<p>citygirlsmom, I didn't say that employers don't appreciate volunteering or internships, and as far as I can see no one else said that either. I did say that a strong record of paid employment is generally given more weight. </p>
<p>When I look at resumes as an employer, a strong history of work experience tells me that the individual was able and willing to meet external demands and requirements of an employer, including completing tasks they didn't particularly enjoy, showing up to work regularly on time, etc. </p>
<p>Internships/volunteer experiences don't necessarily show that, because volunteers can essentially come and go when they please, and often can set their own terms about the type of work they are willing to do. When I hire someone, I don't want that person telling me later on they have decided they aren't going to work on Fridays any more, or they don't like doing X and would rather do Y instead -- or telling me in the middle of a project that they have changed their mind about working for me or something else has come up and they won't be coming in any more.</p>
<p>Of course there are many volunteers who are hard workers, reliable and willing to do just about anything -- but it's hard to know from a paper resume what type of volunteer the person was, as the outside standards for maintaining a volunteer position are far less stringent than the standards for maintaining employment. I know as an employer that if I want to be sure a task is done, and done on time according to my specs, then I need to assign the task to a paid employee. Of course a paid employee can mess up, get sick, or quit their job -- but I have recourse against the employees whose work or attitude is unsatisfactory (I can fire them) -- and people who depend on their income from employment are somewhat less likely to quit their job simply because of personal preferences. When I was practicing law, I think it would have been malpractice for me to assign certain types of tasks to volunteers -- for example, I certainly wouldn't want to have had to answer to the state bar telling them I missed a deadline because I put a volunteer in charge of my calendaring system. </p>
<p>On paper -- like a resume -- there is no way to know whether a volunteer was diligent and reliable, or what tasks and responsibilities were assigned to the volunteer. The bottom line is that paid work comes with legally imposed contractual obligations that aren't part of volunteer work, so an employment history is kind of like a credit history. Creditors don't really care how much money a person has or or how many possessions they have acquired -- the credit history tells them whether the person has a record of making payments on time. The person who has plenty of cash and has always paid cash, in full, for everything they buy may certainly be a good prospect for extending credit ... but the person with running balances on 10 different credit accounts and no missed payments over several years is one who has a demonstrated record of creditworthiness. </p>
<p>People tend to volunteer for positions that appeal to them in some way - because of their personal interests. They tend to work in order to earn money, often taking jobs that they would never consider but for the fact that they needed the money. While some people may have disdain for the jobs as being "menial" - those jobs give employers important information about a young person's character and readiness to take on responsibility, including responsibility for unpleasant tasks or drudge work.</p>