Andrew Hawkins, the founder of polling and research consultancy ComRes, hires 24 new recruits each year. But they don’t earn a single penny.

Back in 2005, Hawkins set up an internship scheme, taking on two volunteers every two months. “We run opinion polls for The Independent on Sunday,” he says. “In the wake of the general elections, we became quite well known and started receiving unsolicited applications from people looking for jobs.”

But Hawkins wasn’t in a position to up his wage bill. ComRes is a small, London-based firm; it has just ten people on its payroll and turnover is just shy of a million. “An internship programme seemed like the obvious answer.”

It’s been a real crowd pleaser: ComRes gets more hands on deck for next to nothing, while the interns get to learn negotiating skills and work with blue-chip clients. “I’m about to go to a meeting with the BBC to discuss a joint project. And I’ll be taking an intern along with me,” says Hawkins. “It’s fantastic experience for them.”

Hawkins advertises the programme on the political recruitment website www.w4mp.org. It’s free to use and sparks around 60 applications for ComRes every couple of months.

“At the moment, we have two recent graduates on board – one from the University of London and one from Cambridge University. Our interns are extremely bright and they give us great feedback on how we’re running the show.”

But there have been criticisms. The internships are unpaid – so Hawkins has to be careful that he doesn’t fall foul of minimum wage legislation.

“Every intern has to sign a contract that stipulates what we’ll pay them by way of travel expenses. It also reiterates that the arrangement is voluntary and that they are free to come and go as they please.”

“I can understand accusations of cheap labour,” he admits. “If we wanted to employ somebody to do a full-time job, we would, but we’ve stumbled across what an economist would term a ‘double coincidence of wants’.”

Hawkins says that it would cost around £2,000 to employ a junior member of staff over a two-month period. The cost of an intern? Just £400.

Related tags: comres, internship programme, andrew hawkins, w4mp, negotiating skills, cambridge university, internship scheme, bbc, minimum wage legislation, interns, growing a business, independent on sunday, recruitment website, recent graduates, business advice, business law, marketing, employment,