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Over a decade ago, I did 3-month internship where they mentioned one good thing about them is they pay their interns. Many people who want the experience and other resume material would need to work PT for a bit at a typical retailer or food service joint before being able to do the internship that got the good experience that got you into the entry level position... and keep progressing from there.
Am surprised but glad to hear that unpaid internships are getting chiseled away, and even gone to legislation. It seems like something employers can really abuse. Also surprised to hear that some places simply cannot give out references. Then again, I have read on C-D that college is no longer the double edged sword it used to be, so times are still a-changing.
While I would definitely be willing to do unpaid work (especially for a career change, or some skill/tool in my current line of work that I had little to no experience with), unpaid long term internships, let alone paid ones would irk me too. Hire me, or end it. Don't jerk me around if it was an unpaid position. I've heard the wisdom of many that state "never work for free" to mean something to your self worth AND as a means to pay the bills, and I do agree with that.
After dealing with a string of interns with horrible work ethics, I'm just curious if anyone else has been having the same issue.
I work for a large and well known global company. We do not pay our interns but offer college credits and allow them to pick their own hours (typically 20-30 hours/week). I've worked two unpaid internships myself and I know how much it sucks to not get any reimbursement, but that didn't stop me from working hard to gain experience and positive references.
However, the past few interns I co-supervised were absolutely lazy and terrible. It's not just me, my other teammates had the same problems. I've also talked to colleagues in separate departments who also shared their stories of awful interns.
Here is a list of behavior my colleagues and I have actually dealt with: interns showing up 2-3 hours after the agreed start time with no notice, leaving early without checking in first, watching videos on their computers instead of finishing pressing projects, napping in the company kitchen area, long lunches with fellow interns (even after showing up late), replying to large group emails with unnecessary or inappropriate comments, bringing friends into the office without asking permission, claiming to have worked on a project all day but the document somehow didn't get saved so they can't send it to you (this happened 3 times).
I am understanding when an intern does a project wrong because that means I didn't clearly explain the instructions. But the behavior I'm seeing is so ludicrous - this should be plain common sense. The worst part is we sit down with the interns and point out their unprofessional behavior and it still continues!
Does anyone else have similar stories?
I just gave La'Quesha a bump up in reputation because of what he/she said on page 1. Corporate America wants a free lunch. Your company policy makers can't even give these people minimum wage. If there are laws governing the payment of interns corporate America should obey it.
Last edited by Tonyafd; 09-13-2014 at 05:43 AM..
Reason: additional comments
Two of my 3 kids who will graduate from college this year have had internships during their college years. One (engineering) had 2 internships which were paid plus had a relocation and a housing allowance. He also received college credit for one of his internships, in addition to the (very healthy) paycheck.
The other (finance) has had 3 internships, all also paid. One of these internships included free meals as well, since work often continued over the dinner hour and the supervisor would purchase food for the team.
Their "pay" is their college credit, and no one forced them to take the internship.
Actually in many cases it IS required to take an internship. If classes are full then it might be the only venue of credit outside of a directed study which usually requires more involvement of professors.
The book Inter Nation pretty much laid out that internships usually are either a highly ranked one of which plenty of work is done or experienced or something lower ranked.
An internship is not volunteering. You still have to compensate them and have some agreement for the purposes of liabilities. The era of free labor at least for the private sector is slim to none. If you want to volunteer then try government or a non profit. Volunteering for a private company just does not make logical sense.
Actually in many cases it IS required to take an internship. If classes are full then it might be the only venue of credit outside of a directed study which usually requires more involvement of professors.
The book Inter Nation pretty much laid out that internships usually are either a highly ranked one of which plenty of work is done or experienced or something lower ranked.
An internship is not volunteering. You still have to compensate them and have some agreement for the purposes of liabilities. The era of free labor at least for the private sector is slim to none. If you want to volunteer then try government or a non profit. Volunteering for a private company just does not make logical sense.
At some point I will have to get an internship. I do not intend to get an unpaid internship. Exactly how does any company expect the intern to make a living when they pay them nothing?
I am married. My husband and I have to get paid for our jobs in order to pay the bills and make a living. That is the only way we can survive. My not getting paid will not cut it.
Two of my 3 kids who will graduate from college this year have had internships during their college years. One (engineering) had 2 internships which were paid plus had a relocation and a housing allowance. He also received college credit for one of his internships, in addition to the (very healthy) paycheck.
The other (finance) has had 3 internships, all also paid. One of these internships included free meals as well, since work often continued over the dinner hour and the supervisor would purchase food for the team.
Those are the two areas that pay interns the most and give the best perks. Go talk to a sociology or anthropology student and see how they fared.
Actually in many cases it IS required to take an internship. If classes are full then it might be the only venue of credit outside of a directed study which usually requires more involvement of professors.
This is absolutely correct. My oldest son would not be able to graduate without at minimum one internship. It is required.
Those are the two areas that pay interns the most and give the best perks. Go talk to a sociology or anthropology student and see how they fared.
Which is why one should thoroughly research desired majors BEFORE declaring a major. Know what the perks are and know what the pitfalls are. "Feel good" majors are fine if one understands they very likely won't be making much money upon graduation. They are not a wise choice if one expects to be raking in the bucks early in their career.
I work for a large technology company and we have paid interns (about 3 at our office). One of the won a company-wide award for doing such a great job, which is an awesome achievement. Another finished her degree and was hired on full-time. Hopefully we can hire the one who won the award after he's finished with his degree. I think paying interns makes a difference; I'd say out of all of the interns we've had at our office, only one of them didn't work out.
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