The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com: "During this great recession, more and more students and young people are accepting unpaid internships because there simply aren’t paying gigs available.
Some employers are taking advantage of this, deceiving young people and offering shallow experiences that won’t actually help them develop professional skills.
Now the Obama administration wants to crack down on these abusive practices."
4 comments:
I think it's really important that we all be selective in choosing internships, and keeping everything that this article mentions in mind when doing so. It's very easy to end up in an internship where you are doing the same things as the people who are getting paid, but you just aren't getting paid. If this is the case, then obviously you should be getting paid like everyone else. It's important that an internship is an actual learning experience, and not just a work experience. Of course, internships are important for making connections, and learning what your area of interest is like in the real world, but it's important to make sure that the company you are interning with are not the only people getting something out of your internship, it's important that you are too.
I'm so glad that some action is being taken against people trying to exploit interns for their free labor, as much as I think unpaid internships can be legitimate if they expose you to many learning and educational experiences its always hard for someone especially someone with limited professional experience to know if they are receiving the short end of the stick. Furthermore, interns are helpless because so much is being held over their heads, its so easy for a company o slander their workers and make them seem unqualified to receive more internships but its hard for interns to stand up for themselves because it will look like they're just young, lazy, irresponsible workers that are reluctant to do some hard work.
This article raises several good points. For many, having a summer internship is important to build a resume upon graduation, but because most internships are unpaid, many also have to take on a summer job to cover living expenses. The internship I have found for the summer offers a stipend only after a certain number of hours have been put in per week, which seems like a sort of compromise, but still doesn't provide any type of financial security, which is why, as this article states, those that are already privileged have more of an advantage in this field.
In looking for internships for this summer, one of the most important criterions for me was the things that extend beyond the “Day-To-Day” tasks that the job entails. While there is much to be learned from daily operations and doing the everyday things (and there is a lot you can learn about the process and how the company works), it is also the extensions such as meetings with other departments, networking, and professional development that make an internship different from an unpaid job. I also believe that this only furthers the idea that those who are already ahead, will continue to get opportunities.
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