<p>The Secret of my Succe$s?</p>
<p>You do realize that education majors have been doing unpaid internships forever, right? I’m all for paid internships but what’s more important then being paid is the experience, the job on the resume, connections and just plain putting the education into practice. My son is in a technical major and expects paid summer internships but if he can’t get a paid one, then I’m going to strongly encourage an unpaid one instead of nothing.</p>
<p>I agree - and let’s remember what constitutes an internship. To be an internship, by law, there can be no immediate advantage to the employer.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court says:
- The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment; </p>
<ol>
<li><p>The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern; </p></li>
<li><p>The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff; </p></li>
<li><p>The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;</p></li>
<li><p>The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and</p></li>
<li><p>The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If ANY of these conditions are not met, it is not an internship.</p>
<p><a href=“Missing Content - Office of General Counsel - The Catholic University of America | CUA”>Missing Content - Office of General Counsel - The Catholic University of America | CUA;
<p>that sounds like a really crappy internship… I did an unpaid think tank internship from home for a few hours a week, and I also did an unpaid internship with a government department. The government department gave me lots of opportunities, including sitting in (and being the note taker) for a meeting with the Deputy Secretary and foreign politicians and a different meeting with 20+ ambassadors. There is no reason your kid shouldn’t be able to sit in on the meetings at this “internship” that he is considering.</p>
<p>One of my Ds is intested in fashion. I looked up some unpaid internships at retail stores. The interns at one well known chain are basically working the exact same job as the paid minimum wage sales associates, only for free.</p>
<p>I’d report them to the Department of Labor. It’s a form of corporate theft. It is not just stealing from the intern. It is stealing from the employee who needs more hours. It is stealing from the unemployed who could use the job. It is stealing from the taxpayer who pays for unemployment, or for medical insurance for the employee who can’t get enough hours to qualify for health insurance, or for those who pay for health insurance when the employee goes to the emergency room.</p>
<p>If work is being done that lightens the load of the employer, it is NOT an internship, regardless of what it is called. That’s the law.</p>
<p>My daughter did an internship in the summer without having to pay for the fees to her college. However, she had been interned for at least 6 months with this firm. I don’t know how she did it but I never had to pay a dime for summer school.</p>
<p>This reminds me of a recent email from our school from a professional sports team looking for interns. They make it sound so important, phrasing it as, We’ve already offered this to MIT and Harvard students, but now we’re offering it to you! Obviously, the Ivy League kids know better. It makes me laugh, as we have a Triple A baseball team in our town, and every summer, I see the poor interns come in. And yes, they are unpaid labor. And yes, they have to pay to live in an apartment for the “privilege” of this internship. They basically get to clean up the stadium after the ball game, and the ownership is too cheap to pay for custodial staff, so they suck these poor college interns into doing it for free.</p>
<p>There is a professional sports team (one I had never heard of but professional nonetheless) that has interns voted off every week until only two are left. Those two get paid.</p>
<p>Sorry - one intern is voted off monthly not weekly. They post pictures of the voted off interns with “Gored” across their pictures. I don’t know how long they work to earn the money prizes for the two who are left. The team is the Amarillo Bulls hockey team. They start with 7 interns. The winner gets $5,000 and the runner up $2,000.</p>
<p>Okay, looking at the pictures of the interns, they gored 6 and left only one getting paid, even though it says 2 get cash prizes.<br>
I don’t know if this is a reflection that sports management majors are a dime a dozen and they are so desperate for internships as to take these positions. It seems demeaning to me. And how could they make plans for housing, etc, not knowing if they were going to be there one month or seven?</p>
<p>I have seen both side of the internship situation now.</p>
<p>D has been able to put together an amazing resume because of her mostly unpaid internships. She has worked for a celebrity PR firm, 2 high level entertainment companies, a major film/ Broadway producer and City Hall in NYC.</p>
<p>For one internship, I actually had to pay for summer credits that she didn’t need. So not only was it costing her to commute, pay for lunch, etc, but I was out $1400.</p>
<p>So now she is about to graduate–has tons of recommendations and people to contact --but guess what? There are very few entry level jobs!</p>
<p>Most of those positions are being filled by interns.</p>
<p>just like uskoolfish , my daughter participated in three unpaid internships…She worked her butt off for a few pats on the back and the standard " If you need a letter of recommendation …"
It’s unfortunate that some industries do not have to hire because they can just keep pulling from the endless pool of internship applicants, with stars in their eyes and big dreams. Seems unfair.</p>
<p>cnp55 - does Cornell have a database of internships? Your son should check those out.</p>
<p>My daughter is searching for an internship here in the Boston area. Unpaid ones are still to be found this time of year.</p>
<p>She’s been focusing on paid ones so far, sent out about 20 applications and had two interviews, one at Starwood hotels. (She found the listing for the Starwood hotels internship in the Ithaca College internship database.)</p>
<p>My sense is that your son should still be able to find a much more appropriate internship for the summer, especially as he is willing to take something unpaid.</p>
<p>The university requires that S2’s internship be unpaid. The internship must be related to his major and he must put in 375 hours of work (basically 40 hours/week) during the eleven week summer school session for which he is registered. Any hours worked before or after the summer school session don’t count! The university offers no help in securing the internship. It has been tough going. Lots of apps sent…no responses. S2’s diploma is being held hostage by the internship or lack thereof.<br>
At least student teachers get placement in the schools by the univ.</p>
<p>Actually, the Bell Curve guy (forgot his name) wrote an article in the NYT the other criticizing unpaid internships at such names as the Brookings Institution, the American Enterprise Institute, etc.</p>
<p>His contention was that unpaid internships served a big boon to upper-middle and upper-class students who could afford to take lots of time off doing “internships” while living on their parents’ dime, and years down the road, due to the contacts and experience that they have, they are at a big advantage to their middle-class counterparts who opted for paid work.</p>
<p>Interesting, indeed. But, to be fair, there’s a difference between the “free labor” of working for a prestigious firm where, provided that the family is wealthy enough, the contacts are worth more than the $$$ and the kind you describe.</p>
<p>Here’s an op-ed piece on the subject that just appeared in UChicago’s student newspaper:</p>
<p>[Opportunity</a> cost – The Chicago Maroon](<a href=“Saul Bellow, dead at 89 – Chicago Maroon”>Saul Bellow, dead at 89 – Chicago Maroon)</p>
<p>What I find distressing is that it is impossible in some fields to even be considered for an entry-level position unless one has one of these internships under his/her belt. And there are very few true entry-level positions in certain fields because what would once have qualified as such are now only offered as unpaid internships. So solving the age old conundrum of “you can’t get a job without experience, and you can’t get experience without a job” requires that college kids agree to work for free or worse.</p>
<p>It does not matter what you call it. You either do it or not, free choice. If you do not do it, the better for the next person in line, he will be happy to get in.
IMO, doing something real, be productive in whatever capacity definitely beats simply observing. D. sounds so happy when she is actually allowed to do something at various places of her enganements, she is feeling appreciated for that. Money will come at some point of time. But nobody is saying that one should not be applying for employment while interning. Many do both at the same time and many times various engagements last for several years. At least, it was the case for my D. While in UG, she was working, volunteering, and was lucky to have internship in Research Lab where she was actually doing work (thank goodness!), including writing proposals and getting grant money for Research at the beginning, presenting Research results at the end. All 3 lasted for about 3 years, while she was busy not only with academics but also taking MCAT, applying to Med. Schools, going for interviews, while re-arranging her busy schedule (including exams), dealing with various supervisors and profs, some of whom were more understanding than others. You do what needs to be done, or you do not, nobody is forcing anybody, it is a matter of choice.</p>
<p>To me, the most galling part is that he would be setting up for meetings and cleaning up after meetings but not allowed to sit in on meetings. The company is making a conscious effort to prevent an educational/“shadowing” aspect of the “internship.”</p>
<p>I read that Disney World/land has similar internships. Kids think they’re applying for entertainment experience, but what they are is glorified go-fers & picker-uppers.</p>