At the end of last year MTV copped some flack for posting a job ad for a ‘mid-level’ video producer who needed to be able to do almost everything, ever.

Well it seems the good folk at Nine Entertainment Co have gone one better with the criteria for a job posted on Nine’s youth website Pedestrian.TV looking for applicants for an unpaid “casual/vacation” gig with its catch-up TV platform Nine Now.

Under the blurb selling Nine as a great place to work is the role description, which includes populating websites for shows including Today, Married at First Sight and Travel Diaries, support producers, edit short-form video and help identify digital editorial opportunities.

Fair enough, it sounds like a job for an eager student keen to get some workplace experience. That is until you see what the requirements are to apply for this unpaid gig.

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Under the requirements for skills and experience are:

An inquiring, curious nature, always open to learning from others and creating an integrated, strategic view of product and audience interactions

Fair enough – it’s an internship, you’re there to learn.

Experience creating & managing digital consumer products to hit audience targets

A little dubious but not too unreasonable – after all maybe you’ve done a similar internship before?

CMS, M’Soft Office, Photoshop, AVID, Final Cut Pro

Not unreasonable to know the tools of the trade.

Excellent presentation & communication (both written and verbal) able to convey complex concepts with flair

Management speak for being able to write emails and speak in complete sentences.

A relevant tertiary qualification and at least 5 years of professional experience.

Ah. So this isn’t a student internship then? They want someone who is already qualified and has been working for the last five years to come and work for free for them.

The question is how many years do you have to have been doing the job before they consider paying you?

Updated:

A Nine Entertainment employee has said the job is in fact paid with an hourly rate of $25-$30 per hour, and blamed a technical problem for the ad appearing as unpaid on the Nine-owned site Pedestrian.TV.