What Happened: Indian student Swetha Kothandan offered to work for free to secure a job in the UK before her graduate visa expires, sparking debate about exploitation and job security.
What you need to know: Swetha Kothandan, an Indian student with an MSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Leicester, resorted to offering to work for free in a desperate attempt to secure a job before her student visa expires. Having moved to the UK in 2021, Swetha shared her struggle on LinkedIn, detailing her difficulties in finding a job since graduating in 2022. Despite her relentless job search, she had not received a job offer. Faced with the impending expiration of her graduate visa, she took the drastic step of offering to work unpaid for a month, hoping it would help her stay in the UK.
What more: In her LinkedIn post, Swetha explained that if the employer was dissatisfied with her performance, they could terminate her without notice or compensation. She also expressed her willingness to work overtime and skip weekly holidays to prove her dedication. Despite applying for over 300 jobs, she had received minimal responses, leaving her feeling that her qualifications and abilities were undervalued.
Also: Swetha’s post quickly went viral, sparking a debate about job security and the lengths some are willing to go to for employment. While some sympathized with her situation, others criticized her offer to work without pay, fearing it could lead to exploitation and set a harmful precedent in the job market.