Leanna Byrne | Editor
The national internship scheme, JobsBridge, are allowing companies to advertise for positions looking for candidates with a “minimum” of a PhD, The University Times have learned.
A tweet was sent to The University Times twitter account at 2:37pm this afternoon with the advertisement that was placed by ClaroChem Ireland Ltd. The ad was created on 6th January on jobsireland.ie.
Clarochem Ireland Ltd is an APIs manufacturing plant, located in Damastown. The company say they are looking for an intern that will work as a Process Chemist. This intern will gain “practical experience in development and scale-up of chemical processes and their introduction to the manufacturing plant, gathering and reviewing relevant information/documentation”.
Although the internship is trying to attract a candidate with a “minimum PhD in Synthetic Chemistry”, the advertisement also states that there is “no experience required”. The applicant must only be “keen to develop their industrial experience in a busy pharmaceutical/chemical manufacturing plant. Furthermore, the intern is expected to work for 39 hours per week for a period of six months with an allowance of €50 per week in addition to the current Social Welfare payment.
Both ClaroChem Ireland and the Department of Social Protection have been contacted by The University Times about the advertisement, but have not responded yet.
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) were contacted by The University Times for a quote and subsequently released a press statement saying that “we need proper internships, training opportunities and upskilling in Ireland. But they need to provide adequate monitoring, oversight and regulation. Clearly, in far too many instances, JobBridge is failing in that regard”.
