The (not-so) Short Version

Aaron Monteabaro on Jun 12th 2010

I understand and acknowledge two things, and I’ll try not to ramble on too long because I could write pages on this topic.

1)  It is vital that a person, not just a student, gain real life experience before they can be considered as part of the professional work force.

The above argument is made in the article, and for the most part I agree.  In my current job, a trade skill which I’ve worked for eight years now, newbies are called apprentices, not interns, but it’s basically the same thing.  Somebody has to teach you how it works in real life, and if this teaching is so important to the industry and its future, than the people in established companies and the learning institutions need to figure out a way to make it accessible for everyone so inclined without the fear of worker abuse.  Everybody seems to want good talent, but nobody wants to take responsibility for helping develop it.  Everything falls onto the student, and their told to feel grateful for the opportunity.

There are always lumps in system, but the way it is now bothers me.  Students, who already put up with a lot, are basically forced into this internship relationship before they could ever hope of getting a real job, even a low-paying one, and the hiring companies know this and manipulate the steady flow of free labor.

Two things are making this more difficult.  The first is the economy, specifically in the media businesses.  Now that news organizations have no money, they promote the idea of ‘interning’ without pay because they need someone free or cheap to do their leg-work.  Now, however, these grunts are also doing high-end work as well, but still receiving nothing. The second are the over-eager students willing to work for free.  These students reinforce the idea that it is ok for an employer to seek free labor, sometimes good labor, while the other students that may be unwilling or literally unable to do so are unflinchingly left behind.

2)  No work that is used for the benefit of a company or individual, even in theory, should go un-compensated.

It’s crazy to think that a newspaper could have an unpaid intern write stories they are going to publish.  I’m certain that if we look hard enough into court documents and law interpretations from the past, we’d find hard evidence that it’s illegal to do so, not to mention immoral.  If someone is benefitting from your work, you need to be paid, even if it is a little.  I apprenticed in my career, and the person whose shop I helped support with my labor would never dreamed on not paying me.  It’s ridiculous to ask students to put in 20 or so hours working for ‘experience’ in addition to the 40 some they have to work to pay their bills and buy food and the countless hours spent in school and doing school work.  And that’s without having a life.

Apprenticeship is a time-tested tradition, but when greed comes in it’s easy to abuse.  The part that bothers me most is that the student has no virtually no alternative.

I’m currently starting my first internship ever, and generally speaking, unless otherwise mandated by whatever graduate program I’m accepted into, this will be my last.  I did it for the credit and for the clips more than anything else, both things I could have gotten through other means.  After this, I need a job not an internship.

There are some grey areas, though.  The idea of working for school credit is annoying but seemingly acceptable.  After all, nurses and doctors have to complete residencies.  But as is my understanding, they do get paid for them, even though it is minimal compared to what they will be making.  The thing about interning for school credit is that (hypothetically) someone benefits from your work, but you see no compensation and you still have to pay the school for the credits.

After reading that article, my last point is blurred a bit.  These interns are making upwards of $700 a week!  That’s incredible.  That is exactly the way it should be; the system forces us to get the training, but it also ‘carries’ us while we do it.  Additionally, I wouldn’t make that much at my day job if I put in a full 40 hours a week, which I don’t because of school, and at my current job I make a wage higher than I ever have before.

Unpaid internships are counter-productive to the entire school/training system.  It either discourages people from going through the process to get a desired career, or it isolates and denies those people that are unable to make it.  Many students, especially CUNY students, aren’t here because we’re rolling in money.  A lot of us are pulling ourselves out of the poverty line, and a system that forces us to work more for free just helps to hold people down.

New media is also affecting internships, but it’s hard for me to judge how.  I’m curious what everyone else thinks in terms of students blogging for experience on their own or potentially interning at blogs.

Filed in Uncategorized | 5 responses so far

5 Responses to “The (not-so) Short Version”

  1. abracettion 13 Jun 2010 at 9:51 am

    So true about certain companies not helping the newcomers develop. Personally, I think they see that the younger generation is adapting to the industry and the technology much quicker than they are, so that automatically makes us a threat to their job; especially now when companies are downsizing their editorial teams.

  2. dfabianion 13 Jun 2010 at 11:20 am

    So true about pulling ourselves out of the poverty line. I wish companies would see this, and try to help us out, not give us the brunt of the work load and expect us to be perfect at it…without pay!!!! What crap!

    Pay gives people incentive to do better, it’s just that simple, and when its taken away the common saying is “Who cares, I’m not getting paid,” and the job completed winds up being terrible. I sort of feel that way with my internship now, but I resist the urge and put my hear and soul into my clips because they are for me to keep and showcases my knowledge, writing skills etc.

  3. Jade Williamson 27 Jul 2010 at 8:11 pm

    “Students, who already put up with a lot, are basically forced into this internship relationship before they could ever hope of getting a real job, even a low-paying one, and the hiring companies know this and manipulate the steady flow of free labor.”

    Totally agree. My company is begging me to refer interns to them as there are only two of us now, and my co-intern is leaving this week.

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