Best of the Changeboard blog 17/07/2012

In the last month, it has emerged that two big brands have shelled out thousands of pounds in back pay to former interns even though – get this – they agreed to work for free at the time. Tanya de Grunwald investigates.

X Factor’s production company Talkback Thames forked out £3,000 for at least four fashion interns who worked on set for three months during last year’s series. And Arcadia wrote ‘dozens’ of cheques for over £800 to interns who worked in the press office for Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge for a month. It’s enough to make any HR director shudder.

It could trigger a splitting headache for HR departments who haven’t been as careful as they should have been about staying the right side of the law in the last few years. The IPPR think tank reckons over 120,000 people (mainly new graduates) intern for less than the minimum wage every year in the UK. If all of them claim for the wages they’re owed, some of the UK’s biggest businesses – which have been using hundreds of interns annually for several years – could be set to receive quite a hefty bill.

For more on this story read: Angry interns – the new HR nightmare

Tyler Murphey: It’s no wonder that interns are starting to demand what’s rightfully theirs – companies offering internships are casting such a narrow net when they refuse to offer payment, or at least expenses.

Pete: Excellent. It’s a scandal that company HR departments have developed the ability to exploit graduates by paying less than the going rate in exchange for ‘experience’. This favours students with rich parents who can afford to subsidise their children. We cannot grow an economy if everyone is working for nothing.

When every advertised vacancy attracts more than 200 applications from qualified, talented and capable candidates, the task of filtering CVs down to a manageable shortlist is brutal. Clients are so specific about their needs, it becomes obvious relatively quickly whether or not a candidate fits the bill. But what about those positions where ‘personality’ is key, or you’re looking for a person with that elusive ‘something special’? Emma Crichton, associate director, Consult-HR

How can you uncover this in a CV? How do you know if a candidate has that intangible ‘spark’? Frankly, you can’t. So without calling those 200 candidates in for a chat, how can a recruiter decide who gets through to the next phase of the process?

For more on this story read: LinkedIn profiles – the new CVs? Do's and dont's

Jo Taylor: Thanks for a really interesting insight. I certainly found this to be true in my search for a new role. However I think technology is an enabler and what is still important is the power of the network. We need to value networks, nurture them and ensure that we support and are supported. This can unlock new opportunities as much as technology.

The art of great resourcing strategies are having a clear model to work from which optimises the organisation's culture and business goals. The tools and techniques are then easier to implement.

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