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  • Sam: Hello. This is 6 Minute English. I'm Sam.

  • Rob: And I'm Rob.

  • Sam: Before you got your first job Rob, did you

  • do any work experience?

  • Rob: I think I may have done a day or two

  • at some companies, just shadowing,

  • watching how they did thingsbut

  • nothing much more than that.

  • Sam: Some companies offer students or

  • recent graduates what they call

  • 'internships'. These are extended

  • periods of work experience where

  • someone can be working full-time without

  • an actual contract and in many cases

  • without even being paid.

  • Rob: Ahyes. This is a bit of a problem,

  • isn’t it? Some companies are being

  • accused of using students and graduates

  • as cheap or free labour.

  • Sam: Yes, although the counter argument

  • is that internships are valuable experience

  • for people who need it before

  • they can get a ‘realjob. Well, well look at

  • this topic a little more after this week’s

  • quiz question. On the topic of business

  • and companies, which is the oldest stock

  • exchange in the world? Is it:

  • A: Bombay, B: New York, or C: Amsterdam

  • What do you think, Rob?

  • Rob: Tricky, because I was expecting

  • London on that list. I’m going to take a

  • guess then at Amsterdam.

  • Sam: OK. Well, I will reveal the answer

  • later in the programme. James Turner is

  • the chief executive of an education

  • charity. Recently he took

  • part in a discussion on the BBC radio

  • programme You and Yours, on the topic

  • of internships. What does he think is a big

  • issue with unpaid internships?

  • James Turner: In many careers were now

  • seeing that it’s

  • almost as an expectation that a young

  • person does an internship before they

  • stand a chance of getting

  • that first full-time job in that profession.

  • And the issue with that from a sort of social

  • mobility point of view is that a substantial

  • proportion of those internships are

  • unpaid and that effectively rules out those

  • who can’t afford to work for free.

  • Sam: So what is the problem with unpaid

  • internships, Rob?

  • Rob: Well, if you can’t afford to work for

  • free, it makes it very difficult to do an

  • internshipparticularly in expensive

  • cities like London. This excludes, or 'rules

  • out' a lot of people from the benefits of an

  • internship.

  • Sam: This is bad for social mobility, which

  • is the ability of people to move to higher,

  • better paid levels in society. So the poorer

  • you are the more difficult it can be to get a

  • good job, even if you have the ability.

  • Rob: Could you afford to work for free

  • here in London, Sam?

  • Sam: No, I can barely afford to live in

  • London as it is, so the idea of doing an

  • unpaid internship would not appeal to me

  • at all.

  • Turner goes on to talk about other

  • issues that are also problematic in

  • internship programmes.

  • James Turner: Too often internships are

  • open to those

  • with established connections in the

  • professions and again that rules out

  • those young people who don’t have the

  • well-connected families or friends who

  • can open those doors for them.

  • Sam: So what are these other issues?

  • Rob: In many cases he says that

  • internship opportunities are only available

  • to those with established connections to

  • the company or industry. This means they

  • have some pre-existing link with

  • the company, for example, through family

  • or friendsfamilies.

  • Sam: Yes, it’s a lot easier if your family is

  • well-connected, if it has a lot of contacts

  • and links to a particular company or important

  • people in that company.

  • Rob: These links make it easier to open

  • doors to the opportunity. 'To open doors' is

  • an expression that means 'to get access to'.

  • Sam: So it seems that to be able to do an

  • unpaid internships you need to have a fair

  • bit of money and to get an internship in

  • the first place you may need to have a

  • previous link to the company through a

  • family connection, for example.

  • Rob: So the system would seem to be

  • difficult for poorer families and make it

  • more difficult for students without those

  • resources or connections to get on the

  • job ladder. Here’s James Turner again.

  • James Turner: Too often internships

  • are open to those

  • with established connections in the

  • professions and again that rules out

  • those young people who don’t have the

  • well-connected families or friends who

  • can open those doors for them.

  • Sam: Right, time now to answer this

  • week’s question. Which is the oldest stock

  • exchange in the world? Is it:

  • A: Bombay, B: New York, or C: Amsterdam?

  • Rob, what did you say?

  • Rob: I went for Amsterdam.

  • Sam: Well done, that’s correct.

  • Congratulations to everyone who go that

  • right and extra bonus points if you know

  • the date. Rob?

  • Rob: Haven’t a clue! 1750?

  • Sam: Actually it’s a lot earlier, 1602.

  • Rob: Wow, that’s much earlier than I thought.

  • Sam: Right, let’s have a look again at

  • today’s vocabulary. Weve been talking

  • about 'internships' which are periods of

  • work at companies as a way for students

  • or new graduates to get experience in a

  • particular field.

  • Rob: If they are unpaid it can make 'social

  • mobility' very difficult. This is the

  • movement from a lower social level to a

  • higher one and it’s difficult as poorer

  • candidates can’t afford to work for free.

  • Sam: Yes, the cost 'rules them out', it

  • excludes them from the opportunity.

  • Rob: What helps is if you have 'established

  • connections' with a company. This refers

  • to previous or pre-existing links with a

  • company.

  • Sam: And also if your family is 'well-connected',

  • if it has good connections, for example if

  • your father plays golf with the CEO, it can

  • 'open doors', or in other words, it can make

  • it easier to get into the company.

  • Rob: So Sam, are you well-connected?

  • Sam: No, only to my smartphone!

  • Rob: Same herebut we still made it to

  • BBC Learning English and you can find

  • more from us online, on social media and

  • on our app. But for now, that’s all from

  • 6 Minute English. See you again soon. Bye bye!

  • Sam: Bye everyone!

Sam: Hello. This is 6 Minute English. I'm Sam.

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A2

你會免費工作嗎?聽6分鐘英語 (Would you work for free? Listen to 6 Minute English)

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    林宜悉 posted on 2021/01/14
Video vocabulary