The post about The Intern Group made me wonder. Are there still many unpaid internships? I know they were a thing a few years ago but I thought that the government sort of put the kibosh on them.
My niece is doing one overseas this summer. It sounds like fun but she is responsible for getting there and finding her own housing. So it seems that unpaid internships are stilling happening overseas but what about here in the U.S.?
There was a whole thread on this last summer:
Check the applicable state law. Here, for example, is WA:
http://www.lni.wa.gov/workplacerights/files/unpaidinternshipsfactsheet.pdf
Thanks @HarvestMoon1 I thought this was talked about but could not find the thread. And thanks BB, good to know that.
Yes, there are still plenty of unpaid internships.
Teacher internships have been around forever and AFAIK are always unpaid.
Gobs of them. Almost all DC internships or other political internships are unpaid. Publishing and fashion are other industries notorious for them. I told my kids that they needed to pay the expenses themselves if they took an unpaid internship where they couldn’t live at home (and one did for a summer in DC in a congressional office).
Soooo many unpaid internships. Summer positions I received pay for back in my professional schooling days (pharmacy, then law) are now unpaid internships and unpaid post-grad positions. Appalling.
One daughter in a master’s program could get a grant for an unpaid internship through her school, but it requires the entity offering the internship to open their financial books to the school. So that’s pretty much a non-starter. Other daughter will intern s a large city (expensive city) public defenders’ as unpaid intern. Luckily her school does provide some grant money. (Yes, ‘Big Law’ pays ‘big money’ for summer interns, but she wants to work in public interest as a public defender).
D had a few publishing internships and they were paid.
S is looking for something this summer. At this point we are so discouraged he would gladly take an unpaid internship!
I think paid internships are very much dependent on the major. My oldest son (English major) never could get one, paid or unpaid. My youngest son (cyber-security) had a paid one from Sophomore summer on and continued working remotely during the school year. His friends in the same major also had paid ones.
Kid did an unpaid internship at a global non-profit last summer. She got a sweet deal: free housing in her boss’s extra apartment and a research project that allowed her to graduate early. In the end, it paid off.
Many colleges strike a deal with non-profits to call these unpaid internships “externships” and offer college credit to “legalize” them.
I don’t have a problem with the “unpaid” internships like the one that @Bunsen describes above. Housing is provided and the student benefited by being able to graduate early - to me those things are in fact “income”, although not in the traditional sense.
I do have a problem with straight out unpaid internships. My D was offered a couple last summer when she had just finished up high school. I really encouraged her to hold out for something that would compensate her for her contributions. She did hold out and ended up with a paid internship at a tech start up. It was not a lot of money, but it was enough that she was able to save a little for spending money at college. For me, it was important that she got the message that she needs to value herself in the marketplace.
There are many who take advantage of young folks, giving them “experience” with no cash and often nothing that is actually a useful skill. Careful vetting can and taking to prior interns can help sort value from abuse.
My summer internship was paid and I’m planning on being an intern again before I head off to grad school. However, this may change if I don’t get in grad school. I’ll be focusing my efforts on obtaining a permanent job. In my major (geology) its the norm to be paid somehow.
D is fortunate enough to have an internship in France where by law, all interns must be paid. Fortunately she will be in a smaller city, where her wages and the cost of rent meet up a little better than in Paris.
Where the entry-level internship is commonly unpaid, students and job seekers should take that as a warning about the competitiveness of and difficulty of entry into that type of job.
One of mine had an unpaid internship, but fortunately it was in his college town so the rent on the lease continued on whether he was there or not and he got college credit so that took the sting out. He needed the “internship” to graduate so felt locked in. He tended bar at night as a j-o-b. I think unpaid internships are a check the box thing and I’m pretty opposed to them if they are “part” of a college requirement and not optional enrichment. So far all of mine have enough real jobs on their resumes that the ‘internships’ are a blip and were a hurdle to clear for the college - not for the kid and did not make or break the two oldest’s ability to land a job shortly after graduation.
My D is doing one right now for a well known non-profit. She does get lots of catered lunches. LOL
It will look really good on her resume and she really feels like she is having some impact in a small way. There were no shortage of people applying -lots of people are turned down. So I guess they are still a thing
If I had a kid who had never had a real job I’d be all over the internship. For kids that have worked since they were 16, not as important.
an unpaid internship maybe a foot in the door so it is worth $$$ long term. (as well as the experience). I agree with momofthreeboys about high schoolwork experience makes the internship less important. I also think that a job in a fast food joint builds more character than a summer at a publishing house make coffee runs and picking up philly cheese steaks for the boss (just my opinion)