Getting your foot in the door has always been about who you know, and not just in the upper realms of the workplace. A large number of plumbers and dockworkers, not just politicians and bankers, get their first break because of a good contact. Now it appears that Nick Clegg, a Cambridge graduate whose father helped secure his first work placement, is hoping to change all that.
In a recent speech on social mobility, Clegg proposed scrapping unpaid informal internships by 2012. In its place, a national internship scheme will be set up for which application forms will have applicants’ names and schools carefully removed to prevent bias, and minimum wage will be enforced for employers. This will end unpaid work experience and could benefit those lacking a crucial network of contacts, but it also has worrying implications.
The Big Society idea is to “take power away from politicians and give it to people”. By replacing the existing internship system with a government-run programme, isn’t Clegg’s strategy diametrically opposing the Big Society model? It effectively hands control of internships to politicians and removes it from individuals and communities where it should be encouraged to flourish.
The “who you know” network is the real-life version of LinkedIn and Facebook. No one argues the power of online social networking and it would be criminal to destroy or institutionalise the real-life equivalent. People and their personal connections are a fundamental component of the Big Society and these mini-networks are an asset, not a failing. We need to capitalise on who we know and if we are to be part of a ‘Big Society, we also need to reach out to those who we do not know.
“We want a fair job market based on merit not networks. It should be about what you know, not who you know,” Clegg has said. But achievement is not only about contacts: they might get you in but hard work, drive and ambition keep you there and move you up. Motivation and merit lifted Cameron, Clegg and Miliband much higher than their parental ‘Clegg-ups’, even though all three went to Oxbridge. Success is about what you do, not just how you get in.
Graduates and jobseekers desperately need work experience. The business environment is tough; some large companies have already signed up to Clegg’s scheme but taking on free interns costs businesses time in training and management. Instead of enforcing minimum wage requirements and other constraints, businesses should be given tax incentives to take on more unpaid interns.
The Jewish community is blessed with a unique ‘social network’ of people that are keen to help each other to help themselves and TrainE TraidE is set up to help us use that network more effectively. If we are to believe the hype about the Big Society, ours is a model which must be replicated across the country and not stifled by the coalition government.
Rules and regulations will only deter the majority of businesses from getting involved, and that would be an unmitigated disaster for graduates and job seekers.
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