Recently we opened up applications for a front-end graduate placement role in our studio, and as a result attracted some negative comments which we want to address.
On the whole, I think we’re all aware that internships and placements are a regular affair in any business, not just the creative industry. Paid or unpaid, 1 month or 1 year, each placement has a different goal. Automatically we think that some people assume that placement will then be used to gain free work and labour towards client briefs, whilst the big wigs of that business laugh from their ivory tower sitting on a stack of cash.
What we’d like to do is provide a little insight into how our placements work and why we offer placements at We Are Empire.
Firstly, if we as a business can create a set paid role, we do. Currently, as a growing business that isn’t possible, but we are aware that we can offer more than just financial rewards to people who want to gain some experience in a creative studio. Who more than anyone wants to gain experience? Graduates.
To give some background on the placements we’ve had, we’ve had 2 very successful placements so far this year, details of which from the graduates themselves are here and here.
What do we offer?…
As an overview we think it’s fair to say that our placements receive a wealth of time, experience and resources from the We Are Empire team on all levels. The main goal here is to help that individual into the industry and stand by them whilst they do so.
Ultimately, to use a football analogy, we want to build our youth team so that they have a rolling start into the first team squad. If that applicant wants to pursue another role we provide references and also facilitate career meetings within our network with the correct people, the people who can open up opportunities for our candidates.
So, as I’m sure you can tell it saddens us when our approach to placements and internships is tarnished with the companies who do exploit the placements/internships. Believe it or not, we’re all nice human beings who do care about cultivating new talent into the industry, having been given similar experiences ourselves.
If we could hire them all we would.
If you are a graduate interested in joining our internship program, get in touch via: [email protected]
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