This month’s topic focuses on the use of interns and volunteers in the workplace.

Internships are commonplace now with employers looking for low cost ways to hire staff and with graduates seeking to get some experience for their CVs. Very often the hiring of an intern is extremely informal and their contact details may come in through business colleagues, clients and friends looking to give their kids/nieces/nephews a chance to get some work experience. For most graduates it is impossible to even get interviewed for jobs during the current recession without having some relevant work experience.

However these informal arrangements come with their own risks that employers should be mindful of. The recent death of an intern employed at Bank