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Stepping stones or trapdoors Paid and unpaid graduate internships in the creative sector.pdf (1.93 MB)

Stepping stones or trapdoors? Paid and unpaid graduate internships in the creative sector

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-10, 06:39 authored by Wil HuntWil Hunt, Peter Scott
Policy discourse on graduate internships rests on the assumption that, paid or unpaid, they improve the employability of interns. Employing data from a survey of UK creative and mass communications graduates, surveyed two to six years after graduation, this article examines the impact of graduate internships on subsequent job prospects. While paid internships are associated with better pay and increased chances of having a creative or graduate-level job, unpaid internships are not, and are associated with lower pay in the short to medium term. Findings contribute to theory by challenging the ‘stepping stone’ view of unpaid internships and much policy discussion about these. Results reinforce, with enhanced specificity about the role internships play in the graduate labour market, theories that characterise the graduate labour market as a ‘positional’ hierarchy of opportunities rather than a labour market that is essentially meritocratic in nature.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

British Journal of Sociology of Education

ISSN

0142-5692

Publisher

Informa UK Limited

Page range

1-21

Department affiliated with

  • Management Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2023-04-12

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2023-04-12

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2023-04-12

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