SBS presenter Ricardo Goncalves says unpaid work pays off

Everyone was kicking off about the Muffin Break boss’s millennial comments, but a TV journalist’s story shows they may have missed a vital point.

After a furious backlash over the Muffin Break general manager’s accusation that Gen Y Australians are no longer willing to work for free to advance their careers, a prominent news presenter has come to the defence of unpaid work experience.

Inspired by Natalie Brennan’s controversial comments — which she apologised for after a wave of viral fury on social media — SBS’s Finance Editor Ricardo Goncalves has decided to speak out about his own career.

He told news.com.au he wanted to “encourage youth to look at a range of ways to build their skills” after explaining how unpaid work made a massive difference to his career in a piece on LinkedIn.

Ricardo Goncalves said unpaid work was invaluable to his career in journalism.

In the piece called “Unpaid work experience: It pays” Goncalves explained that he “knocked on newsroom doors for months” for unpaid work experience when he was in high school.

His persistence paid off and he was finally given a spot on local television news service WIN News Wollongong — adding he would spend his time “reading newspapers, answering phones and observing how a newsroom operates”.

He didn’t get the grades he needed for a journalism course, but he didn’t give up on the dream and kept up his unpaid work one day a week at WIN while studying Commerce. This allowed him to get his first big break on TV.

“One day, on an unpaid news shift, there was a rupture in a pipe along the Illawarra escarpment late in the afternoon,” he wrote. “I was the only person free, and on station to cover the story. I was sent on the job with a camera operator. That was my break and the first time I was able to actually report on air.”

Goncalves didn’t give up when he didn’t get the grades for a journalism course. Picture: LinkedIn

Now a respected television journalist with more than two decades of experience, he wrote that the unpaid experience was instrumental to his success.

“To this day, I still feel lucky to be given a chance at WIN News,” he said. “When you are trying to crack a competitive industry, you need do what you can to stand out and demonstrate ability, passion, talent and dedication.”

He told news.com.au he was compelled to wade into the debate after reading the Muffin Break general manager’s comments about Millennials — adding that, no matter what route you take, hard work is the key.

“Today’s youth are actually quite motivated, and you can see that in the number of young start-up founders out there, but even they also put in the hard yards,” he said. “Everyone has a story to tell, and I think it’s important to remind younger kids that success just takes hard work.”

A furore over unpaid work began when Muffin Break general manager, Ms Brennan, said precipitous decline in eager young university students and graduates started “about 10 years ago”.

“There’s just nobody walking in my door asking for an internship, work experience or unpaid work, nobody,” Ms Brennan told news.com.au in an interview last week.

“You don’t see it anymore. Before that people would be knocking on your door all the time, you couldn’t keep up with how many people wanted to be working. In fact I’d run programs because there were so many coming in.”

She also blamed social media for the entitlement mentality.

Muffin Break general manager Natalie Brennan later apologised for her comments.

“I think everybody thinks social media is going to get them ahead somewhere,” she said. “There’s definitely that inflated view of their self-importance because they have X amount of Instagram followers or this many likes. That’s dangerous.”

She later apologised for her comments in a post on the Muffin Break Facebook page.

“Every day for the last 25 years I’ve worked with young people who are motivated, passionate and hardworking. This is as true today as it was when I started my career,” she wrote.

“I don’t expect anyone to work unpaid and Foodco Group policy is, and has always been, that all employees including interns, employed either directly or through our brands are paid according to relevant awards.”

Goncalves stressed that, while working for free was right for him, it isn’t right or even legal for everyone.

“While I did some voluntary unpaid work at the start of my media career, it’s important to note that this was 20 years ago and rules and regulations change,” he said.

“The Fair Work Ombudsman says unpaid work is lawful depending on the nature of the arrangement and anyone unsure about their rights should approach the Ombudsman or check out the Fair Work website.”