Has anyone here done an internship and found it useful? I've done proper paid placements in the past which were reasonably good (but are now thinner on the ground), and I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth my while looking out for an internship.

I've never been convinced by the idea in principle, as I can see how they hold back social mobility. On the other hand, if there's eventual gain in it for me, then perhaps it's worthwhile from a selfish point of view.

Depends on the profession Shirley? I.e. it's a necessary evil in certain professions?

Well, we were told we'd "have" to volunteer for a year or so to stand a chance of getting a job in the field I used to work in. I never did, got a placement during the degree, and a job straight after.

Currently I'm aiming at nice vague "management" grad schemes, and I'll have an MSc relevant to that kind of work by November with a bit of luck. So it's not like I'm looking to work in Politics or the Meedja.

Internships are disgusting. Why should anyone be expected to work an office job for nothing? These companies use your labour for free, then have no compunction about waving goodbye to you at the end without a job? How can you afford to do an internship?

I did two internships: neither of them really taught me much in the way of skills but they did allow me to "hang out" in the industry and get a feeling for it, more or less. They were both structured as channels into grad recruitment.

Some internships are just nonsense free labour schemes where you learn nothing and do nothing – especially in fashion, TV etc.

Righto. TBH, I can't really afford to work for nothing, but if I could do a couple of weeks / a month's internship and get a job that's a bit better paid / move up the ladder quicker, then it would be worthwhile long term.

As above it'll depend on the area of work. I held a bursary to do some research for a couple of months, so little pay as to be effectively no pay (would have just covered accommodation, maybe). Has been worthwhile as I got several publications, an excellent reference and a couple of offers of work since out of it (folk impressed by my work then).

i'd say any experience is better than none

i'm working as a mechanical engineer and we're trying to recruit someone full-time now. from the CVs we get in, there are lots of grads about and the majority do have a bit of industrial experience

there are also a lot of overseas grads (especially from india) and most of them look good on paper, although the interviews have been just awful

even if you don't have industrial experience as such, your CV has to contain more than a list of qualifications to stand out from the competition

Consider yourself lucky. Over here in Germany most students have to do a year's (or at least several months) internship. And if they don't take it seriously then they don't get the qualification at the end of it.

That's the problem though isn't it? You can't compete with other people because you have no experience. You have no experience because no one will offer you any.

Wait! Why not work for nothing and that'll look good on your CV! Then maybe we can give you a job because you'll have some experience on your CV! Genius!

I already have work experience. Before Uni I spent a year or so temping, including customer liaison and admin work where I co-ordinated large events.

Since my undergrad degree, I've worked in my specialism, was given increased responsibility and have real achievements in a work environment. As a result, my CV is not a list of qualifications – there's a couple of years of work on there.

What I'm really wondering is if I'm going to get anything useful out of an internship. If all it does is prove that I can function in a work environment, then my CV covers that and more. If I'm going to pick up genuinely useful skills and get shortlisted for more interviews off the back of it, then it's useful to me. Another concern is that an internship could actually be a problem – if I take an internship at say, an insurance firm, will everyone outside of that sector assume I've got a special fondness for group life policies, and that I'm not such a marvellous candidate for their manufacturing firm?

In TV most runners wont be paid or be paid a pittance. When I was a runner at Screensport we were told how to fiddle expences.As long as you didnt take the piss you could scam about the same kind of wage as a tape op.

sounds like you've got a pretty strong CV already – sorry if i sounded presumptuous! if you can get an internship in a good company where you'll learn lots then go for it. i'm sure it'll be valuable in the long run, and 6 months (or whatever you do) will fly by

it took me 6 months to find an engineering job after i graduated, you just have to persevere. good luck guys

That's assuming they continue to offer them!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/7920381/Employers-warned-that-unpaid-internships-could-break-law.html%5D