Work placements exploit young people

Azra Aydin has just completed a work placement, and she really has a
sense of having achieved something.. She did her work placement at a
famous events company in Paris. They contacted her as a result of a
networking event her university had set up. The placement taught her
eyerything and opened her so many doors. She also won an award for the
best work placement in France. As a result, she has had eight job offers
without even applying. Best of all, the company she did her placement at
has just offered her a job.

Tom Blisset said that people on work placements should always be paid.
Unpaid placements only benefit the companies. He couldn't get a job after
university, so he did an unpaid placement for six months. He wasn't given
any responsibility and ended, just washing pots and pans in the basement.
And they didn't even give him a job at the end.

SABRINA PEISSL has been doing a work placement for the last nine
months in a major bank in Zurich. She has worked in many different
departments . They are paying her a good salary. On the other hand, she
has had too much responsibility without enough training. She has
organised credit and debit cards and she has dealt with client complaints
without much supervision. Overall, it's been a good work placement for
her , but she would have liked more training.

CHARLOTTE HAWKINS has been looking for a job in TV for some

time, and she has done A lot of internships. Her first internship was at the
BBC, and it was brilliant. They immediately gave her lots of
responsibility, and she learnt so much. She enjoyed being an intern at Al
Jazeera, who gave her a lot of support. However, she has also done some
terrible internships. She spent whole days (unpaid) filing paperwork at
one production company.