Some unpaid internships can be valuable, and others are just taking advantage of students desperate for experience in their fields. Sadly, some don’t provide much experience. Take a look at the criteria for a “legal” unpaid internship and determine if your daughter’s internship meets them. If not, I’d probably have her pass.
My daughter was offered an unpaid internship last summer, in another city where she’d have to find and pay for housing. We had the financial wherewithal to subsidize that, but I wanted to make sure it would be a valuable experience for her. I had her ask pointed questions about exactly what she would be doing day to day, how many former interns were now working at the company, etc. The answers were not to our liking - it sounded like the company was mostly looking for free labor and wasn’t going to be giving her valuable experience and mentoring - so she turned it down.
The idea of unpaid internships bothers me on a number of levels. The businesses get a sweet deal and the college student provides free labor. In addition it is an option available only to students who can afford to do this.
That said, internships do count a lot toward getting a job after graduation. And there is the learning value. I would let my child do this.
Hmm, my humanities kid has only done unpaid internships sophomore summer and beyond, as a means to develop skills and network, though this has been more government and think-tank work. As he has progressed, it is clear that some of these can and will lead to paid work after college. For us, we have funded these summers, knowing that we saved a fortune with his college choice at a public university, plus he had pre-funded them, like your daughter, with prior summer earnings.
For a humanities major looking to develop their resume, this sounds like a good opportunity to learn about another field and to develop skills which she can talk about in future job interviews. She should have a clear sense that she can get recommendations from the principals as she continues her job search after this summer and she could consider requesting some broad job description, even if it is a confirming email about what she is likely to be doing. Presumably, she is not just making coffee and sandwich runs, but you want to know that going in.
I did unpaid internship abroad last summer, for 6 hours of elective credit. Looked exciting and great on paper when i interviewed and accepted. But in the end, totally not worth $$$, very expensive, did not learn any new skills. My bad.
My daughter did three internships during her college years, The only unpaid one was with the British Embassy in DC, which turned out to be a verly costly one given the rent there. After freshman year, my son is gong to do an internship with a small finance firm in Boston this summer. He gets paid less than $3000 as stipend, which is perhaps not even enough to cover rent. But it is related to his field of interest, so there he goes.
If the student can only get unpaid internships, s/he should take it as a signal that getting a paid entry level job in that area will be very difficult and competitive. Perhaps that means looking at other career directions, at least as backup plans.
Yes, if a given type of job predominantly relies on unpaid internships for entry-level jobs, then it is effectively screening for people with wealthier parents who will subsidize such unpaid internships.
I honestly planned for one summer of unpaid internship when making the college budgets. In spite of the extremely well paid opportunities boasted about on CC, I figured the reality of the summer internship was probably far less lucrative for most students. Sometimes, a kid without connections needs to break into a field, and that can be a lot easier said than done. So, while I’m not thrilled with the idea of an unpaid internship, I figured one might be necessary. So far, all summer work has been paid, but I really feel like that is more a function of the kids’ majors than anything else.
Oldest son is starting his unpaid internship next week. Far from home. I know you’ve been discussing for profit vs non profit. His is a Government internship. We read up on it and its a job training type. Should be very good experience and engaging on a daily basis, in a field he is very interested in. He gets college credit for it as well.
Many parents have no problem sending kids off to study abroad for a short summer semester. I look at it the same way. New city to experience, class credit, great career experience. He had a few offers last summer for paid internships that would have been nothing more than pushing papers.
It really depends on the offer and details. Most govt internships we’ve seen are unpaid.
D did a couple unpaid internships in college (music industry) - she had no issue doing it, and the companies were very small. She was not interested in working for free at a big company. With a small place, she really learned a lot - and they really weren’t able to pay. She balanced the first internship with classes during the school year, and she balanced the second internship at the same time as she did paid summer research for a professor.
The federal government has no issue providing unpaid internships …
Not so , ucba. D is in a pretty low paid field but her 3 internships in that field were all paid. A friend’s D had an unpaid internship in her field but got a full time job in her field and it pays well.
I have never done a true internship but I have done multiple 6 month training type assignments similar to internships. The issue I have is that an successful internship requires at least two elements. One is an intern that can speak up and be proactive in getting the experience that was promised. This you have. The second is a manager that has the experience, time, resources and a willingness to make the internship work and be meaningful. You describe an internship that is sponsored by a couple of graduate students that are trying to run a startup. While it could be a great experience, I wonder if they have the experience and time to devote to the internship. The fact that there is no clear job description is troublesome. If they are this close to the start date, they should be able to identify what aspect of the project she would be working on.
I have also been on the other side. I worked at a well know company where the boss came around a few days before the internship start and asked for suggestions of what to do with the intern. However, we were paying him extremely well so we had a strong incentive to give him real work.
I might suggest that she offer them part-time as an intern and also get a paying job to help offset costs. She would get the experience, but also would not cost you as much. Most of the kids I know that did unpaid internships only did 2 to 3 days a week. Sometimes they at least got enough to cover commuting costs.
Government makes its own rules. A non-profit or government entity can have ‘volunteers’ or unpaid internships. Private businesses, big or small, have to follow other rules.
Thanks @noname87 -good points to consider and you reminded me that at her paid internship with a big company last summer, there was a period of time when she had nothing to do. The lab was creating busywork for her, which I think contributed to her chemistry/science turn off. So she is aware of the misery of an unstructured internship. I’ll remind her, though! Considering the size of this start up, they will likely need her to be doing real work and not getting coffee…thanks jym626 for the Black Swan link.
Kiddie and Oldfort- The description of the job does indicate planning and developing a specific project of her choosing. It seems crafted to meet the legal requirements. Thank you for that info!
It really does seem a crap shoot , but her options are slim, given that she doesn’t finish school until June- nannying or working at Dunkin Donuts or working with kids at an inner city school (unpaid) and worst of all- living at home. I think if she can find a safe and reasonable sublet near the University, and gets a specific job description, I’m leaning to signing on to this.
My D is doing an unpaid internship this summer which is not uncommon for the PR field she will be working in. We will subsidize her housing since it is not in the city where she attends school. She is still in the running for a couple of other internships, but after interviewing for this one and talking with people she trusts it looks like a good opportunity. At least they pay for her parking and give her lunch each day!
I really don’t like the idea of unpaid internships. However, she is trying to find herself and as a history major, I think any experience would be good experience. It sounds like she will be with very bright people and they may prove inspiring. The potential sense of direction she could find is worth it (even if it is knowing another thing she doesn’t want to do). And it is not unpaid, since you will carry her expenses, you are the one paying her internship
My brother’s major requires that he do an internship in his field. He finally found a summer internship at a media company in NYC but not only is it unpaid, he has to pay his college $1200 for the 4 credits he’ll be receiving! That sounds insane to me. He has to complete a weekly online journal thing, which I guess is how they justify taking money, but I can’t believe it’s normal for an internship to not only be unpaid, but actually cost that much.
In general, I don’t like unpaid internships, but there are some exceptions. Last summer, after my D’s sophomore year, her college awarded her a research fellowship to study a medieval manuscript at the University of Leeds in the UK. They paid for her housing and transportation, and gave her a budget for meals and incidentals, such as sheets and dishes. She was living in graduate housing, which had furniture, but no dishes or towels. They also paid for education excursions, such as cathedral tours and museum admissions. All of her expenses were covered, but she wasn’t paid for her work.
I don’t look at this the same way I do unpaid corporate internships because she benefited greatly not only from her work (and I don’t really know whether she made a great contribution to scholarship, so I cannot say who else benefited), but from the experience of having to live by herself in a foreign city for 8 weeks. She learned to cook, to stay on a budget, maintain an apartment, and function in an exclusively adult world. This was great life experience that will help her in the future.
If you think your daughter’s unpaid internship will do this for her, I think it is well worth it, even if she ends up with nothing great to put on her CV.
Does she believe in this startup? What is the technology?
If the technology is good, I would jump on the opportunity. She could miss the next Google. If the technology is bad, I would not go there even for a 6-figure salary.
I worked as an unpaid intern 3 times in my life. Each time it helped ME to gain new experience and to try a new job. I was very disappointed when unpaid internships became half-legal. IMHO, unpaid volunteers are inexperienced and enthusiastic. Paid inters are usually experienced professionals, who can’t find any other job. I, personally, like to work with volunteers. I can easily train an inexperienced, yet a smart volunteer, who has time and energy to try something new in his/her life. It is much more boring to work with a professional, who is desperate to get any employment. And yes, I worked for free (pro bono) for several startup companies, and I am proud of the experience.
I volunteered last year, I hope I would be able to volunteer again (for the same organization) next year. Great experience.
I don’t understand the point of “volunteering for credit”. It is not legal to volunteer for free, but it is OK to pay money (tuition) to be allowed to volunteer? Seriously?
