Government’s Big Clash over Internships

The Coalition Government have clashed over how valuable internships should be filled, which reflects their attitude to the value of internships themselves.

The Prime Minister David Cameron has admitted that he has been using interns as a manner of helping friends as opposed to Nick Clegg who believes that internships will be most beneficial if they are led by ‘what you know’ and not ‘who you know’.

When the Prime Minister was questioned over the value of offering work experience placements with little regard to a candidate’s ability to perform in the role, he refused to acknowledge the lost benefits stating;

"In the modern world, of course you're always going to have internships and interns - people who come and help in your office who come through all sorts of contacts, friendly, political, whatever”.

This traditional approach has left many students and firms with little benefit from their placements. The employers have not selected talented enough students that would be able to make a positive impact upon their operations, or most likely not recognised their abilities as a result of not carrying out due diligence during the recruitment process, whilst the students are consequently provided with little to do.

Nick Clegg recognised this when he said that we must strive for ‘a fair job market based on merit, not networks. It should be about what you know, not who you know’.  This must surely be the case if work experience placements are to become competitive and subsequently valued as the low cost, flexible and useful work placements that they indeed are.

In fact, both the Prime Minister and his Deputy have attributed their career progression to their internships, with Mr. Cameron saying that one gained through his father was a “definite leg-up” whilst Mr. Clegg admitted that he had been “very very lucky”.