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This is a very neat and detailed infographic. Having worked an unpaid internship, it was frustrating to do the same work that paid employees were doing right next to me. At the end of my time, although I did learn a lot, I felt kind of cheated. What was the distinction between the paid labor and the unpaid interns?! We were doing the same thing!
I suppose I'll be very hard pressed to accept an unpaid "internship" in the future. I definitely learned my lesson.
It's interesting to think about how many college students are subconsciously settling for way less than they deserve. It is true that many companies that offer unpaid internships are basically cheating people out of earned money, however phrases such as "networking opportunities," and "possible future" have driven naive college students to, what seems to be, a brick wall. These corporations are taking advantage of college grads who don't know their value in the industry, and that is wrong. They see the potential, and act quickly before students realize that they work just as hard as those already in business. Graduating college is a major accomplishment that not everyone has done, so grads need to realize this and acknowledge their assets. College grads should be aware that they are the heart of many of these companies. Their hard work and dedication is what allows them to be successful and prosperous. If we, young people, stood up to these greedy businesses and demanded our rightful pay, maybe less people would get cheated out of their money.
This article brings up a point I had never really considered before, and in a very interesting and engaging way. It is perfectly normal to hear about friends' exciting summer internships during our college years; in fact, it's abnormal if about half our friends don't take such internships. But money is such a taboo to be spoken about that it is never shared whether they are paid internships or if my friends are working for free. However, I now realize what a problem the prevalence of unpaid internships is. It is extremely unfair for college students who have rent to pay, food to buy, and insanely high tuitions to spend the summer working for a company, doing menial tasks for them and only being given basic skills of their trade and only receiving a pat on the shoulder and maybe a good recommendation if they're very lucky before being sent on their way back to school with no real new assets to speak of. If someone is working for a company, no matter what that job may be or how low it is on the food chain, they should be compensated for that work with more than empty promises.
Before I get into my response to this article I would like to say that I liked how they presented the information in a comic book style. This made it much easier, and enjoyable, to read.
Personally, I think that unpaid internships are a great thing. This past summer I was an unpaid intern for a production company, and it was an amazing experience! Not only did I learn a ton, meet a lot professionals, but I also learned about what it means to work in a setting that is not academic. Having done this the summer after my senior year in high school, and before my freshman year at CMU, I can say that I now fully understand my teachers when they say, "remember this now because it will help you when you are out working." This is because I have seen how it works. I was also lucky enough to get paid at the end of the summer as a thank you for all of my work.
I really enjoyed how they presented this article. I thought that the comic strip idea was inventive and really easy for the viewer/reader to comprehend. I think it is funny how often we as students look for internships, only to realize that they are unpaid. Although I strongly believe that an internship is a way to get work that you might not otherwise get, I do believe that there should at least be a stipend of some sort. It is only fair to assume that the internship is costing the student some amount of money, and that they should be given some money to offset any costs. However, if the internship provides food and housing, but is unpaid, it is definitely still worth it. I'm not sure that there is a way to get rid of the "unpaid intern" position, but it certainly is a great thought!
I believe unpaid internships have the potential to be great and the potential to be awful. My older brother just graduated from college and, after a few months of applying and interviewing, he finally got an offer to be an unpaid intern for a respectable professional in his field. Even though it was not ideal for my brother to come straight out of college and go into a job where he wasn't getting paid, he believed it was justified and worth his time. He believed that his unpaid internship would lead to a full-time paid position, or at least a letter of recommendation from his influential employer that would help him find a full-time job elsewhere. After about a month into his internship, my brother was being overworked and verbally abused by his employer. At that point, the unpaid internship was not worth it for him any longer. Not only was he not getting paid, but he was also being mistreated and wasn't learning anything from his internship. My brother's experience tells me that unpaid internships are only worth it under two conditions. The first is that you will learn from the internship, and come out of it more informed, skilled, and capable for your profession. The second is that you will come out of the internship with something, other than money that will help you in the future, such as a letter of recommendation.
You can learn a lot from an unpaid internship; you can learn just as much from a paid internship or assistantship. I have often wondered why students, who are already spending an uncountable amount of dollars on their education, are asked again to give up paid opportunities for the sake of learning during the summer. I have done unpaid internships, some have been great, others have been terrible. However, I universally felt as though I should have been making money for my time. It's terrible to watch someone who does just as much as you do be able to get paid just because they aren't a student.
When I was looking at internship opportunities for this past summer, my stipulation was that I couldn't lose money on the experience. Yes, this instantly eliminated a large number of unpaid internships from some very well-known companies. I chose to work at a place I had never heard of, but who would provide travel, housing, and a stipend. The internship was fine, but I wasn't thrilled with it. The fact that I was being paid (however meagerly) meant that I was less annoyed with the situations I dealt with, as I actually was being compensated for the work I was doing. The fact that I wasn't losing money on the experience certainly kept my morale up. If I wasn't being paid, things would have turned out much worse.
This is an amazing infographic; not only is it clear and entertaining, but it provides a lot of valuable information in a relatively short article. I have to say that I completely agree with Matt Bors, the author of this article. It is not fair that young adults should be forced into working for free because it is a way to get into their industry. The issue of unpaid internships seems to be especially prevalent in the arts, and I have had to pass up several opportunities with arts organizations in the past because I could not afford to do an unpaid internship. As pointed out in this article, young adults who do not have wealthy families need these things called paying jobs in order to support themselves and pay for school. I am thrilled that these lawsuits are taking place and being won, because this is a serious issue with the business culture in America and it is going to continue to negatively affect younger generations if nothing is done about it. I understand that some students feel that they need to take unpaid internships because they need the experience and need to make connections in their industry, but I hope those students start to figure out that they are valuable human beings and that they should be respected and compensated for their time and effort.
9 comments:
This is a very neat and detailed infographic. Having worked an unpaid internship, it was frustrating to do the same work that paid employees were doing right next to me. At the end of my time, although I did learn a lot, I felt kind of cheated. What was the distinction between the paid labor and the unpaid interns?! We were doing the same thing!
I suppose I'll be very hard pressed to accept an unpaid "internship" in the future. I definitely learned my lesson.
It's interesting to think about how many college students are subconsciously settling for way less than they deserve. It is true that many companies that offer unpaid internships are basically cheating people out of earned money, however phrases such as "networking opportunities," and "possible future" have driven naive college students to, what seems to be, a brick wall. These corporations are taking advantage of college grads who don't know their value in the industry, and that is wrong. They see the potential, and act quickly before students realize that they work just as hard as those already in business. Graduating college is a major accomplishment that not everyone has done, so grads need to realize this and acknowledge their assets. College grads should be aware that they are the heart of many of these companies. Their hard work and dedication is what allows them to be successful and prosperous. If we, young people, stood up to these greedy businesses and demanded our rightful pay, maybe less people would get cheated out of their money.
This article brings up a point I had never really considered before, and in a very interesting and engaging way. It is perfectly normal to hear about friends' exciting summer internships during our college years; in fact, it's abnormal if about half our friends don't take such internships. But money is such a taboo to be spoken about that it is never shared whether they are paid internships or if my friends are working for free. However, I now realize what a problem the prevalence of unpaid internships is. It is extremely unfair for college students who have rent to pay, food to buy, and insanely high tuitions to spend the summer working for a company, doing menial tasks for them and only being given basic skills of their trade and only receiving a pat on the shoulder and maybe a good recommendation if they're very lucky before being sent on their way back to school with no real new assets to speak of. If someone is working for a company, no matter what that job may be or how low it is on the food chain, they should be compensated for that work with more than empty promises.
Before I get into my response to this article I would like to say that I liked how they presented the information in a comic book style. This made it much easier, and enjoyable, to read.
Personally, I think that unpaid internships are a great thing. This past summer I was an unpaid intern for a production company, and it was an amazing experience! Not only did I learn a ton, meet a lot professionals, but I also learned about what it means to work in a setting that is not academic. Having done this the summer after my senior year in high school, and before my freshman year at CMU, I can say that I now fully understand my teachers when they say, "remember this now because it will help you when you are out working." This is because I have seen how it works. I was also lucky enough to get paid at the end of the summer as a thank you for all of my work.
I really enjoyed how they presented this article. I thought that the comic strip idea was inventive and really easy for the viewer/reader to comprehend. I think it is funny how often we as students look for internships, only to realize that they are unpaid. Although I strongly believe that an internship is a way to get work that you might not otherwise get, I do believe that there should at least be a stipend of some sort. It is only fair to assume that the internship is costing the student some amount of money, and that they should be given some money to offset any costs. However, if the internship provides food and housing, but is unpaid, it is definitely still worth it. I'm not sure that there is a way to get rid of the "unpaid intern" position, but it certainly is a great thought!
I believe unpaid internships have the potential to be great and the potential to be awful. My older brother just graduated from college and, after a few months of applying and interviewing, he finally got an offer to be an unpaid intern for a respectable professional in his field. Even though it was not ideal for my brother to come straight out of college and go into a job where he wasn't getting paid, he believed it was justified and worth his time. He believed that his unpaid internship would lead to a full-time paid position, or at least a letter of recommendation from his influential employer that would help him find a full-time job elsewhere. After about a month into his internship, my brother was being overworked and verbally abused by his employer. At that point, the unpaid internship was not worth it for him any longer. Not only was he not getting paid, but he was also being mistreated and wasn't learning anything from his internship. My brother's experience tells me that unpaid internships are only worth it under two conditions. The first is that you will learn from the internship, and come out of it more informed, skilled, and capable for your profession. The second is that you will come out of the internship with something, other than money that will help you in the future, such as a letter of recommendation.
You can learn a lot from an unpaid internship; you can learn just as much from a paid internship or assistantship. I have often wondered why students, who are already spending an uncountable amount of dollars on their education, are asked again to give up paid opportunities for the sake of learning during the summer. I have done unpaid internships, some have been great, others have been terrible. However, I universally felt as though I should have been making money for my time. It's terrible to watch someone who does just as much as you do be able to get paid just because they aren't a student.
When I was looking at internship opportunities for this past summer, my stipulation was that I couldn't lose money on the experience. Yes, this instantly eliminated a large number of unpaid internships from some very well-known companies. I chose to work at a place I had never heard of, but who would provide travel, housing, and a stipend. The internship was fine, but I wasn't thrilled with it. The fact that I was being paid (however meagerly) meant that I was less annoyed with the situations I dealt with, as I actually was being compensated for the work I was doing. The fact that I wasn't losing money on the experience certainly kept my morale up. If I wasn't being paid, things would have turned out much worse.
This is an amazing infographic; not only is it clear and entertaining, but it provides a lot of valuable information in a relatively short article. I have to say that I completely agree with Matt Bors, the author of this article. It is not fair that young adults should be forced into working for free because it is a way to get into their industry. The issue of unpaid internships seems to be especially prevalent in the arts, and I have had to pass up several opportunities with arts organizations in the past because I could not afford to do an unpaid internship. As pointed out in this article, young adults who do not have wealthy families need these things called paying jobs in order to support themselves and pay for school. I am thrilled that these lawsuits are taking place and being won, because this is a serious issue with the business culture in America and it is going to continue to negatively affect younger generations if nothing is done about it. I understand that some students feel that they need to take unpaid internships because they need the experience and need to make connections in their industry, but I hope those students start to figure out that they are valuable human beings and that they should be respected and compensated for their time and effort.
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