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Guest blog post by Heather Baker, Managing Director, Topline Communications
Any small business owner knows that the key to success (or at least the key to not failing) is to keep costs low while building the company’s name and growing its client base. In the PR industry, this is especially tough because our ability to deliver on our contracts relies on human resources, which are expensive.
However, with thousands of graduates each year desperate to land jobs in the industry, a seemingly easy solution presents itself. They need PR experience, we need extra pairs of hands, why not offer them the opportunity to come into our offices for a few weeks or even months, get involved in PR work, and learn the ropes in a mutually beneficial agreement? Fantastic in theory. But the reality is different.
We’ve tried unpaid internships at TopLine and they have never quite worked out the way we hoped, which, with the benefit of hindsight, is not all that surprising.
Most people don’t work for fun. They work because they have to. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, but if I had the option of not working I would struggle to get into the office each morning. So if someone is not being paid to work, the natural tendency is not to take it seriously. It’s no great shock that they do not feel obliged to turn up on time and have no qualms about dedicating some of their working hours to their ongoing job search. Fair enough, but the effect this has on the rest of the team should not be underestimated. Rocking up at ten past nine in the morning seems like a trivial misdemeanour, but actually acts as a de-motivator to colleagues – punctuality is incredibly important in maintaining a professional working environment and a colleague (paid or not) who doesn’t respect that, has a negative impact on the rest of the team.
We’re often approached by grads willing to work for free to gain valuable experience in PR. It’s a tempting proposition (particularly if it’s their idea), but it simply doesn’t work. Far from being an ‘extra pair of hands’, an intern is another person to manage (this is especially true if they haven’t been through the company’s full selection process), and can cost us as much in management time as we save in salary.
Secondly, not paying interns discriminates against those who cannot afford to work for free, and removes them from your pool of potential applicants. The excellent paid work placement (now full time Account Assistant) we took on earlier this year (thanks to a client, Give A Grad A Go, that specialises in paid graduate placements) would not have been able to join us if we hadn’t paid her enough to cover her expenses at least. She wasn’t paid a full graduate salary, but while she proved her worth, she was paid enough to keep the balance sheet happy, and we could justifiably expect her to work like any other member of the team.
The PR industry is notorious for its poor treatment of junior staff. But we know that reputation matters and that it can be changed. It’s time we put our money where our grads are.
www.toplinecomms.com
