Link: Unpaid internships
If interns are doing valuable work, pay them.Someone PLEASE send this memo to the journalism industry, which considers unpaid internships a badge of honor.
Unpaid internships are great for the Tina TrustFunds of the world who have Mommy and Daddy to support their aspirations. But for those of us who need to eat? Not so much.
i wholeheartedly agree. i can’t take unpaid internships. financially cannot.
the irony is that there are great, paid internships available, but those internships that are the coveted, highly-competitive ones are nearly always unpaid.
i think internships—in general—encourage a climate that caters to students financially reliant upon their parents (you know, the ones who complain about their course load, but haven’t held a job in their life), and results in companies wondering why their interns don’t have a developed work ethic or the professional skills necessary to jump right into a demanding position.
no wonder the internship stereotype of fetching coffee and doughnuts from the local shop still exists—because most students don’t have any developed skills beyond commerce economy, as in, they know how to buy shit with a credit card, and that’s really about it.
the most qualified interns are probably the ones that can’t afford to apply for your unpaid internship, because they are the ones who’ve been working since they could apply for a work permit, know why they want to work and would seek to develop new skills from their employer, instead of just taking a job to complete their perfume-scented resume.
a-freakin-men.
unpaid internships are for trust fund brats.
I don’t know. I get where everyone is coming from—some people HAVE to work for money. I’ve been working since I was 15, often with two jobs at a time. I went to a private college, but only because I got scholarships and grants. Without them, I would have been at UConn and I would have gotten a great education for a much cheaper price. However, I probably wouldn’t have attempted to spend a semester taking classes and interning in L.A. if I hadn’t gone to BU. My unpaid internship from my semester in L.A. made the whole difference in my career. The summer I spent working in car insurance to get out of debt from that semester was worth it, 100%.
I do agree that unpaid internships cater to people financially reliant on their parents, but it can be done even if you’re not trust fund kid.
Interesting conversation. I had three unpaid internships before I graduated two years ago. I can assure everyone involved I am NOT anything close to resembling a “trust fund kid.” And while yeah, I wouldn’t have minded getting paid (who wouldn’t?!), it’s just not going to happen in music/TV because the internships are so desirable.
The funny thing is, due to legal reasons, if the student isn’t getting paid, they MUST be receiving school credit. Which also means, the student must be paying for those credits somehow. So really, the student ends up PAYING the school to work for these companies!
Basically, for me, this all resulted in a lot of school debt which I realize I’ll be paying off for quite some time. However, I can genuinely say I enjoy my job and don’t hate work every day I go in, and I’m looking forward to the future. And surely that has to be worth something.
