Scottish creative forces target 'underrepresented' with new internship programme

Creative and corporate heavyweights from across Scotland have joined forces to provide opportunities for “underrepresented talent”.

Called Unlocked, the internship programme is targeting emerging talent from non-white ethnicities and/or low-income backgrounds. It aims to address a lack of representation by making it easier to access paid internships within some of the country’s most successful creative businesses. Having gone live this week, the programme’s initial opportunities include positions within marketing, PR, design, television and advertising.

Creative agency John Doe, whose clients include Meta, Irn-Bru and the TRNSMT festival, came up with the idea for the internship programme, before approaching other agencies to join them. Other founding partners include advertising heavyweights Leith Agency and The Union, creative agency Studio LR, broadcaster STV and brands including Tennent’s Lager. The aim is for Unlocked to be an annual programme. There is no maximum age limit for applicants, however all interns must be over 18.

Pam Scobbie, one of the owners of John Doe, said: “As long as I can remember, I always wanted to work in something creative but turning that dream into a reality was really difficult; I worked three other jobs so that I could take up an unpaid internship. I used to be asked ‘where I schooled’ and who my father knew when I’d go to interviews - and when I wouldn’t have a clue what they were on about, it was clear I didn’t have the job. So right from the off, I knew that your background, your connections and your disposable income made a massive difference to getting your break in the industries.

“In Scotland, where we’re less ethnically diverse than the likes of London, it’s too easy to say that hiring diversely is difficult. And it’s too easy to stay in your bubble and ignore the socio-economic divide. But that’s a cop-out. It just means that we need to put in a bit more legwork and intention. Especially since issues like the cost-of-living crisis and the pandemic, which stopped entry-level people meeting the decision makers in real life, are meaning that any progress we’d taken as a whole feels like it’s rolled back.”