About 2 weeks ago, my business communications professor forwarded me an email about a local brewing company that was looking for an intern, for the summer. The email was from the owner of the company and he specifically wanted someone to help them out with social media marketing. I thought this could be an interesting opportunity and would be good experience for me, since I’m only a freshman student.
However, the rest of the email indicates that the position would be unpaid. The company would give apparel and free beer as compensation. I do love free clothing and free beer would be great—although I’m not of drinking age so that wouldn’t apply to me
I just wanted some opinions. Do you guys think it’s worth it to take an unpaid internship? My gut feeling is no. I’m an accounting major, so my ultimate career won’t have anything to do with social media or marketing. Also I kind of feel like unpaid internship are a bit lame.
Well, the first question is what plans do you have for the summer? I’m not one to say take an unpaid internship, but if you have no other jobs lined up, why not? It’s something for your resume and who knows, maybe they’ll see that you’re an accounting major and you can get some experience with their accounting dept too.
I’m not even sure if it’s full time, but I assume so. The email that the owner sent was extremely vague.
The main points of the email are:
-unpaid, but receives free apparel/beer
-need help ramping up social media presence/content
-internship will take place during the summer
He mentions nothing about needing a marketing major, needing to be at least junior standing or any specific coursework that he would prefer.
My other plans were to just work at either Barnes & Noble or Old Navy this summer. So nothing too special. I was interested in the internship because nowadays it seems like every college grad needs internship experience to be competitive in the job market
To me this sounds like a rather cool way to spend the summer, which will be both pleasant and highly educational. While it doesn’t pay, it is probably less expensive than your university (unless you have very good financial aid). Would you be allowed to take a growler back to your parents from time to time?
There is an old saying: “In theory there is no difference between theory and practice, in practice there is a big difference”. Seeing how a company really works from inside is very valuable.
I have no issue with unpaid internships if they provide good mentoring and learning in an area that moves you forward along an intended career path. Not sure this one does from your description.
On the other hand, does a social media job for a smallish company need to be full-time? If you can squeeze it in as a part-time position in addition to another summer job making money, might be worthwhile.
Questions:
What else do you have lined up for the summer?
Is it near your home or other situation where you have free room & board?
This doesn’t sound legal. I assume this is not a government brewery but a private company. ‘Free’ means they aren’t paying minimum wage and they aren’t giving you college credit. No benefit to you.
A big NO for me. If they need work done they need to pay for it.
@DadTwoGirls Well I have a full ride, so my university technically costs nothing lol. I was drawn to the company because I kind of thought working in a brewery would be cool. And could you explain what “Would you be allowed to take a growler back you your parents from time to time” means? Not familiar with that phrase.
@doschicos I have nothing lined up for this summer. But since the position is helping with social media (AKA: updating Twitter/Facebook/Instagram accounts), I feel like that could be done from the comfort of home. Nothing about it would be difficult
@twoinanddone Oh wow, it had no idea it could be illegal. In the email, the owner included this :“Our company just received it’s Federal license to manufacture beer as a Microbrewery”.
If you have nothing else to do, why not? Arrange it as a part time position and look for something else to keep you busy and make some $$ the rest of your time this summer.
“Would you be allowed to take a growler back to your parents from time to time”
A growler is a reusable large bottle of beer. Typically growlers are refillable, and have a screw top. In the cases that I am aware of the customer purchases the growler and the beer, takes it home and drinks the beer, washes the growler, and then when they go back for more pay less because they are only buying the beer and not the bottle that it is in.
Having a federal license doesn’t make it a government position. Private companies have to pay employees minimum wage, has to comply with state and federal safety standards, has to pay the employer’s portion of taxes and withhold taxes.
There are requirements for offering unpaid internships and from what you wrote, I don’t think this company is meeting them. They want you to work for free.
The majority of the incoming sophomores probably do not do work relevant to their future career during the summer. At least none of my kids did. If money is not an issue it is an interesting internship that will come up during your future internship and job interviews. You will tell them that while you are a GreenTea Fanatic you worked for the beer. Just make sure you do not work from the comfort of your home but meet people and learn the business. If you have time look for the opportunities to intern in the accounting department too.
Social media experience probably won’t help an accounting career. Unpaid internships should be valuable experience that is WORTH what you should have been paid. I’d give this one a miss.
You might see if any local banks are hiring tellers.
Based on some of your responses, this internship wouldn’t be worth my time.
By next summer, I will have taken accounting I & II, a marketing class and a management class. So I will actually have some type of valuable coursework and not be useless to a company. I guess I’m just eager to start working in the business world
If you can do it part time while working a paid job, why not? I don’t think that any experience is wasted. It sounds like fun, and you never know what it might lead to.
My eventual career in technical/corporate communications stemmed from a job I took to make some $$ while preparing to try to get into another field. Somebody came around with some brochure copy, and said, “Is anyone here willing to proofread this?” I, the English major, raised my hand. They came back and saw me looking at it with a quizzical expression. Long story short, I ended up rewriting most of it and they hired me to be their corporate copywriter.
Always raise your hand and seize an opportunity is my motto.
Any PAID opportunity. Would you have raised your hand if you weren’t being paid? I like my job but wouldn’t do it for free. There is a difference between volunteering for a charity or the government and volunteering for for a corporation.
Yes what they’re doing (free unpaid labor at a for profit company) is pretty much illegal.
It would be a fun conversation starter for a resume though. Am guessing you’re not going to get a lot of guidance from the company, other than when you show them something they’ll either like it or they won’t.
If you’re kinda interested I’d tell them you’d do it part time - say mornings till noon, 4 days a week but you need the rest of the day to take a job that makes $. They certainly should understand that. If they want you more, they can cough up $ - or find someone else.
EDIT - if you talk to them and they say they want samples of your work RUN. That means they actually want someone with experience for free, which is a big.red.flag.
