I remember vividly my frustration while job searching and seeing all these fantastic sounding jobs that I couldn’t apply for. Not because I didn’t have skills, experience or enthusiasm necessary, but because I am not rich. It is rather galling to know that you have worked hard to get good grades and go through university only to come out the other side older, wiser and poorer and yet discover that actually the most important qualification for getting an internship is how much money you have. Is it 2011 or 1911? Social mobility be damned.
Despite this, many unpaid interns are not rich. The competition in the job market has become so fierce that despite graduating from university in quite a lot of debt, undertaking an unpaid internship has become something of a necessity in certain sectors. Some interns are fortunate enough to live near good opportunities and have supportive parents. Some have saved up for months on end. Some work evenings and weekends to pay the bills so they can work for free through the week. Is this fair though? The results are large portions of young people in society are unemployed, underemployed or being forced to live as hermits so they can afford to be employed. Is it any wonder that the number of young people suffering depression is on the rise?
The Economist seems to think that working unpaid is nothing to be complained about - you’re getting an education aren’t you? Except isn’t that why most people go to university in the first place - to get the education to obtain a good job? Students are leaving Higher Education with more debt than ever before. Now they are expected to work for free and put themselves in even more debt. At what point is it ok to expect to be paid for doing a job? Graduates - the majority of whom are young people in their early to mid twenties - aren’t greedy, all they ask is for enough money to pay rent, buy food and maybe go to the pub for a drink with their friends every now and again.
I think that it is important to remember that employment is not a one way street. It is a relationship. Yes graduates gain valuable experience but employers likewise gain an employee with up-to-date skills, knowledge of new technologies and a desire to learn and contribute.
The article highlights ‘serial interns’, but this situation exists because there is nowhere for interns to go. People do not repeatedly work for free because they want to. Unfortunately an internship does not guarantee a permanent position at the end of it. Graduate jobs are few and far between, particularly in certain sectors. Earlier today I was frustrated at seeing internships advertise for people with previous experience - missing the whole point of an internship surely?
Internships are a great opportunity to gain experience and learn within an industry but an intern is still contributing to the work of the organisation. They deserve to be paid.
Agree? Disagree? Not sure? Put your comments below or tweet them to me @siobhan_intern
Agree with this. It's bad enough having to do an unpaid internship, but on top of that, there's travel expenses, phone bill expenses from doing intern work, lunch expenses and so on, a lot of the time which will not be reimbursed. People need to realise that, yes, an unpaid internship is great experience, but a lot of the time, the interns are actually LOSING money to gain this experience. It surely can't be good for the economy to put MORE people into debt?
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