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IMAGE MAGAZINE HAS been criticised on social media today for advertising a full-time unpaid internship with the company.
People have taken to Twitter complaining about the job specifications of the internship, which lists duties as: PA to the Managing Director, Office Management, ‘Front of House’ Client Service and IT, Phones and Technology Liaison.
However, the Editor-in-Chief of Image Publications said it is envisaged that the internship will lead to full-time employment due to the organisation’s expansion in recent years.
Here is the tweet sent out by Image Magazine:
Some of the duties under each role include:
Planning travel itineraries, booking accommodation, taxis, etc.
General admin including filing and occasional letter writing
Managing phone messages and passing them onto the correct contact
You are responsible for knowing the whereabouts of all staff at all times during working hours
You should look to instigate cost saving throughout office, from lighting, heating, telephone, etc.
Health and safety is the responsibility of the Office Manager
Organising a general clean up once a month (and ensure all staff members tidy their respective areas)
Positioned at the reception desk means you will be responsible for meeting and greeting all visitors, clients, suppliers, colleagues, etc
You can view the internship advert here.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Melanie Morris, Editor-in-Chief of Image Publications, said that she had been speaking to some of the people who had tweeted and took issue with the internship and explained that Image Publications is “not in the business of slave labour”.
Employment
In the past, the company has hired many interns in the creative department, she explained, stating that usually interns do end up in employment with the magazine.
“We were looking to do the same thing here,” said Morris.
She said that the position is also being advertised on JobBridge. If someone is hired for the position through JobBridge then they will receive an additional €50 per week on top of their social welfare payment.
She admitted that the advertisement had not been shown to senior management before being put out in the public domain, adding “there are probably some things we would change” in the job specification.
Morris added that what should have been specified in the advert is that they are looking to employ someone at the end of the internship.
Commercial department
She said certain specifications were included in the advert so that applicants would be clear that this is an internship in the commercial side of the business and so they were clear that they would “not end up working on fashion shoots”.
The role is an administrative one, explained Morris, but reiterated that they had successfully employed people in the creative department through this process.
“When the recession hit, we had a line of PAs and junior staff, and unfortunately we had to make some redundant, we did without.”
She added that over the last number of years, the business has begun to expand again and the company saw this as “a beginning” to start to put those lines back in to the organisation, through further employment.
Good year
According to Image Publications’ 2013 accounts, which were filed in August, the company had a good year with a 19% increase in turnover, the launch of a new wedding title and a “rapid expansion” of its internet presence.
The report said it had also enjoyed “an increase in key staff, particularly in the revenue-generating areas and a move to new, state-of-the-art offices”.
“The shareholders believe that the company is now in an optimum position to benefit from the efficiencies it has introduced to capture and harness the turnaround in the market generally, and to maximise its growth potential in the coming years,” it said.
Additional reporting Peter Bodkin
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It looks like they were caught red-handed… the explanations do not add up. That is a full time admin position, pay your staff Image!!
Boycott ! Just don’t buy image
“Image” magazine – the irony!
…are best avoided at social events in Dublin… You are a tw@t!
Oh Darling, I find some of the help to be rather bitter in their nature, especially when it comes to monies. I do suppose that it’s a common trait, and that one must accept this in the lower breeds, but I simply must insist that they are kept out of ones sight during social events. I even heard that they have resorted to taking on the services of filthy street urchins. What next I say.
Doesn’t do much for their own Image !
The successful applicant “should look to instigate cost saving throughout the office”… The lucky person tasked with this being the biggest cost saver in the office, I’d imagine. Cheek!!
As I am looking for work at the moment, I actually see these all the time, so it’s surprising to see it being singled out. But I’m glad. It’s a proper job and should be paid for. They know well that there are lots of admin staff with enough experience. They aren’t trying to teach anyone, they’re only out to save money.
Just another reason why all employers should be listed for job bridge and intern roles…but burton hides behind data protection and privacy……
People should boycott this magazine,the neck of these people.
Some mug will take it
It’s a free market surely. If someone wants to improve their employment prospects by taking on this intern role then good luck to them.
Surely going to work full time is about getting paid?
I understand people wanting to work and gain experience to get a full time job but having a full time job vines with its own expenses such as food travel and in a job like that respectable clothes every day.
You’d need a part time job to support your full time job
Well people go to college all the time to enhance their employment prospects without getting paid. If this company thinks it can attract a capable intern to take on this role then I don’t see a problem. Presumably the intern would also believe that they are getting something out of the deal.
I guess we both make a point
I just think it’s morally wrong to expect it of someone
Most college courses don’t require you to attend from 9-5. At the end of the day Image Magazine is getting far more out of this ‘intern’ position than the person who feels they have to work 40+ hours for free to gain experience in an administration position. It’s not on and I have no doubt the companies management are getting paid handsomely.
you don’t go to college to make the college money.
I can’t help but wonder how the PA who was unfortunately made redundant from that role some time ago feels about reading this.
Or they could be on maternity leave/sabbatical for 6 months or so.
I am that PA who was forced to retire from Image at 60 having worked there for 18 years – I can’t get my pension till 66 so I guess the Jobsbridge girl and I are both off the live register although neither of us are getting money to live on… you don’t know the half of it…
There are laws for that kind of thing.
Sorry to hear that, Tina, it sounds very unfair. I was a PA too and was made redundant – although not from Image.
Proud to say this would not have happened in our day Teens.
Joan’s and Enda’s vision for the future, sure there’ll be no problem getting back to full employment if employers don’t have to pay anybody.
One snag though, who’s going to pay the taxes?
Can I have a copy of the magazine for free??
If it’s any good I might even start buying it in a year or two…or then again maybe I won’t.
No no Mick, only the staff is free, not the mag itself!! :-P
This is so common in the fashion industry, students come out of studying very hard for a degree only to go into unpaid work where nothing is regulated. The business makes the money and reaps the rewards off the back of the skivvies they hire who don’t get the credit or pay they deserve!
#internfairy ???? #jobfairy. lol #ragpushers
Why does this article reference figures from the company’s accounts but neglect to mention whether it is making a loss or a profit?
I’ll field that one Denito – it’s because the accounts don’t say. Private companies don’t need to report their profits and losses, just an end-of-year balance sheet which doesn’t tell you much about how the business is running.
Fair enough Peter. I think that’s an exemption for small companies rather than private companies but you are correct.
My broader point is that we don’t know if this company is profitable or not. Given the hard times experienced by the print media in recent years, I’d suspect not.
And thanks for clarifying.
Yeah- any business that cannot be profitable with slaves where it’s paid employees should be clearly isn’t a feasible business opportunity…
Not a suprise but still, its not right. The link to the ad appears to be gone but here is the tweet
https://twitter.com/image_magazine/status/553493557362044928/photo/1
And now its gone!
Full time employment 2018. .this is the way to achieve that minister !
Wonder how many interns have been through the doors of the company over the last few years.
I’d like to know the answer to that one Pat – how many have translated into full time permanent jobs and not just a tiny freelancer gig.
Can you sign on doing an unpaid PA internship? Do you get travel, meal expences?
There should be a legal limit on internship duration. 3 months would seem to offer enough “experience”. Over to you Enda, Joan and gang. Show the young people of Ireland how you really care……..
The DSP (dole / welfare mafia) sending people under the momentum scam to do work practice of working 37.5 hours a week for 12 weeks in order just to be entitled to their dole without anything extra as for travel or anything, no one talks about this and that was happening last year. No 50 euros with that scam I mean scheme of putting the long term unemployed into doing work to get their dole? Why no talk about that?
Here is the full job spec. Just scroll down a bit it’s there… http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:UdGBoPydOroJ:www.image.ie/_uploads/documents/Job_spec_PA_for_MD_and_Office_Manager_1.pdf+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ie
Caught red handed. No PR spin can turn it around. Well done whoever exposed this.
Thank you Christina Finn, Justice is finally being served in this matter!!!
This is an amazing opportunity for someone, it has the potential to get someone started in the industry and is quiet normal in that industry. The problem I have is that this opportunity will only be able to be taken by someone with a money back ground. Who ever gets this role should be the best candidate and so a min wage would be acceptable
The major problem is that it is for a managerial position. Also, its for a PA, they don’t tend to be on the creative side, which is probably what you are confusing it with. Its pure exploitation, simple as that. They are looking for a dogsbody to work for nothing. If they are expanding then they should hire some employees.
I don’t agree Nicola, it wouldn’t kill them to pay a decent wage, when I started out in my first admin role, I was paid €20,000 a year. If you can’t afford to pay your staff, then you should probably do without them.
Yeah, or not as it is a senior admin role, 35-40k and we’ll talk.
I think Republic of Telly said it best:
12 Years Of Job Bridge
http://youtu.be/OYAArJf537s
No quotes from any other sources, trade unions, labour relations, economists? Not a thorough job from the Journal.
have your say