An unpaid intern advert asks for A$1000 fee. Photo / Supplied
An unpaid intern advert asks for A$1000 fee. Photo / Supplied
An unpaid intern advertisement which promises budding developers "awesome skills" is raising eyebrows with a one-off A$990 ($1,060) "administration fee".
Despite the hefty fee, which doesn't include GST, the eight-week part time position for the The Dream Factory in Footscray, Victoria is advertised as having several perks.
They include: "Unlimited networking, communal lunches, yoga, table tennis, unlimited coffee, workshops, Wi-Fi, community events, career readiness training, hot-desking and much more ..." according to the advert.
The position is advertised by Industry Placements Australia (IPA) — the business which receives the A$990 payment only if the applicant is lucky enough to be successful.
"Our vision is to make work placement a reality for all tertiary students," claims IPA in the advert.
The fee is only applicable if you are successful. Photo / Supplied
"We organise part time internships for current tertiary students and recent graduates to support them in gaining relevant industry experience that is linked to their studies.
"Industry Placements Australia operates on 'fee for success' model meaning you don't pay a cent until you are happily in your dream internship."
IPA's director told news.com.au Jack Clayfield said the admin fee would go towards covering the firm's business costs.
Those include three full-time staff with combined salaries of A$195,000, 50 PCs and laptops, costing A$20,000, a 24-seat "student experience centre" costing A$14,000 and A$5000 for its Employsure membership and its student insurance premium, according to Clayfield.
On its website, the The Dream Factory boasts that it is a "place where extraordinary people make innovative ideas in design, technology and social change happen".
It adds that it "empowers individuals to be agents of change by creating human-centric workspaces that drive innovation, connection and growth".
However, the advert was quickly slammed on social media. One commenter even branded the A$990 admin fee "disgusting". The advert now appears to have been taken down, although IPA provided news.com.au with a Google Document link to an amended version.
"I work in academia and you see s**t like this targeting young (mostly overseas) students or recent graduates who think that they need more experience in order to get a job, first time I've seen a fee associated with something like this though," wrote the Reddit user.
"You're basically paying for work experience and references to put on your resume," wrote another. "It's not something new unfortunately. They're usually targeting international students."
However, Clayfield said the admin fee was often covered by universities and colleges — which he claimed were increasingly forcing students to undertake an unpaid placement in order for them to successfully complete their courses.
"Industry Placements Australia is a specialist student and graduate placement agency with a vision to make work placement accessible to every student studying at a tertiary level within Australia," he said.
"Many courses completed at a tertiary level have compulsory placements or professional experience. These form a core part of student learning, giving each student the opportunity to develop their skills and gain experience in a supervised workplace environment."
