Working as an intern is great way to get your foot in the door—or to
keep your resume gap-free when jobs are hard to come buy. You gain tons of experience, both career-specific and more general stuff, like how to dress in an office, what it feels like to work 9-to-5, etc.
There's only one problem: most internships are unpaid. And, although a relevant internship may be a more valuable line on your resume than a summer job as a lifeguard, sometimes the allure of the paycheck to is too strong to deny.
Really, it's unfair—the type of people who can afford to spend their time working an unpaid internship are, on average, middle-class or higher. They (or their parents) have enough money to support a salary-free semester, which means they've already had a lot of advantages in life. So, even though most unpaid internships are open to all, they're really only catering to a select group. (To be fair, many companies can't afford to pay their interns, and unpaid internships are probably better than no internships at all.)
So, is working for free worth it? Here are three questions I like to keep in mind when shopping for internships:
- Can it lead to a permanent position? Lots of companies invest in interns as sort of trial-run stints for paid, permanent employees. And if you ask me, a couple of months of unpaid labor is worth a subsequent cushy job.
- Is the company used to having interns? Some companies have full-fledged intern programs, where it's actually somebody's job to train the interns and assign them work. Alternatively, other businesses are unprepared to handle their interns, which means your time on the clock might involve a lot of thumb-twiddling and coffee-fetching. Not exactly enriching.
- Will I learn something new? I've had some really great internships, but when applying for new ones I try to aim for different experiences. For example, I've worked for a print newspaper, but now I'm looking into online-only publications. This way, I'll learn which type of media I prefer, as well as virtually doubling my knowledge of the industry as a whole.
Full disclosure: I'm one of those privileged jerks who can afford to work an unpaid internship or two, but I still have some qualms with the system, even if it benefits me.
Are unpaid internships unfair? Under what conditions are you willing to work for free?
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Comments (17)
I had a professor once tell me "never take an unpaid programming job". Good advice because once students start doing it for free at one company it may catch on and pretty soon the only internships out there are unpaid ones!
I probably wouldn't take any unpaid position, it's just not worth it(for software developers)
I probably wont unless there was a good chance that I would get another job after it.
I took two unpaid internships, but neither one resulted in a job :(
Im still job searching and Im scared that I might have to work in fast food soon, lol. =/
i would love to do an internship just for experience but i would probably be less commit than i am to my job since there isn't money involved
& if you think unpaid internships are unfair, think of it as volunteer work
would i work for free?
HECK TO THE NOES.
I think you are using the wrong word. You are not working for free. You are being taught therefore you are getting something out of it. How many college courses would you need to pay to take to get the equivalent of the training you had at your internship? You are also getting some networking out of it.... a toe in the door so to speak. So even though the position is unpaid you are not doing it for free. I do a lot of unpaid work but none of it is really free as I pretty much always get something out of it.
Right now, I'm considering working for free if it means I can get my foot in the door. For now at least.
I would. As long as the job looked good on my resume and didn't take up too much time (I would still keep another job on the side; I've always worked two jobs or more). I think it would be beneficial to seeing if the internship was going to lead to better things or if the career path is something I want to pursue for pay. It sucks, but it's part of the climb to making a career, imo. I would say that while I am a middle class individual, I pay for my own education and do have to work to make it. I think if a person really wants to intern (unpaid), they will find a way to do so by keeping a job on the side. It wouldn't be easy, but not much in life is :)
Title thoughts: Dinotopia~
Subject thoughts: Volunteer experience
In real life: Not if it's too long and not if that's the only thing I'm doing.
After my cousin graduated college, she could get any internship she wanted, but none of them paid. She joined up with one, and quit once she realized it was never going to go anywhere.
Intern as a condom tester or a video game tester. I quake in fear when I think of horrible video games to test (Barbie, Superman 64, and the like)
I'm fortunate enough to have a paid internship teaching English. Free rent, the money is GOOD, and I'm living in a different country.
The only work I do for free is humanitarian work. If someone else is (financially) profiting off of my work, forget it.
I done things like this, where I done placements, work trails etc and have never been took on, because it was much cheaper for them to take on some else when my course and qualifcation was completed.
I would do work experience, if I can get a reference from the employer, get my lunch paid for, bus fair paid for
Also I know when I get a paid job this will not work, I can fit my college course around it at the times I want to if I am not getting a penny for working for the company.
Also the work experience got to be worth it, quite a few times it has been know where their have been nothing for me to do for a few days.
Like you said, only if it's a stepping stone and not a complete waste of time.
I started a company this past Summer and we used unpaid interns to help get our company off the ground. As a startup business venture, it was valuable experience for the interns to be able to experience firsthand of what goes into a business and we were not in a position to actually pay people, let alone myself!
It is appropriate for companies to have unpaid interns if they have the intention of hiring them after a certain period, or if they are in a financial position to do so.
Some of the unpaid interns I recruited to work with this Summer have actually been able to benefit directly by transitioning to different jobs, or even starting their own companies, as I enjoyed helping them do so.
If you are looking for an unpaid internship, talk to me as I am currently looking for unpaid interns to assist with the online marketing of Chai University - a project based in NYC that I'm working on in immediate need of marketing and graphic interns!
I would definitely love to be able to do an internship, but since I have 2 kids to feed and bills to pay, I basically feel like I am working for free, anyway, so
actuallyworking for free, is sort of out of the question. The problem with internships, is the inherent bias. People in situations, such as mine, or people who live independently and really have to support themselves, are pretty much out of the running for an internship, because they can't afford to work for free. It minimizes the diversity of candidates, for internships.
Every internship I've had was paid, luckily. I don't know what I'd do about an unpaid one. Really depends on how long the internship goes, what my chances are of getting hired permanently (and I've been turned down already due to the economy), and how my finances are going. I live with my boyfriend, so if I got an unpaid internship I know he'd give me a break financially because I'd be working my butt off at the internship, trying to beef up my resume.
I'm in one of those gaps in my resume, btw. =(