Are Unpaid Internships Worth It?
Unpaid internships can be a touchy subject for a lot of people. For some, its a temporary sacrifice to get one step closer to a paying job. For others, its just a tool companies that use to exploit people for free labor. TEACHERS: Get your students in the discussion on KQED Learn, a safe place for middle and high school students to investigate controversial topics and share their voices. Click to see this video and lesson plan on KQED Learn. Back in the day, from the middle ages up through the 1800s, apprenticeships were THE way to get into the skilled trades. You didnt go get a BA in glassblow-ology. You apprenticed for a master glassblower. The whole experience was like a really long and well-structured internship before there were internships. Today, one in three Americans 25 and older have a college degree. And these new grads dont want to be glassblowers. Theyre competing for a limited number of entry-level jobs in fields like tech, finance, media, and fashion. So, youve got more people than ever before competing for a limited number of jobs. And thats ushered in the rise of the internship. New grads now have to prove to companies that theyre worth hiring for entry-level jobs. And the bigger and fancier the company, the more people want to intern there, even if its unpaid. Not all industries are the same when it comes to internships. If youre into finance or tech or engineering, paid internships are generally the norm. Jobs in those fields pay well and are in demand, so those companies prioritize paying their interns. But thats not the case when it comes to other industries like entertainment, publishing, fashion, the arts, or most do-good nonprofits. In those fields, unpaid internships are common, because the number of people who want them is greater than the actual number of internships available. So if an unpaid internship is your best shot to do that, there a lot of people who will find a way to make it work. Because its not just what you do thats important. Its who you meet. Its networking. Its getting in front of important people -- the decision-makers -- and getting noticed.