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So many of my daughters friends from college who were lucky enough to get a job connected to their major or career interest were basically thrown to the wolves from their first day on the job. They got little if any mentoring, training or support, they instead were just told to work. Many fell flat on their face.
My daughter who works with one of the BIG FOUR Accounting Firms, had an incredible opportunity to learn what it takes to be a business professional during her formal training during her Summer Internship. There were many days where they spent time in the classroom in very interactive training about business communications and professionalism.
Once she started as a full time employee after she graduated she was given even more formal business related training in communications, office dynamics and salesmanship skills. It was so valuable for someone who was only 23 years old and was not familiar with the ways of the corporate environment.
Anyone else have a chance to get formally trained on office communication as part of their employment by a great organization? Tell us about it!
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,585 posts, read 81,206,701 times
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Unpaid internships face a test, and are illegal if the intern actually does any work. They can only be provided with training, or they have to be paid. There are many abuses of this, however. We have paid internships and we do our best to really prepare people for their future. Most of our graduate interns have found a good job either with us or someone else before the summer is over. The Big Four got to the top for a reason, they do things right. Your daughter is lucky but also to be commended for her success.
Unpaid internships face a test, and are illegal if the intern actually doesany work. They can only be provided with training, or they have to be paid. There are many abuses of this, however. We have paid internships and we do our best to really prepare people for their future. Most of our graduate interns have found a good job either with us or someone else before the summer is over. The Big Four got to the top for a reason, they do things right. Your daughter is lucky but also to be commended for her success.
What??? Internships "are illegal if the intern actually does any work" ?????
My daughter had an unpaid internship where she took over half of the job responsibilities of a woman out on maternity leave for three months. My daughter interned/worked 20 hours a week doing half of the woman's job and the other half of the new mother's work responsibilities were split between paid employees.
DD also did a full time unpaid internship lasting the entire summer. In the fall they hired one of the interns and he continued doing the same job that he (and my daughter) were doing all summer, he just started to be paid to do it.
Except for students in law, banking, engineering, accounting and other technical fields NONE of my daughter's college friends/acquaintances were ever paid for doing an "internship". That is why it is so hard. We, as parents needed to support our daughter when she did those internships because she couldn't continue to work very many hours at a part time job and still be successful at her internships.
I'll have to tell my daughter the joke about unpaid internships being illegal if you do any work. I'm sure that she will laugh so hard that Hemlock will hear her way out in Seattle.
What??? Internships "are illegal if the intern actually does any work" ?????
My daughter had an unpaid internship where she took over half of the job responsibilities of a woman out on maternity leave for three months. My daughter interned/worked 20 hours a week doing half of the woman's job and the other half of the new mother's work responsibilities were split between paid employees.
DD also did a full time unpaid internship lasting the entire summer. In the fall they hired one of the interns and he continued doing the same job that he (and my daughter) were doing all summer, he just started to be paid to do it.
Except for students in law, banking, engineering, accounting and other technical fields NONE of my daughter's college friends/acquaintances were ever paid for doing an "internship". That is why it is so hard. We, as parents needed to support our daughter when she did those internships because she couldn't continue to work very many hours at a part time job and still be successful at her internships.
I'll have to tell my daughter the joke about unpaid internships being illegal if you do any work. I'm sure that she will laugh so hard that Hemlock will hear her way out in Seattle.
Actually, by your description, it sounds like your daughter's internship was indeed illegal, and she should've been paid.
What??? Internships "are illegal if the intern actually does any work" ?????
My daughter had an unpaid internship where she took over half of the job responsibilities of a woman out on maternity leave for three months. My daughter interned/worked 20 hours a week doing half of the woman's job and the other half of the new mother's work responsibilities were split between paid employees.
DD also did a full time unpaid internship lasting the entire summer. In the fall they hired one of the interns and he continued doing the same job that he (and my daughter) were doing all summer, he just started to be paid to do it.
Except for students in law, banking, engineering, accounting and other technical fields NONE of my daughter's college friends/acquaintances were ever paid for doing an "internship". That is why it is so hard. We, as parents needed to support our daughter when she did those internships because she couldn't continue to work very many hours at a part time job and still be successful at her internships.
I'll have to tell my daughter the joke about unpaid internships being illegal if you do any work. I'm sure that she will laugh so hard that Hemlock will hear her way out in Seattle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gnomatic
Actually, by your description, it sounds like your daughter's internship was indeed illegal, and she should've been paid.
Thanks for the info. I'll take a closer look at the regulations but at first glance I noticed that it applies to "for profit" companies. My daughter's internships were both with "non-profit" organizations. Now, that I think about it her friends probably had their internships in non-profit organizations (dance company, preforming arts center, environmental organizations, etc.) as well.
One of my nieces has been extremely well paid at her summer engineering internships even though she was still a student. It seems a shame that because my daughter's career goal is to work in non-profit community organizations her internships (three months each, one 20 hours a week and the other 40 hours a week) are unpaid.
Last edited by germaine2626; 06-09-2014 at 09:29 PM..
Unpaid internships face a test, and are illegal if the intern actually does any work. They can only be provided with training, or they have to be paid. There are many abuses of this, however. We have paid internships and we do our best to really prepare people for their future. Most of our graduate interns have found a good job either with us or someone else before the summer is over. The Big Four got to the top for a reason, they do things right. Your daughter is lucky but also to be commended for her success.
That's really funny... I did an internship last fall and it was the worst experience ever. I didn't learn anything useful and I was literally doing some of the duties that people worked there did. During the end of the internship, I asked for a letter of recommendation, and the lady happily agreed to write me one. When I received the letter, I was SO disappointed - it was full of typos. When I say typos, I mean just straight up missing words and sentences not making sense at all. I asked the lady to revise on several occasions and she ignored me every single time. BTW, I gave her plenty of notice about the letter.. at least 1 month before my internship ended. The other interns I talked to had the same experience as well, and we pretty much all agreed that the internship was a waste of time as the lady couldn't even spare 15-20 minutes of her day to write us a decent letter. I really went out of my way for this internship too.. like spending weekends to help them set up for events, driving 30-40 minutes out of my way to help (my own gas money), going to health fairs by myself to represent the organization, and just driving around doing a bunch of mindless errands. I've come to the conclusion that some organizations are really just looking for free labor.
I'm usually a positive person.. I try to get something positive out of every situation, but it was hard to find anything positive with this particular organization.
After hearing these sad stories I am very happy my daughter was able to get such a great internship that allowed her to get paid $25 an hour and learn lots of office and business communications skills.
She was sent to Chicago for one week of intense training at a fancy conference center and stayed at a fancy hotel and had $50 to spend for dinner at a nice restaurant using a corporate American Express card that she and the other interns were given. The interns had a great time in the evenings going out in groups and eating at one great Chicago restaurant each evening.
She was also sent with the other Interns to Orlando and stayed on the Disney Property at one of the fancy resorts for five days at the end of her internship.
Her entire Internship was paid but completely about her training to make her a great Auditor.
90% of the Interns were offered full time professional jobs at $55K at graduation.
I wish my internships turned into full time. But, I'm currently in the process of moving to another state, so it wouldn't have mattered. Even though I graduated, could I still get an internship in the new town? I found a few paid ones (my internships have always been paid... hmm, maybe I should include that on my cover letter), but I'm not sure if I'd qualify.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,585 posts, read 81,206,701 times
Reputation: 57822
We pay an average of $25/hour to our interns, so they can do actual work that benefits us as well as them. When I had my own business I had people volunteer to work for free to gain experience. This was when I looked up the laws and decided not to get into unpaid internships, because it would take up my time with no return. Yes, some organizations are just looking for free labor, but if caught they can face severe penalties.
Yeah, the Big 4 are great at that. My roommate started at KPMG as an intern in Chicago and was hired on full time after. He said they were great with the training and getting them up to speed. Another college friend interned at Deloitte, and she learned a lot, but decided accounting wasn't what she wanted to do for a career, so went into the financial side instead of accounting side.
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But, I'm currently in the process of moving to another state, so it wouldn't have mattered. Even though I graduated, could I still get an internship in the new town? I found a few paid ones (my internships have always been paid... hmm, maybe I should include that on my cover letter), but I'm not sure if I'd qualify.
