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"Websites set up by angry and disillusioned graduates are springing up, offering a chance for unpaid interns to talk about their feeling that internships are often nothing more than exploitation."
It really depends on the company and what they use "interns" for.
Internships are designed to allow students (and in some cases Graduates) to get hands-on learning experiences based on their fields of study. The majority of them are unpaid, but the right internship will help give them a good solid foundation as they prepare for a professional career.
That being said, the problem is that in this economy companies are trying to squeeze by as minimally as they can. For most, that would be cutting down on full-time staff in favor of part-timers or temporary workers (none of whom get benefits like health, retirement, etc.) In some cases, as I have read in the news, paid employees get replaced by non-paid interns. Now, there's nothing wrong with interning without pay, so long as you are gaining valuable experience and knowledge, but it becomes exploitation if you use your interns to do menial tasks for free. If all an intern is doing is menial tasks without learning thing, I would highly recommend leaving.
my school had a program where they would pay you a stipend if you took an unpaid internship, provided you were on financial aid. i definitely understand the frustration, especially in cases where interns are doing menial things like making copies as someone else mentioned.
.That being said, the problem is that in this economy companies are trying to squeeze by as minimally as they can. For most, that would be cutting down on full-time staff in favor of part-timers or temporary workers (none of whom get benefits like health, retirement, etc.) In some cases, as I have read in the news, paid employees get replaced by non-paid interns. Now, there's nothing wrong with interning without pay, so long as you are gaining valuable experience and knowledge, but it becomes exploitation if you use your interns to do menial tasks for free. If all an intern is doing is menial tasks without learning thing, I would highly recommend leaving.
My eldest is at University and what you describe is pretty much on the nail of what is concerning he and his fellow students. They're more than happy to get experience in their chosen fields by internship, they just don't want companies to abuse the system by using them as 'menial labour'.
Wow students these days are spoiled. I interned at a software company for a year and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Yes I did extremely menial sysadmin tasks and lifting heavy boxes during the day, but the fun part was meeting industry experts, going into mission critical restricted access areas, getting future contacts and that big name + experience on my resume. I would've done it for free I still can't believe I got paid for it.
Wow students these days are spoiled. I interned at a software company for a year and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Yes I did extremely menial sysadmin tasks and lifting heavy boxes during the day, but the fun part was meeting industry experts, going into mission critical restricted access areas, getting future contacts and that big name + experience on my resume. I would've done it for free I still can't believe I got paid for it.
It's not a matter of being "spoiled;" it's about employers who take advantage of free labor. As for you, there's nothing wrong with OCCASIONALLY doing menial tasks, so long as you are also learning new things and doing stuff that pertains to your field of study. If all they have you doing are menial tasks without teaching you anything or giving you future contacts, that's a very bad thing.
And you got paid for your internships; the majority of interns don't. Even so, the amount of students competing for unpaid internships is staggering, a far cry from your claim that kids are "spoiled."
My son is looking at colleges and a professor at one of them offered this up when I asked about internships . . . He said, typically, "freshmen and sophomores are at a learning stage and won't be able to offer much as a software engineer during an internship" which may or may not be true. But he said by the time they are juniors, they bring some valuable skills to the table an he refuses to offer them to companies looking for unpaid interns.
It's not a matter of being "spoiled;" it's about employers who take advantage of free labor. As for you, there's nothing wrong with OCCASIONALLY doing menial tasks, so long as you are also learning new things and doing stuff that pertains to your field of study. If all they have you doing are menial tasks without teaching you anything or giving you future contacts, that's a very bad thing.
Nothing occasional about my work. I was scheduled to work 20 hr/s per week but i routinely stayed late, overnight (in one case) and on weekends for some assignments because I was so fascinated with the technology (and it was a quiet place to study for school). The menial tasks were done on the clock. Galavanting around the building, networking and getting to know the business was done unpaid. Before I got this internship, I volunteered for 3 years, unpaid, during high school in a lesser role.
I'm not saying that students can't do the work or even that they should do it for free. Gotta eat right? I'm saying that it should be seen for the opportunity to get ahead and learn the business. If it's getting coffee and making copies then so be it. Unless you're stuck in a cage there is no reason that you can't get to know your boss or your coworkers, pick their brain a little and get the ins on the industry. You might not get paid to do it and it might not be in your job description but it still needs to be done.
I realize there is no one size fits all answer. There are good internships and not so good ones. But, at a high level I see it like this:
1. Students pay to go to college and get the knowledge they need to get a job.
2. Interns don't get paid (but sometimes do) to get the knowledge they need to get a job.
So in that regard it isn't a bad deal. Almost like a class that you don't have to pay for.
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