Unpaid Internship Debate

[Bigman38]

The most compelling case I've seen for mandatory pay is how much the current system favors people with enough support and money that they can go months without a paying job. It's just another advantage given to a group of people who already have the scales tipped in their favor.

I hadn't thought about that aspect of it before, and it's enough for me to be on the side of eliminating unpaid internships.

 

[06_CY]

We pay our interns just a tad under what we pay new hires right out of school. It's one of the reasons we get so many applicants for the internships. Our staff have really embraced having summer interns.

 

[cycloneML]

Slap the experience on your resume and be grateful and stop the cry titting.

 

[BCClone]

Always gotta watch out for those interns named Monica.

 

[Cyched]

Slap the experience on your resume and be grateful and stop the cry titting.

 

[dualthreat]

Literally just spent 4 years paying thousands of dollars to learn skills to help you in your career.

what does that work out to hourly?

 

[cowgirl836]

Internships are a great way for companies to find potential future hires. I think they should be paid and viewed as an investment from the company’s standpoint as they get to make contact with future potential hires and have them for a trial period before committing to hiring them.

This. We get a ton of FT personnel from internships. Myself included. They should be paid.

 

[RLD4ISU]

Lets not forget student teaching is the exact same thing, only required by the state.

Same for nurses, paramedics, radiologic technologists and many other healthcare professions. It’s listed as Clinical on the curriculum, so you pay the college for it. Granted, at first you’re not able to do much. But by the last term (or sooner) you’re able to do go straight into the workforce with only minimal training. Or zero if you did your clinical at the hospital that hires you.

 

[cowgirl836]

The most compelling case I've seen for mandatory pay is how much the current system favors people with enough support and money that they can go months without a paying job. It's just another advantage given to a group of people who already have the scales tipped in their favor.

I hadn't thought about that aspect of it before, and it's enough for me to be on the side of eliminating unpaid internships.

Exactly. You exclude a large chunk of talent by not paying. So it costs you in the long run as you lose out on talent.

 

[dualthreat]

Lets not forget student teaching is the exact same thing, only required by the state.

No, you have to PAY to student teach. Full tuition.

 

[SCNCY]

If the intern is an employee of the company, they should get paid. If they are performing tasks or work, they should get paid.

If they are simply if job shadowing, then probably no pay is needed.

 

[cycloneML]

Exactly. You exclude a large chunk of talent by not paying. So it costs you in the long run as you lose out on talent.

Maybe just pay everyone who applied? How about pay every junior even if they didn’t apply?

 

[DeereClone]

This. We get a ton of FT personnel from internships. Myself included. They should be paid.

Same for me - my internship before my senior year of college led to my first full time job upon graduation.

Frankly, I would have worked a regular hourly job over an unpaid internship because I couldn’t afford to go all summer without making money.

 

[jcisuclones]

I had two internships in Minor League Baseball when I was in college. One was paid, and the other wasn't, but my housing was paid for. The unpaid internship had A LOT more work to do than my paid one was, and it was just a complete mental drag, because it truly felt like I was there as just free labor. It was for a class that was required to graduate though, but still, morale was way low.

 

[CycloneErik]

Lets not forget student teaching is the exact same thing, only required by the state.

An absolute sham.

 

[Macloney]

Volunteering work to someone who needs it is admirable.

Working for a profitable company for free makes you a sucker.

If it leads to a job then I guess it wasn't free, it was just another form of payment.

 

[jpete24]

Nobody should work for free anymore.

 

[cowgirl836]

Maybe just pay everyone who applied? How about pay every junior even if they didn’t apply?

I'm going to stick with paying the people I hire.

 

[Clonefan32]

The most compelling case I've seen for mandatory pay is how much the current system favors people with enough support and money that they can go months without a paying job. It's just another advantage given to a group of people who already have the scales tipped in their favor.

I hadn't thought about that aspect of it before, and it's enough for me to be on the side of eliminating unpaid internships.

I'm fine with that, so long as you carefully craft the definition of internship. I'm sense that things could be trending this way and I hope they don't take too broad of stroke to eliminate good faith efforts to get young people experience.

 

[MJ29]

I was a journalism major. Finding a paid internship was difficult. But I couldn't afford to do an unpaid internship. I was from a tiny tiny town, so it's not like I could go home and work for a local company. My college was also in a small town with limited opportunities. Even then, I would have had to figure out housing. My family wasn't wealthy enough for me to be able to spend a summer/semester living in bigger city without earning some money to help pay living costs. I wasn't paid a lot at either of my internships (marketing dept at the Iowa State Fair and newsroom at the Fort Dodge Messenger), but getting at least some kind of paycheck made it possible for me to take advantage of the opportunities. And I was producing content at all of my internship locations, so it's not like the companies were getting nothing for their investment.