Is Simon Cowell right to be worried about the threat from ‘The Voice’?

I think he is; ‘Britain's Got Talent’ is tired and out-dated.

The BBC has not only captured The Voice, it’s captured the nation’s voice or, more importantly, its mood. As I watched last weekend’s showings of The Voice I was struck not only of course by the huge talent of everyone competing but - and competing is the key word - they were competing together; the contestants had to share the floor and work with each other to be their best, proving that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Similarly the judges had to share the glory and the pain. Turning over to Britain’s Got Talent, the contrast was clear. Simon had done his best to keep up and wisely ensured that a great young talent would be the first act the channel-hopping audience saw. However, it wasn’t long before a counterpoint appeared and I was faced with the usual embarrassment of watching TV that is simply cruel and voyeuristic. The Voice is reflective a new collaborative culture; Britain’s Got Talent is the equivalent of the worst of the last decade of ruthless “every man for himself” and “laugh at the losers” style of commercial exploitation. I turned over again and found The 1970s: How did the mood of that decade compare? Who can remember?

I recently read an article in Management today entitled ‘What is an intern worth’ to quote the author Elizabeth Anderson

- “Internships are a tricky subject – on the one hand they provide a young person with valuable experience (now essential for taking the first step into employment). But it also means organisations are getting free labour and some (although not the majority) exploit this.”

After a discussion with my younger brother Shaun, he felt compelled to follow up with his thoughts. Here's what he had to say:

As a first-year undergraduate student, I am constantly being told by those around me that an internship is the best way to spend my summer: “You may as well spend your summer gaining some experience in your chosen industry whilst making some money”.

After nearly eight months of searching for an internship, I’ve started to think that I’ve just wasted two thirds of my year.

There’s no doubt that there are a large number of internships out there; yet, after reading through masses of job specifications and requirements, it has become evident that larger companies only want to hear from you if you’re a penultimate year student, and smaller companies only want to hear from you if you’re willing to work for free. Unfortunately, I do not fit in to either of those categories.

Of course, there has been the odd exception to this observation, one of which was a paid internship for first-year students advertised by HSBC. However, applying for this internship proved to be yet another waste of time. After completing the long-winded application form for the internship, I was invited to answer a series of questions that could be answered with ‘Yes or No’ to determine whether or not I would be suitable for the position. As you may have guessed, I was not successful. But I couldn’t help question why I was not given the series of ‘Yes or No’ questions before the application form. If my suitability for the position could be deemed by a few easy-to-answer questions, why give me a tedious application form first?

Despite this minor frustration, I continued searching for a summer internship. I eventually stumbled across an internship for Allianz Insurance. After a four month long recruitment process, I was invited to the assessment centre. Once again, I was unsuccessful. All candidates were promised feedback on their performance at the assessment centre; yet, three months have passed, and despite my calls and emails, I have not received any form of reply. If I ever receive some feedback (the chances of which are becoming less likely by the day), I would deem this a worthwhile experience. However, until that day comes, all I can take away from the experience is the memory of being chauffeur-driven to and from the train station...not often you get called “Sir” as a student!

Eventually, due to the lack of first-year opportunities and larger companies seeming reluctant to communicate, I decided to search for internships within smaller companies. Yet, these searches have also proved to be disappointments, as the phrase “unpaid, but travel and lunch expenses covered” has popped up in the majority of the adverts. Although there may be a few students who could afford to take these unpaid internships, the majority of students I know would need some form of income to fund their summer months (whether it be rent for their accommodation at university, or living expenses at home).

Ultimately, there’s no doubt that there are a large number of summer internships available to students. However, it seems as if the majority of these opportunities are only available to a few select groups of students based on educational status and economic well-being. This begs the question: Is an internship really the best way to spend my summer?

-Shaun

We invited some of our BLT juniors (and dog) into the office on Christmas Eve to demonstrate their potential for recruitment.

As you may be aware that we are a proud owner of the Best Management Consultancy Recruiter Award in 2009 and repeatedly in the previous years - based on Your votes and awarded by the Top-Consultant.com.

As 2010 is here so as the new survey, we’re hoping to maintain our good showing in the poll's Best Recruitment Consultancy category. Can I ask for your support, please? It takes just two minutes to complete a short survey from Top Consultant via the link below.

Please click this link: www.top-consultant.com/consultingrecruitmentsurvey2010.aspx to open the survey. You will need to enter this password - 478151879 - at the top of the survey page.

The answer to Question 14 begins with a B and ends with a T.
and Question 16…………?

Thanks for your support.
We look forward to reading the results.

The November Management Consultancy Question asked you what consultancies can do to attract and retain more women. Nearly a hundred of you took the trouble to respond.

There were a number of family friendly policy suggestions made: more home working allowed, better crèche provision, local projects reserved for mothers with young children, flexible hours. But there was also a recognition that most would be difficult to implement given the current ‘model’ of consultancy.

Entry schemes should include programmes targeted at female graduates and older, industry-experienced women. Work policies should be attractive to single, married and women with children. Diversity policies need to be paid more than lip service. These are just some of your comments.

One respondent felt that as promotion to the highest ranks in a firm tends to be determined by sales success, women were disadvantaged because they were less predisposed to selling.

Another, having worked for both a Big 4 and a niche firm, reported the latter much more responsive to her family commitments.

But there was overall agreement that until more women make it to the Top Table, consultancies will be slow to change their working practices. A pity, as there seems to be much talent being underutilised, or just going to waste.

Watch this space for our upcoming question.