<p>They're paid in experience, P3T, and in future opportunities. They don't walk away with nothing.</p>
<p>Having said that, in the past five years the movement has definitely been toward paying interns. I've interned at two non-profits and was paid well above minimum wage both times.</p>
<p>What EXACTLY defines an internship, as compared to a job? While I recognize that the interns surely benefit, and I know kids with exciting internships, my regret is more systemic. If the workforce can pick off kids who can afford to work for free, and develop them, then those who can't afford to work for free can't compete. </p>
<p>At what point does the workforce stop giving out "merit scholarships" and simply pay students for what they do for the employers? To me, it seems it's just a job, but the employer perceives a wealthy kid so takes advantage of that, and gets free labor. </p>
<p>I'm ready to unionize all the interns as exploited overgrown child labor :) (duck for flames, but really, I'm on the side of college students here). I just want to see you guys get paid for a day's work, plus not have a two-tiered situation where wealthy kids can afford to get interned into top positions, leaving many others in the dust because they have the audacity to want to be paid for a day's work.</p>
<p>For many companies, it is quite a challenge to have interns underfoot. They would have to have a training program in place, and other paid employees could possibly have time taken away from their assignments in order to 'train' the intern. In general, interns get more benefit out of the internship than the employer gets in value added.</p>
<p>Internships are usually for short durations- weeks, or months </p>
<p>And seems that generally, everyone benefits if the internship is done right</p>
<p>For my D (radio station) she could only commit to 4 weeks (40 hours a week), but she did work, and she learned things she never would have anywhere else- sure the employer got some "free" labor- but my D got a "free" education</p>
<p>Seemed faiir as my D couldn't work all summer</p>
<p>
[quote]
What EXACTLY defines an internship, as compared to a job?
[/quote]
I think duration and purpose are big differences, but the definitions aren't perfect. Internships are for a certain, pre-determined, short duration of time, usually weeks or months as CGM said. Internships are, by definition, opportunities for education and training. In other jobs, education and training likely result, but these aren't what the employees usually set out for. I've personally never been a fan of the distinction, to be honest with you, but there are usually notable differences.</p>
<p>I get your concern about developing a tiered system between students who can afford to work for free and students who cannot, but I don't think it's that simple. Students who have to contribute summer earnings toward tuition may have a hard time working an unpaid internship, but it is possible. Many colleges offer the ability to compete for stipends for unpaid internships; many of the unpaid internships I've seen are only 15-25 hours a week, allowing significant time for another, paid job; worst case, a student preparing for a field that has non-paid internships (such as journalism) can prepare ahead of time by working during the school year and saving extra earnings from previous summers. It's not fair that some students may need to work extra hard to be able to take an unpaid internship, but these things are never all that fair.</p>
<p>I certainly understand your point regarding internships slipping by minimum wage requirements. I'm just playing the devil's advocate (against my own interests, at that).</p>
<p>Thanks, coarranged ^^.</p>
<p>If the devil had you as his advocate, he'd be a lucky devil. ;)</p>