site is about. For Inspiring Interns our keywords might be ‘interns’,’ internships’ and ‘graduates’. Sites crammed with keywords are found more easily by search engines and positioned higher up on SERPs. The higher up your site, the easier it is for people to find/visit you.   A SEO manager will  tag keywords onto videos or blog posts and can imbed them into website’s HTML. Another technique SEO managers use is called link-baiting. This is where a website’s URL is placed on neighbouring sites. People can find your site more easily by clicking through from other related places on the web.  So why is SEO on everyone’s lips?  It is a hugely effective way to increase traffic to your site. Moreover if you are an e-commerce then it is a great way for potential customers to find you.  SEO is cost-free and classed as a ‘natural search’, as opposed to PPC which is paid for and called a ‘paid search’.

PPC’s aims are the same as SEO – to maximise the visibility of a website. PPC managers pay for sponsored links that are found at the top of or the right hand side of SERPs. You can bid for the position of your sponsored link against competitors’ sites that have similar keywords, or pay a flat fee paying for every time someone clicks on your link.  PCC is perfect for number-crunchers because statistical analysis is often required by clients to analyse the true value/efficiency of a PPC campaign, in terms of resulting sales and page views. Both SEO and PPC are highly numerical and you’ll need razor sharp analytical skills and fantastic attention to detail to excel in these roles. Because SEO and PPC are cost effective and yield measurable results, they are very popular with marketing managers and are therefore growing rapidly as an industry.

At Inspiring we have lots of meaningful internships than evolve into entry-level roles in this innovative industry. Make sure you pop your CV over to our team, if you are looking for a foot in the door. We love helping graduates in any way that we can!