TCK's, Wasta, and the Internship Paradox

So this week, I got into a heated debate (read: massive fucking argument) over the question:
"In this job market, should you jump at any opportunity to work?"

And my answer? No.
But hold up. I'm not talking about working for cash..  you can't afford to be picky when it comes to making scratch.  Some people wait tables, some people flip burgers.. at the moment I'm part-timing in construction. It doesn't matter what your degree says, the fact is most of us are having to suck it up and accept that this could be life for a while. What I'm talking about, though,  is CV-building work.. internships/placements/etc. This is the stuff that is supposed to get you the career you want.. but I'd argue that some of these opportunities aren't worth your time.

For reasons that I'm about to go into, I get offered more internships than is probably average.  Just this morning, I was asked if I'd like to do two months working as an admin assistant for a film company.  Ultimately, the point I'm going to make here is that for some Neets (the 'GAMERs') even beggars need to be choosers.

Why I get offered a lot of internships...
To explain this, I need to talk briefly about 'TCKs' - 'Third Culture Kids' - a social demographic that has exploded in the last 30-40 years, and of which I am your typical member.

TCKs are people that grew up without roots because their parents traveled internationally due to work - they are raised as expats, get used to changing schools every two to three years, might live in several countries, and build their own identity (the so-called 'third culture') from a mish-mash of displaced experiences within a spectrum of cultures.

Yes. EXACTLY like wiggers.

For example: I was born in the UK, but aged five I moved to Switzerland - then at seven to Romania - eleven to the Philippines, and fourteen to South Korea. The randomness of this assortment comes down to my Dad working in 'emerging markets' - which translates to "you'll be richer than all the locals, and poorer than all your classmates".

Expatriate communities are bizarre constructs, which disregard all of the class-based social striation that you'd see at home in Britain. It's still a member's only club, but your membership depends less on how much you make, what you do or where you're from... and more on a kind of 'frontier solidarity' between people who are sharing the experience of being away from home.

In an international school, some of your fellow students will be the sons/daughters of millionaires; regional managers of international companies and the like. Some will have parents in the diplomatic service, with links to governments and heads of state. You'll meet missionaries, soldiers, marketeers, ambassadors, architects, engineers, journalists.. sure, same as anywhere, but in a much more condensed and inter-mingling system.

Essentially, by the time you finish school as a TCK, you're already loaded with a bunch of high-level contacts, in any conceivable industry, who will push forward a CV here or drop a word there by simple merit of the fact that you hang out with their kids. It's nepotism at its finest(worst).

"Doesn't it embarrass you to have life handed to you on a plate"?
I've been asked this. Not surprisingly, it's hard to explain the above to anyone who hasn't been through it personally without coming across as a spoiled brat. All I can retort is that in the current job market, there is no shame in using what you've been given. A good friend of mine from uni, an Egyptian, wrote a paper on the Arabic interpretation of nepotism - 'Wasta' - which flies in the face of the traditional Euro-American values of the 'self-made-man'. Wasta basically suggests that only a very stupid person turns away help when it's offered - similarly, once you reach a position of power, you offer the hand to others who need it. I think this is a completely acceptable view of how the TCK mind works.

Well it must be easy to be choosy, when you're getting offers all the time?
No. This isn't my point. Sure, I might have to be selective more frequently than others - but that doesn't mean I can make different choices. Remember that we all face the exact same problem, the catch-22 that's fucking everyone at the moment: experience.

We've all seen the same application forms. ''3 years experience required" seems to be the norm now.. and that's for GRADUATE jobs. I want to work in communication.. however, to get into a PR consultancy nowadays you pretty much need to have landed your first client aged 17 and been running your own business since your 18th fucking birthday.

What this means is, you need to build a coherent CV.. one that demonstrates progress within a SINGLE field***.   And even then, you need to make sure that you are getting something out of your internship. Admin jobs are NOT good internships. There is NO point accepting to work for 3 months somewhere where you're going to be making coffee and stacking shelves - you'd make the same money working in Tesco and at least you wouldn't have to wear a bloody suit all day. At the end of your time, unless you got lucky and made a few contacts in the business (wasta not looking so bad now, is it?), it's back to square one. You'll have gained a perfect amount of experience to appeal to the next person who is looking to hire an intern. The internship paradox is this: internships usually just lead to more internships. It becomes way too easy to jump from field to field, dipping your toe in many waters but never actually getting to swim.

***Edit: This can still be general, eg: 'Communications' includes a lot of potential fields - PR, marketing, corporate affairs, media relations, journalism, strategy consulting and even client account management. 

When I was 16, I thought a good CV was one that showed you worked hard, had a wide range of skills and interests, and could apply yourself anywhere. And since I was 16, I've built an internship history that includes:

 - an import contractor for the US military

 - the British embassy

 - an international media agency

 - a global food company

 - a private health insurer

 - a clothing retailer

 - a PR agency

.. the point is.. I can't build a STORY out of this. This is why I'm still a Neet.. I haven't been selective until now. It might sound like the ravings of a madman to turn down work when you're unemployed, but believe it: sometimes the best move is "thanks, but no thanks".  Until then I'll happily build Ikea furniture, teach guitar and knock holes in walls for my beer money.


Brammo