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It sounds like the problem is more with the specific internship you are doing and not ALL internships. If you were doing an accounting internship with a Big 4 Firm like Ernst and Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, or KPMG you would likely be getting paid $15-25 per hour for your work and would be contributing to the company. They assign you to a team and expect you to perform and learn along the way doing the work of full time employees.
My current internship is in the finance department for a company and I get $18 per hour. I do business planning, work on budgeting, price orders to get our target gross margin and IRR, etc... I'm learning, but also doing important work and hopefully if they like me I will get hired next summer for full time.
Why do they do this: Companies that want fresh talent can use an internship as a try out. Say you do a great job and they like you after the 3 months of summer internship work you did. They can then hire you in the next summer once you graduate college. However if you do poorly and they don't like you, they just say, ok thanks bye, and don't have to hire you full time. Its a great try out for the company to figure out who they want to invest in as full time employees that get higher salaries, benefits, more training, etc...
Well actually I am working with a nonprofit and it's not so much the fact that I'm not getting paid but I just thought that I would be doing more accounting related tasks.
The other day for example, I spent the whole day shredding papers and filing. How is this "relevant" experience? Well on the interview they told me I would be helping with payroll, budget, etc... and they also said I might do other tasks like helping with hiring packages and stuff. But I didn't think clerical work would be my MAIN duty.
Therein lies the problem with many internships, even some of the paid ones.
Unpaid internships are only legal if you are receiving college credit or receiving vocational training, it is a violation of the tax code for them not to pay you. You could report them to the IRS, but a more expedient way might be to simply quit and go get a paid job. Even if it's not directly related to your degree, work experience is still good. Certainly better than making photocopies for free.
All those people who said that an internship is essential are simply repeating something someone told them. Find your own way in life. Plenty did without an internship.
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We have probably 20 interns at my employer this summer, all are paid $20-$25/hour. One that I work with is helping our internal auditors, another is doing some environmental work. The graduate interns are normally in graduate school working on a master or PhD, and are given assignments with close supervision, while the undergraduate and high school interns are given more training. All of them gain valuable experience, some coming back as full time employees later, others getting good jobs elsewhere. Internship is a really good way to get experience that keeps you a few steps ahead of the other candidates when applying for jobs.
I'm an engineer and had summer internships every summer while in college. The last one ended up turning into a full-time position that I'm still in now and am very happy with. Aside from getting me the job, the internships really helped give me perspective on my classes when I went back to school. I had a lot more appreciation for a lot of the coursework when I had that real-life example to relate it to in my mind. And yes, an employer will always value a prospective recent grad with internship experience versus one who only worked PT jobs. Aside from maybe having a few more technical skills, the employer can also be reasonably sure that the prospect with a few internships under his/her belt has actually worked in the kind of environment their degree was intended for and is OK with it. You'd be amazed how many grads get into the workplace only to realize they spent 4 years getting a degree in something they actually have no desire to work in for the rest of their life.
Internships are great, if they're done properly. The problem is too many companies don't know the difference between an internship and a 'summer hire'. My bosses were great about making sure I was getting actual learning experiences during my internships. Yes, I also had to do the '***** work' from time to time, but it was always relevant to my learning experience.
But, in the same company, I saw other bosses use their 'interns' much in the same way you're being used. For some of the interns, they didn't care because it was a paying job over the summer. That's fine, but I wished they would drop the label 'intern' because it created an atmosphere where using an intern as a 'lowest rung' employee versus teaching them valuable career lessons was OK. And for those that actually DID want to learn, it made for a very frustrating situation.
In some ways, this is where unpaid internships may have a slight advantage (although I would NEVER have worked unpaid). If you're not being paid, you probably wouldn't feel as guilty about confronting your employer about not being satisfied with the type of work you're being asked to do. But paid or no, my advice would be the same. Talk to your boss. Being able to confront your employer in situations like these is a good life lesson in and of itself. If it's done correctly and your boss is a decent manager, they should be able to do something about it. If not, well, it just goes to show what kind of place you're working for and should be food for thought if/when they make an offer.
Aside from the obvious...it's something relevent (relevent being the key word) to add on to your resume once you graduate. A resume filled with summer jobs of working the icy machine or cleaning the fry bins isn't exactly what employers are looking for. And even if you're not doing anything terribly important, there are somethings that employers like to see (especially the one that you're interning for) such as showing up everyday, familiarizing yourself with the co workers, the facilities, office etiquette etc.
At minimum, an intern should atleast be able to obtain a letter of recommendation to pass onto other employers or the human resource department.
Aside from the obvious...it's something relevent (relevent being the key word) to add on to your resume once you graduate. A resume filled with summer jobs of working the icy machine or cleaning the fry bins isn't exactly what employers are looking for. And even if you're not doing anything terribly important, there are somethings that employers like to see (especially the one that you're interning for) such as showing up everyday, familiarizing yourself with the co workers, the facilities, office etiquette etc..
I don't know about that.
Some of my best hires were people who paid their way through their college working on the waitstaff or as a bartender. It shows me that they'll generally work their a** off and can deal with a variety of people.
It looks a whole lot better than those whose work experience is minimal.
Last year I did an unpaid Paralegal internship for 3 months and I learned very valuable experience. It was for a Personal Injury, Real Estate, Immigration, and Family Law firm. At the time I was 25 and unemployed. So now I'm employed in a Disability/Social Security law firm and I owe the attorney and my mentor a great deal. Remember internships are stepping stones to get where you need to be. If it wasnt for that internship I wouldnt have the skills to effectively do my job. So in other words.....internships rock!
Some of my best hires were people who paid their way through their college working on the waitstaff or as a bartender. It shows me that they'll generally work their a** off and can deal with a variety of people.
It looks a whole lot better than those whose work experience is minimal.
I'd have to agree.... now that I'd seen how the other interns behave like not showing up, or only working a couple of hours per week I would prefer to hire someone who had a real job in college. Even if it's not related to their field, at least you know those people are responsible and can handle the stress of a real job.
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