HSBC legal chief dragged into 'informal internships' row
HSBC’s legal department is at the centre of the ongoing controversy surrounding ’informal’ work experience.
The situation has arisen after group general counsel Richard Bennett sent a rejection letter to a student who had sought unpaid work experience in the banking giant’s legal department.
According to today’s Financial Times, Bennett wrote in the letter that though HSBC’s financial business had a graduate internship programme the legal department “does not offer anything similar”.
He added: “HSBC does not have a structured work experience programme, although occasionally arrangements are made for sons and daughters of HSBC executives, particularly if they work in the legal or compliance departments to gain such experience.”
Despite the letter is it understood that HSBC’s legal department does in fact run a formal internship programme in conjunction with the University of Greenwich, aimed specifically at students from underprivileged backgrounds.
Meanwhile, the bank also offers 180 paid internship places per year for which it receives over 2,000 applications.
A HSBC spokesperson said in a statement: “HSBC recruits from a variety of sources including referrals from employees. Inevitably there’s more demand for jobs than the supply of them. Merit is absolutely always the basis of recruit selection.”
The issue of informal work placements and the wider issue of nepotism in the context of graduate jobs was put under the spotlight following revelations that Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg gained work experience in a bank as a result of his father’s contacts.
The rules regarding offering work experience to the offspring of partners varies across the top City firms. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, for instance, has stringent rules in place that prevent partners’ children from applying to the magic circle firm for vacation schemes and training contracts.
Meanwhile, Addleshaw Goddard recently tightened its guidelines in this area to ensure work experience was offered to students purely on merit and not as a result of family connections.
Readers' comments (4)
Haldeman | 28-May-2011 9:53 pm
Good for Addleshaw Goddard. A move in the right direction.
My heart used to sink when I saw the "mini me's" in their child size suits coming in for work experience in the firm I worked in because Mummy or Daddy had had a word with the relevant Partner and of course one must not offend the bearer of a hefty wallet.. As the proteges sullenly carried out their tasks I was reminded of Michael Gove's complaint that too many - "rich thick kids" were bagging the best opportunities. There is a huge pool of untapped intellect out there and kids from less connected backgrounds but hungry to move on and up ,above all need to learn confidence. A few weeks in a City office could do them the power of good. The trainee summer schemes were run on merit (broadly!) but the informal opportuntes cannot be accessed without connections. This not a affirmaitve action plea. It is a hard headed economic argument - trawl deeper and you might find some pearls
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 1-Jun-2011 7:17 pm
Any business which fails to encourage meritocratic practices is likely to fall behind its competitors. Any candidate who is going to make waves wants to be judged on their credentials and not on their surname. I know several people who would never dream of using their family connections to get a job nor would they want to work at a company that would accept them on that basis. Friends of mine signed up to the Intern Avenue website for their internship this year rather than ask their parents to "find" them somewhere. It much better to get a job on your own merit. The sad thing is that not even the so-called "rich kids" want anything to do with this.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 2-Jun-2011 5:03 pm
In such a competitive market, I don't think you can blame the candidates for trying to use any connection available to them to get into the law. Afterall, much of the careers advice that is offered to students is to network as much as possble, and then to try and capitalise on these networks. You can't blame someone for the fact that they have been born into a family of lawyers/bankers/monied-types.
You CAN, however, blame the firms who give in to the partner or client and accept these candidates, despite the fact that they may not actually meet the standards that are generally expected of the firm. Setting consistent standards of entry to the various programmes offered - whether summer internships, training contracts or even more informal work placements - will create transparency and ensure that everyone is aware of exactly what the firm requires from its employees.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 16-Jun-2011 5:26 pm
Of course Freshfields can say that they don't allow partners'/clients' children to apply for vac scheme placements... that's because they have a separate vacation scheme just for the little darlings. One way of dealing with it...
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment