Golin launches diversity ‘unternship’
Integrated communications agency, Golin, has launched an internship with the aim of making the PR, marketing and media sector more accessible for disadvantaged candidates.
Golin’s ‘unternship’ will give successful candidates the chance to take a two month trip ahead of a more traditional, three-month internship in one of Golin’s creative teams. They will be paid the Living Wage for London and, in the office, get to work on creative concept generation, video, animation, copywriting or web design.
The agency will cast aside the traditional CV route for applicants. Instead, it requests that prospective candidates pitch a bite-sized idea for their two-month trip, which has a £1,500 travel budget. Golin says this is due to the fact that the agency receives some 1,000 CVs every year and nearly three-quarters of those are students from either top schools or Russell Group universities. It aims to increase diversity in communications roles which, the agency suggests, are currently filled by the affluent middle classes.
Bibi Hilton, managing director at Golin, said: “We recognise that diversity is a key ingredient in boosting our creative output. It makes great business sense for us to encourage applications from a wide range of people who can inspire different ideas and fresh perspectives for our clients.”
She explained: “PR graduates are currently coming from a disproportionately small section of the population as only 7% of children go to independent school, but those children make up 39% of pupils at Russell Group universities. Our CEO Fred Cook started his career by talking his way into a cabin boy job on a Norwegian tanker. We hope the Unternship will foster that spirit and appeal to a wide range of candidates, whatever their age or background.”
The internship is open to anyone of any age, and educational background, interested in breaking into the comms industry. They do have to be over 18, have the right to work in the UK and be free to work from July to November. The application period will run for six weeks and candidates can apply here from today (3 March 2016). For more information, see Gorkana Jobs.
