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'I believe that exploitation was rife in JobBridge': Former participants share their experience

New minister for social protection Leo Varadkar announced the end of the programme last Sunday.

29/6/2011 Government National Internship Schemes Joan Burton speaking at the launch of the JobBridge internship programme in 2011 Mark Stedman / RollingNews.ie Mark Stedman / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

LAST SUNDAY, FOUR years, 10 months and 23 days after it was first announced, the JobBridge scheme came to an end.

The much-maligned back-to-work scheme was often hit with accusations that the positions it offered it were not of benefit to those taking them on – and that it was used to mask the actual pace of economic recovery. 

The scrapping of the programme was announced in an interview in last week’s Sunday Independent with new minister for social protection Leo Varadkar.

Reflecting on the scheme’s run, Varadkar said that it had “served its purpose”, and acknowledged that there were concerns that companies had used the scheme as a “cheap alternative to hiring new employees”.

Last year TheJournal.ie spoke to those who’d had experience with JobBridge, and now – with the scheme seemingly dead and buried – we spoke to more participants about how they felt the scheme impacted on Ireland’s jobseekers, both good and bad.

Chris O’Sullivan took on a placement with Arachas Insurance Ireland back in May of 2012.

He explains that he applied for the the position as he was “looking for something new”, having worked in shops for two years after leaving school.

“Insurance is tough to get to grips,” Chris explains.

It takes at least 6 months to train in, and JobBridge gave me a chance to take my time with my training and was risk free for my employer. 

O’Sullivan, 25, has managed to establish himself in the company over the past five years and is still working there today, having been promoted twice.

facebook_1464276990311 Chris pictured with his daughter Ellie

Even though it worked out for him, he acknowledged that not everyone is as lucky.

“We had another girl who came in and started the scheme after I did,” he says, “She was looking for a change of career away from law. During the placement it was clear for her that the work wasn’t really for her. She left at the end and there were no hard feelings about it really.”

Someone who had a more negative experience of the JobBridge programme was Michelle, 26, who took on an internship with a sports and games company back in November 2014, with her role focusing on admin work.

“I had a very frustrating experience with my internship… which cemented my belief that exploration was rife in the JobBridge system,” she says.

As the Christmas season came up, she found the company swamped with sales, inquiries and delivery arrangements that all needed to be dealt with.

I went back to work after my Christmas holidays… where I was informed that I was more or less surplus to requirements.
With the Christmas rush over, and that there was no longer enough work for a second office person, but that they would contact me if business picked up.

Leaving the position, Michelle felt her experience had been of little benefit, and was left feeling “sad and disillusioned”.

File photo: Schools hire Jobsbridge interns instead of using state funding to provide permanent positions. Protesters against the JobBridge scheme outside O2 on Henry Street in 2014 Laura Hutton / RollingNews.ie Laura Hutton / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

“This business was blatantly using the scheme to get an extra pair of hands for their busiest season without having to pay a worker themselves,” she goes on.

They had no intention of mentoring me, equipping me with skills or delivering on anything else that the JobBridge scheme supposedly promises.

Someone else who has had a difficult experience initially with JobBridge was Andy Cleary, 34, who began applying for positions after becoming redundant back in 2011, after previously working as a motor mechanic and with an engineering company.

“When I was applying through JobBridge, I thought companies were taking advantage a lot, there were companies looking for undergraduate degrees, masters degrees and then maybe another two years experience on top of that then,” he says.

Cleary had a frustrating time waiting to hear back about positions he’d applied for, before eventually being called to interview for an internship as a software tester at a company in Sandyford.

Andy Cleay Andy Cleary

Now, four years later, Cleary is still plying his trade as a software tester.

It worked out very positively for me, but at the time it was frustrating. I would be one of the few had a good outcome out of it.

Someone who feels that the scheme isn’t given the credit it deserves is Robert, who undertook a placement in an advertising company back in 2011 – an industry with a reputation for being difficult to break into.

“It was great,” he says, “It is an industry that takes interns a lot. There are a lot of unpaid internships with students getting experience. Because I was on the dole at the time I was able to get paid something without them having to put money on the table themselves.”

The 33-year-old says that he was given responsibility straight away, and was doing “everything that a full time staff member would have been doing”.

After three months Robert found himself being offered a position with the company – and he remains in the industry to this day.

As the scheme comes to a close, one of its last participants is Michelle, who is currently working in the charity sector with JobBridge.

“They are aware that it is a learning environment for me,” she explains, “and want me to get something out of it, while I’m also filling a skill gap for them for free.”

Seven weeks into the placement she has a pretty positive outlook on the experience, although is aware of the perceptions that exists around the soon-to-be discontinued scheme.

So far it’s been a good relationship - although I’ll admit I feel a level of stigma when I tell people I’m on JobBridge. I get the sense that people pity you, or assume you are being exploited, whereas if I simply said ‘I’m on a paid internship’ (which is what it is) I wouldn’t experience the same stigma.

Notes: Some of the individuals interviewed for this article wished to remain anonymous due to connections they have with the companies they interned with. 

Read: JobBridge is officially to be scrapped, but what will replace it?

Also: ‘If it wasn’t for JobBridge, I’d still be on benefits’

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52 Comments
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    Mute Thomas Harrington
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    Apr 20th 2021, 7:51 PM

    1) Cops only go after the easy stops
    2) students need to grow a pair

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    Mute Big Smokey
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    Apr 20th 2021, 8:12 PM

    @Thomas Harrington: honestly have never seen students complaining. Only people complaining about students.

    Also I don’t see how it’s acceptable to say “grow a pair” when students are getting regular fines of €75 when they don’t have any income.

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    Mute Brian Lyons
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    Apr 20th 2021, 8:46 PM

    @Thomas Harrington: if they only go after the easy stops who is filling the jail’s with the terrorists, murderers, organised gangs ?

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    Mute Pat Casey
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    Apr 20th 2021, 8:04 PM

    If those little scrotes weren’t having house parties and super spreader get togethers they would have no problems with the guards.

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    Mute Lily Martin
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    Apr 20th 2021, 9:29 PM

    @Pat Casey: maybe read the article

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    Mute seangolden1978
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    Apr 20th 2021, 7:52 PM

    Policing Authority trying to justify their existence again. I can understand the role of GSOC but the policing authority seems like a complete waste of time

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    Mute O Hiongardail Collie
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    Apr 20th 2021, 8:13 PM

    The policing authority…… They don’t want body cams because that would be spying on the community says it all really

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    Mute Diarmuid O'Braonáin
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    Apr 20th 2021, 8:08 PM

    “People should not be afraid of their government, government should be afraid of their people”

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    Mute merely ed
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    Apr 21st 2021, 12:35 AM

    @Diarmuid O’Braonáin: they are… thats why we have the police. You don’t think they’re there for us, do you?!

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    Mute plug
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    Apr 20th 2021, 7:58 PM

    low hanging fruit is always the tastiest.

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    Mute Garreth mc mahon
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    Apr 20th 2021, 8:00 PM

    @plug: depends on who’s plums you’re tasting

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    Mute merely ed
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    Apr 21st 2021, 12:31 AM

    @plug: True that… sure most garda never even see an actual criminal. It goes…
    Order of engagement:
    Drug users (non supply)
    Low level drug mules/ growers
    Students
    Road users
    Actual criminals (low level)
    White collar
    Government corruption
    Other police (usually abusive partners… although realistically this would be much further down)

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    Mute Darren Carroll
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    Apr 20th 2021, 8:34 PM

    And yet no fines for people attending golfgate

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    Mute OnlyHereForTheComments
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    Apr 21st 2021, 12:14 AM

    @Darren Carroll: bit difficult since fines for breaching travel restrictions only came into effect in January 2021, but hey! Whataboutery, am I right?!

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    Mute merely ed
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    Apr 21st 2021, 12:37 AM

    @OnlyHereForTheComments: well you’re certainly leaning that way…

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    Mute larry bird
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    Apr 20th 2021, 9:34 PM

    if students behaved they wouldn’t have this issue.

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    Mute Jæ Zucula
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    Apr 20th 2021, 10:13 PM

    @larry bird: and for you! What about read the article? I promise you won’t take that long.

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    Mute Honeybee
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    Apr 20th 2021, 10:51 PM

    I do have sympathy for students as depicted in the article and yes the pandemic has introduced a changed interface between the gardai and the public. Some gardai behave in an authoritarian manner arising out of new powers the government sanctioned , for a people who have always known policing by consent, this change in attitude is difficult to take on board, it will be good when sanctions are withdrawn and policing returns to normal, no more heavy handed rules and interrogation of people just trying to live their lives.

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    Mute Tomo
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    Apr 21st 2021, 9:10 AM

    @Honeybee: The Gardai will always feel entitled to interrogate you at any checkpoint from this point onwards, regardless of the law. Sure, I was out walking once in the park a few years ago and they wanted to randomly search my bag, know all my details… I just asked “why?” and they responded “because we’ll arrest you if you don’t tell us”. Gardai are disgusting to deal with as a young person.

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    Mute Tomo
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    Apr 21st 2021, 9:06 AM

    Gardaí will only target those they can pick on. Older people can break the 5km all they like and have far fewer consequences. Students (within their 5km) have been fined so many times (anecdotally). It’s the same with drugs – they’ll pick on harmless people for smoking a joint and won’t go after real drug dealing criminals.

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    Mute Tomo
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    Apr 21st 2021, 9:15 AM

    I really don’t think Irish people fully understand the implications of all these restrictions, having the longest lockdown in the world, and having people in fear of arrest or fine just from seeing a police officer. These have long term consequences down the line. Just one example is, as mentioned in the article, if young people start seeing Gardai as the aggressor, they’re could end up not reporting crime to the Gardai.

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    Mute Mr T
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    Apr 21st 2021, 12:02 AM

    The Garda, not all, are incorrectly perceived as being desk jockeys who turn a blind eye to common dangerous misdemeanors such as cyclists with no lights on their bikes, cyclsts breaking red lights and less dangerous but, just as annoying, dog owners not being fined for not picking up their dog’s excrement (nothing quite beats walking in dog s%it and bringing it home on your shoes).

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    Mute Gavin Tobin
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    Apr 20th 2021, 10:22 PM

    As Alexei Sayle once said “I hate fooking students, even when I was a student I hated fooking students”

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    Mute Jæ Zucula
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    Apr 20th 2021, 10:18 PM

    So there you have! I’m not a student and i can tell that what written in this article doesn’t surprise me at all.
    Anyway, people refuse but the truth of since 2020 “End does justify the means”.

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