Calling BS On Unpaid Internships

theodp writes "Getting an intern is so hot right now,' writes Stewart Curry. 'It's also bull**** 99% of the time.' IrishStu also provides his list of Interning's Big Lies: 1. 'You'll get training.' 2. 'We might hire you after the internship.' 3. 'You get to work with an awesome team.' 4. 'It will look great on your CV.' 5. 'You'll make great contacts.' So, who does it really hurt, Stu? 'Here's who it hurts — interns. You have them working for nothing. Here's who it hurts — people who need a wage in order to survive. Here's who it hurts — companies that want to pay people a decent wage for work they do.' Inside Higher Ed also checks in on The Great Intern Debate."

Comments

Why is some random guy's blog on Slashdot?

[Meshach]

Has the world gone mad?

Re:Why is some random guy's blog on Slashdot?

[iamhassi]

Rating:5,Insightful

Some guy bitches about being an intern and it's on the front of /.? WTF? Slow weekend because it's 4th of July weekend in the US? What's next "Calling BS on McD's minimum wage"?

If you don't want to be a unpaid intern... DON'T BE. Very simple solution. People don't choose to be unpaid interns, they HAVE to be because they have zero experience and can't get a paying job. Companies "hiring" unpaid interns choose that route because they've been burned by shitty no-experience-having employees in the past and want to test the waters, but if you're there more than a week and still not getting paid YOU ARE STUPID for staying.

Re:Why is some random guy's blog on Slashdot?

[thesandtiger]

They actually do this for scientists, essentially. There are, in most scientific fields, very few spots for grad students compared to the number of people who want to go to grad school. Consequently, one big way to differentiate yourself from the pack is to have multiple internships during your undergrad.

When I was doing my undergrad I had 4 internships of 1 year each at 4 different labs. Each internship gave me a total of 6 credit hours for the year (out of 30 credits taken total for the year) but the cost of those credit hours was refunded. I also wound up getting a full scholarship after my first year because I was recommended for it by my internship professor. By the time I finished undergrad I was on half a dozen published papers, had done over a dozen presentations & posters, and had some very, very good connections and references.

Not only that, but I learned a STAGGERING amount about how research in my field (social psychology/public health) is done and how it could be much improved. When I applied to grad schools I got into every single program I applied for except for one - most people in my undergrad class were rejected by all but one of their schools.

I didn't have to pay for grad school, and as a career changer it got me off to a running start.

Internships can be FANTASTIC as long as you really make the most of them and don't behave like a doormat.

Don't do it

[phantomfive]

I can't speak for the medical, financial, or law industries, but if you get offered an unpaid internship in the computer industry, laugh that offer out the door. There are tons of internships in the computer industry that pay real money, so don't work for some company that is trying to rip you off. They will only rip you off more and more, then dump you.

unpaid internship does not look great on a cv

[JonySuede]

Unpaid internship does not look great on a cv; it's looks cheap. The best advice I got from my first job manager was: never work unpaid unless it is for a charity. Working unpaid is showing a lack of respect for your own self. If your work is worth something charge something.

Re:unpaid internship does not look great on a cv

[gilesjuk]

It's also looks like you aren't good enough to get a job or that your skills and experience have been evaluated and you have been made a pay offer of $0.

Really, really, really Don't do it!

[gremlinuk]

You will sell yourself short, get crappy office tasks, not real training. It doesn't look good on a CV/resume ... if I read unpaid internship, I read 'MUG'.

There are plenty of proper paid jobs out there, including short term summer jobs.

Living in a European country, I was totally shocked to discover unpaid internships were showing up over here. Why on earth would I work for free ANYWHERE? Who on earth can actually AFFORD to work for free? Oh, yeah, the rich buggers who probably don't need to work anyway, or for whom Daddy will always be able to find easy, well paid work with one of their chums anyway.

Unpaid internships is a) exploitative bull-hockey, b) a mug's game.

Re:Apprenticeships

[ductonius]

I work in industry, and apprentices get payed in every blue collar job I've had contact with. Not only do they get paid, but get payed above average starting wage for that place in the world. If you're an apprentice that means someone with much more experience recognizes you have talent that's useful and can develop. You get treated like you're worth something, because you are.

The fact that many interns are unpaid is a tacit admittance that the workers are inherently worthless to the company. Unpaid internships need to be made criminal. They are the systematization and normalization of worker exploitation.

Entrenching the Class Divide.

[Ga_101]

Internships are like poison to a meritocracy based society. Unpaid internships doubly so.

They allow richer parents to use both their money and connections to manoeuvre their children into jobs that have wealth, power or both. This comes at the expense of poorer and middle class children who can not bankroll their children in adulthood or do not move in the right social circles.

A classic example in my country (UK) was a fund raising event for the Conservative party. Internships at top flight financial and legal firms were auctioned off the party donors to raise funds for the party. No, I did not make this up : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356469/Cash-internships-Tory-backers-pay-2k-time-buy-children-work-experience.html (apologies for linking to the Daily Mail, but credit where it is due, they did break this story).

These sort of actions entrench wealth and power with those who already have them. An internship via connections or unpaid work is a boot in the face of those who can not ride out life on Daddy's coat-tails.

moronic proposition

[unity100]

"If you don't want to be a unpaid intern... DON'T BE. Very simple solution." proposition is akin to :

"If you dont want to buy from the 4 mega megacorporations monopolizing cleaning products, DONT."

Or

"If you dont want to get a plan from isps that do not violate network neutrality and tamper with your connection, DONT"

In an environment where some kind of practice is allowed to the extent that it becomes an 'industry standard practice', you cannot choose another option.

In civilized world (doesnt include america) corporations HAVE to pay interns at least minimum wage. Kids too. noone can have others work for him, and get out of it without paying for it. that is the way how it should have been, and it is the way how it is in civilized countries. apparently, it is again not as such, in usa.

why it isnt ? because you people allow, then rationalize and justify malpractice with the idiotic assumption that there will always be 'another choice' - let me wake you up to a fact - when you allow malpractice to become the norm, there is NO other choice.

Re:Thanks for playing, but you lose .....

[circletimessquare]

it's very simple:

all of your complaints are government are real and valid. all of those problems are evil

and yet, without government, every problem you describe only gets much much worse

do you understand that?

"I'm just saying we'd be better off letting charities and the places we work voluntarily provide such things"

this argument always made me laugh

people who argue emphatically for how wrong it is to help poor people, are going to help poor people generously on their own. you realize what a pile of steaming shit that is, right?

the fact is, people DO need help, and you realize that. you just don't want to help them. that's fine

so get the fuck out

you want the BENEFITS of society, without paying for the COSTS of society. you are full of shit, or you don't realize how helpiong people pays DIVIDENDS in YOUR life: lower crime, better safety, etc. you'd rather the usa become like haiti or somalia. that's what the usa will become if we followed your philosophy

so fuck you and your "charity will take care of it." that's a nice cheat to make your philosophy work (in other words, it is not a complete philosophy)

no charity won't work in a society full of blindly self-concerned assholes like you: there won't BE any charity, because you advocate for a society without concern or care for those less well off. it's a contradiction you won't admit. because you're blind and selfish. and people like me, people who can think, won't lett assholes like you destroy this great country with your idiotic lack of understanding of how you benefit for what you don't want to pay for