<p>In the Boston Globe today: a 4 box cartoon, picturing a commencement speaker in robe and mortarboard.</p>
<p>Box #1 It's tough out there...
Box #2 ...but if you take your education and apply yourselves
Box #3 ...you will eventually succeed in finding...
Box 34 ...an unpaid internship!</p>
<p>p.s. There is a new book out: "Intern Nation," about the whole internship phenomenon...might be interesting to read.</p>
<p>I will line up to read a book like that, compmom. My DD is deeply involved in an intern-heavy field (even before the economic downturn) and I’m amazed and appalled at how the system works. That said, the system has really worked for her, save a fair wage. She loves what she does and gets incredible responsibility and experience because the industry relies so heavily on interns. We’re beyond delighted because her current summer internship does not require college credit plus she gets a small stipend. Woo hoo, she won’t work to be in the red! And I do believe she will leave college in a year with a (low) paying job as a result and hopefully she’ll be on her way.</p>
<p>I read a review of the book, and it apparently covers the fact that internships are pretty much obligatory in many fields, usually unpaid in liberal arts/arts areas. That this reliance on internships hurts kids who cannot afford to work for nothing. And that many companies/organizations are exploiting the free labor, without meeting basic guidelines that would define an “internship” (such as benefiting the student more than the organization).</p>
<p>But my daughter is also thriving with two internships in the area of music (booking agency, edgy orchestra), working a full-time week and learning a lot about the business, herself, and what she wants to do. No money, no credit, but good stuff.</p>
<p>It is hard to help a 21 year-old out with basics like train fare or clothes, especially when a sibling is washing dishes and paying for her own things. Luckily, the sibling also just got an internship in the arts (even with a stipend) so equality will be restored to siblings, but I will end up paying more for clothes and train!</p>
<p>So I am adding two days of work in a store to pay for their internships :)</p>
<p>Training an intern is not trivial. The company has to look for its bottom line. If they can find someone with required skill set, interns will be bumped out. Pure economics. On the other hand, for large corporation and or NP organization, “good citizenship” is of higher concern, then we will have a better chance for interns.</p>
<p>It is illegal for a for-profit company to have unpaid interns UNLESS they can quantify the educational value (like if the kid gets college credit for the internship). Otherwise they have to pay at least minimum wage. Of course, this seems to be routinely ignored, and I think the kids are being taken advantage of. Who wouldn’t want free labor from someone eager to get “experience”? And why should I hire a full-time person if the job can be done by a series of interns?</p>
<p>I thought the reason we sent kids to college was to take classes, study and learn. Not to go out and do free work for companies. Why can’t college be about taking college classes, and getting a job afterward? Why is it now virtually “mandatory” to have an internship before you graduate?</p>
<p>It’s not fair to kids who need to earn money, and it’s a violation of labor laws. :mad:</p>
<p>totally agree with above comments…</p>
<p>fwiw, my daughter commented that unpaid internships are few and far between this summer…
the internships just don’t exist (they haven’t turn into paid ones)…apparently, alot of the companies got scared when the Dept of Labor starting looking into this practice…</p>
<p>The next few years will be interesting with the backlash that has recently occured…</p>
<p>My daughter just got a call back about the internship she is hoping for. Unpaid and she will get college credit - which means we actually have to pay her school for 3 hours of tuition and fees for her to do the internship. But she is excited to finally get one. She has been trying for a while without success, including at the place she got the call back from. No success until she was doing a completely different thing at the organization and happened to meet the person in charge of the internships. Was told to resubmit her application by snail mail addressed to the person she met. It really is about the people you know a lot of the time.</p>
<p>Have to disagree about manditory paid internships at least from an ethical aspect. There are instances where an intern actually is a hinderance - not trained enough to do a lot of useful work, but requires someone to slow down and teach and monitor; the productivity can actually decrease. </p>
<p>DD2 wants to be a vet and goes to the local shelter but there’s only that much that takes place there. If she wants to watch more in depth treatment or procedures, the only places to go are animal hospitals or vets, and she doesn’t bring anything to the table there for her to get paid. I’d hate for her to be turned down because they are not prepared to pay her for her to learn. If it actually came to that where the employers are forced to pay, I’d suggest they offer a “course”, charge twenty bucks and have her shadow them and give a “certificate” at the end. Of course if all she did when she went there was mop the floors, she has the right to walk out.</p>