Work experience, Internships and Zero hour contracts in the Events Industry

As a third year University student it has now come to that stage where looking for a full time job takes up more and more time. We have to prepare ourselves for endless rejections from companies as the interest in joining the events industry is growing. EMC3 was looking for an events assistant, 7 days after it was posted; it had received 188 applications through LinkedIn.

However, this has also lead to an increase in internships and work experience opportunities, many which are unpaid. Many students seem to think that the natural step after graduation is to enter an internship or in some capacity work for free on a full time basis for a significant amount of time. Inspiringinterns.com is a recruitment website developed specifically for this target market, with the majority of the opportunities on their website being unpaid. The job specifications all look great but how can it be acceptable to expect that a recent graduate that has just spent £27 000 on student fees are now meant to work for free? In some cases, barely the travel and food expenses are paid for. Where is the Government and why are there not stricter rules and regulations in relation to how people can be employed? It is essentially free labour, re-worded in to something that sounds as if the companies are doing the interns a favour.

On the other hand, the Government is getting involved in the zero hour contracts debate. Discussions whether or not it should be allowed to employ someone under these circumstances are ongoing whilst there is none on the fact that the UK companies use young, recent graduates for free labour. The argument that zero hour contracts are unfair to the employee as they don’t have a steady income falls short in comparison to free labour, at least zero hour employees has some income, even if it is not steady nor regular. In fact, for students zero hour contracts is the perfect solution, being able to work as and when the university workload allows you to is something that has personally, benefited me throughout my three years at University. Allowing me to balance and prioritise my work load at the same time as I have been balancing my income and expenditure.

Furthermore, for events companies in particular, zero hour contracts are in fact the perfect solution. I currently have four contracts with three different companies, all within events. Due to the seasonality of each of the event types it allows me to work throughout the year. For example, Limelight Sports host major sporting events through the summer period, March through to October, often 1-2 events per month, often only one day long. Whilst the Esprit Group, a hospitality staffing agency, has work throughout the year with the peak period being May to July and October through to December. These zero hour contracts are the basis for many of these event agencies and a Government change in this would significantly impact the events industry and how they will staff their events.

Zero hour contracts is something that works very well for me as a student however, feels less tempting once I graduate, yet, if the choice stands between my current work situation and an unpaid internship, I would have to remain in my current situation, as at least there will be a bit of an income that can cover my rent and other costs. Furthermore, the paid roles that are out there are not looking to take “a chance” on a recent graduate with mainly only event day experience but are in fact looking for that day to day office operation experience which is often obtained from an internship. Though, the only people that can afford these internships, that in some cases last up to 3 months, are those that have other people that are willing to financially support them throughout this period.

The fact that the events industry is just starting to recognise the events management degree as a valuable degree and foundation for a job in the industry is another factor that creates challenges for recent event management graduates. What is needed is for event companies to start respecting graduates and the skills they have obtained at University and to offer them paid employment from day one, and for the Government to back this by stricter rules and regulations for internship/work experience employment. But ultimately, what is needed is for graduates to believe in themselves and the skills that they have obtained over the last 3-4 years, to be able to go in to the workplace and be confident in knowing that they deserve a paid job.