Comments on: What’s an Unpaid Internship Worth?

By: Nate Jones@twitter

Nate Jones@twitter — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 00:02:23 +0000

@chic noir Exactly! Besides essentially marking entire industries as “rich only,” unpaid internships depress wages across entire segments of the economy. They’ve basically turned being paid for your labor from a right into a privilege. Why hire anyone if you can get someone to do the same work for free?

By: Beans

Beans — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 01:36:08 +0000

I did a few internships during college, but mixed them in with retail jobs and a summering work as a field hand at a local farm. When I was interviewing for what became my first post-college job, one of the last things my interviewer said to me was that she really liked that I had worked on a farm.

I feel like doing manual work- really LABORING- speaks volumes about someone’s work ethic in a way that a summer spent in front of a computer (or in line at a coffee shop) cannot. Yes, you definitely can gain something from a stint as an office-based intern, but don’t be afraid to really get your hands dirty too, whether it be on a farm or wrangling kids at a summer camp.

By: chic noir

chic noir — Wed, 30 May 2012 23:30:03 +0000

I find it funny how few people are against unpaid internships but many people will raise hell about someone applying for food stamps. Well that tells you our priorities are as Americans.

Unpaid internships, I think are a reason so many media and fashion outlets are hiring or paying little to nothing since they know there are always people willing to work for free.

By: DickensianCat

DickensianCat — Wed, 30 May 2012 21:08:51 +0000

@City_Dater Exactly! Waitresses bust their asses!

I’ve never waited tables, but I did retail, and I’ve never worked as hard in my life as I did working in a shoe store for a couple of summers. Being on my feet for 8 hour shifts, correctly maintaining and counting the cash drawer every night, applying discounts and verifying checks, not to mention cleaning and picking up after people who treat the place like their living room–an office job, even on busy days, never holds a candle to that. All these years later I still have this guilty sense of “getting away with something” for being able to sit at a computer most of the day, peck comments on the Billfold, and collect a paycheck :o)

By: liznieve

liznieve — Wed, 30 May 2012 20:51:04 +0000

@jfruh
Heh, and it’s used professionally as well. Until licensed (usually about 3 years out of school, -ish), architects legally must be called interns. Which, considering grad school and everything, means there are a fuck ton of 30 year old interns out there, who nevertheless are getting paid a (low, but still) living wage to do a real job.

By: Titania

Titania — Wed, 30 May 2012 19:52:02 +0000

@stuffisthings I graduated five years ago, in 2007, so I can’t really say what kids are doing now. Had my first magazine internship as a sophomore in high school, did one every summer until I graduated college, and the last summer I had two (one three days a week, one two days a week) and got hired for my first job out of one of those. I don’t necessarily regret it–I’ve supported myself full-time as a writer and editor in NYC ever since–but I should have been a little less work-focused along the way. All but one of mine are unpaid, and I will totally cop to all of the advantages that growing up in the NYC suburbs with no financial need to work gives a person, because I had ‘em. I’ve rarely met anyone with more than mine; I’d say 3 is the norm now from the resumes I’ve seen.

By: City_Dater

City_Dater — Wed, 30 May 2012 19:27:46 +0000

@DickensianCat

I once got an entry level job at an ad agency (total survival gig but if I had wanted to work in the industry, I could have moved up from it easily) because I had years of waitressing experience. The CEO hired me on the spot because he believes there is no better general preparation for the working world than waiting tables. (He’s probably right!) You never know what skill or work experience on your resume is going to jump out at a potential employer, so you might as well be doing something you find meaningful or actually making real money, rather than slaving for free somewhere because someone else is convinced you need the “experience.”

By: Megano!

Megano! — Wed, 30 May 2012 19:19:48 +0000

@stuffisthings Yup.

By: cliuless

cliuless — Wed, 30 May 2012 18:55:24 +0000

I’m just curious as to the distinctions everyone is making between paid and unpaid internships. How can you tell when hiring? Is that something that gets asked in interviews? Wages aren’t reported on resumes, and the only times I’ve had to list them have been when applying to low-paying hourly wage jobs.

By: hmm

hmm — Wed, 30 May 2012 18:33:53 +0000

I really value my unpaid intern experience. I work in film and went to school in NY, so while having paid internships sounded great, I found there really were not many paid options. By the time I graduated, I had completed six unpaid internships, and I did not have very financially supportive parents, so this meant a lot of weird part time jobs at odd hours and entire summers sleeping on friends’ couches so I wouldn’t have to pay rent. It was trying, and obviously some internships were more interesting than others, but I found it very beneficial. I had a job offer from one of my internships before I graduated, and I have tons of contacts who (at least sometimes) send my resume out when I am looking for the next show or project. I am now two years out of college and have had no more than a week between projects, and I think a lot of that has to do with how prepared I was because of my internships.