Thoughts on Internships and Value

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This sounds bogus to me. The team is not a charity. I believe they are obligated to pay him unless he is getting credit from his university for the experience. Check this out more carefully.

No, they are not obligated to pay. They know that it's difficult to get into the real sports management that many want (Ie. professional sports teams). There are probably hundreds of applicants. If he doesn't take it, one of them happily will, and then will likely be on their way to resume building and a future career with this team (or another pro team simply be cause of this internship)

[Anonymous]

+1 to what everyone else said about this not being a lucrative career opportunity.

BUT, he should do the internship because it adds interest to his resume, which can help make up for the lack of “prestige”.

I’m in a different sector, and I don’t even follow baseball that closely, but if someone listed an internship with the Nats, his or her resume would stand out in a sea of resumes with internships with The Law Offices of Mom and Dad, or the National Association of Widget Component Marketers.

Support the internship this year, let him have fun, and then next summer, he gets a real job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Know a kid making $55k with a masters degree in business and works in the industry. Athletes make all the money. In house staff make nothing.

OP, this is the most important comment. Any "sexy" industry knows it can attract talent due to the attractiveness of the industry and not the pay.

If you work for a pro sports team, only like 10 of the staff of hundreds make any real money. The senior coaches, the GM, and other senior execs can do well...nearly everyone else is making chump change.

This is not one summer of being an unpaid intern, but rather many years of being significantly "underpaid", so understand that you are in for potentially years of your kid having little to no money.

THIS^^^

But realize that the "pro sports teams" pay more than the AAA, AA, A or non-pro sports teams. So best chance of a future career for him, doing what he loves and making the most he can probably resides with a pro sports team. That's why the internship is important first step.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1 to what everyone else said about this not being a lucrative career opportunity.

BUT, he should do the internship because it adds interest to his resume, which can help make up for the lack of “prestige”.

I’m in a different sector, and I don’t even follow baseball that closely, but if someone listed an internship with the Nats, his or her resume would stand out in a sea of resumes with internships with The Law Offices of Mom and Dad, or the National Association of Widget Component Marketers.

Support the internship this year, let him have fun, and then next summer, he gets a real job.

This is a valid point. I personally think the entire interviewing process needs to be turned on its head...but it's nice to have something general to talk to somebody about in an interview and many of us are eager to know "how the sausage is made".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Know a kid making $55k with a masters degree in business and works in the industry. Athletes make all the money. In house staff make nothing.

OP, this is the most important comment. Any "sexy" industry knows it can attract talent due to the attractiveness of the industry and not the pay.

If you work for a pro sports team, only like 10 of the staff of hundreds make any real money. The senior coaches, the GM, and other senior execs can do well...nearly everyone else is making chump change.

This is not one summer of being an unpaid intern, but rather many years of being significantly "underpaid", so understand that you are in for potentially years of your kid having little to no money.

And a lot of those positions are given based on nepotism (find me a head coach not stashing idiot kids or nephews on their staff) or will go to former players or will come with ownership from their other businesses.

The nepotism is very real but it is mainly from team ownership connections, not head coach or former players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have two problems, OP: The value in this internship and dad trying to mold DS into his fantasy private equity golden child. They will have to be dealt with separately.

This^. Its a multi faceted problem.

[Anonymous]

They'll promise and intend to cut down on take out and other bills but in reality its unlikely to happen so be ready for funding it all as you would either worry about them or wouldn't want to pick fights over credit card bills.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. I want to thank everyone for their thoughts. Some of them were crucial in our decision-making process. DS has decided to accept the position, without sending the email re: stipend and credit. As were were discussing it yesterday afternoon, he pointed out that the application was very clear that it was an unpaid position. Well, DS, that's something you should've told US...but I digress.

He is excited to pursue this opportunity and DH understands it's an itch that DS needs to scratch. There's no better time to do it while he's young and still learning about himself.

So, again, thank you all. This board has been a touchstone of advice for me since DS was a newborn, which is a reason I keep on coming back!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I want to thank everyone for their thoughts. Some of them were crucial in our decision-making process. DS has decided to accept the position, without sending the email re: stipend and credit. As were were discussing it yesterday afternoon, he pointed out that the application was very clear that it was an unpaid position. Well, DS, that's something you should've told US...but I digress.

He is excited to pursue this opportunity and DH understands it's an itch that DS needs to scratch. There's no better time to do it while he's young and still learning about himself.

So, again, thank you all. This board has been a touchstone of advice for me since DS was a newborn, which is a reason I keep on coming back!

Oh! Forgot to add that he's working with his advisor to get academic credit for his work. So, even though he really doesn't need it to graduate on time, it might help go towards a second minor or something like that. Something is better than nothing, I suppose!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I want to thank everyone for their thoughts. Some of them were crucial in our decision-making process. DS has decided to accept the position, without sending the email re: stipend and credit. As were were discussing it yesterday afternoon, he pointed out that the application was very clear that it was an unpaid position. Well, DS, that's something you should've told US...but I digress.

He is excited to pursue this opportunity and DH understands it's an itch that DS needs to scratch. There's no better time to do it while he's young and still learning about himself.

So, again, thank you all. This board has been a touchstone of advice for me since DS was a newborn, which is a reason I keep on coming back!

Oh! Forgot to add that he's working with his advisor to get academic credit for his work. So, even though he really doesn't need it to graduate on time, it might help go towards a second minor or something like that. Something is better than nothing, I suppose!

Look at how his school bills intern credits. You don’t want him to also pay for the school credit for a job that doesn’t pay. Btdt.

[Anonymous]

Glad the pp ^^ mentioned this. You don’t want to pay the school for college credit, especially if your kid doesn’t need the credit. Investigate the cost of summer school per credit cost at your child’s school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Know a kid making $55k with a masters degree in business and works in the industry. Athletes make all the money. In house staff make nothing.

OP, this is the most important comment. Any "sexy" industry knows it can attract talent due to the attractiveness of the industry and not the pay.

If you work for a pro sports team, only like 10 of the staff of hundreds make any real money. The senior coaches, the GM, and other senior execs can do well...nearly everyone else is making chump change.

This is not one summer of being an unpaid intern, but rather many years of being significantly "underpaid", so understand that you are in for potentially years of your kid having little to no money.

And a lot of those positions are given based on nepotism (find me a head coach not stashing idiot kids or nephews on their staff) or will go to former players or will come with ownership from their other businesses.

The nepotism is very real but it is mainly from team ownership connections, not head coach or former players.

Look college or professional staffs and you will see a coaches kids and relatives. Locally, Ron Rivera has his nephew coaching linebackers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I want to thank everyone for their thoughts. Some of them were crucial in our decision-making process. DS has decided to accept the position, without sending the email re: stipend and credit. As were were discussing it yesterday afternoon, he pointed out that the application was very clear that it was an unpaid position. Well, DS, that's something you should've told US...but I digress.

He is excited to pursue this opportunity and DH understands it's an itch that DS needs to scratch. There's no better time to do it while he's young and still learning about himself.

So, again, thank you all. This board has been a touchstone of advice for me since DS was a newborn, which is a reason I keep on coming back!

Oh! Forgot to add that he's working with his advisor to get academic credit for his work. So, even though he really doesn't need it to graduate on time, it might help go towards a second minor or something like that. Something is better than nothing, I suppose!

Look at how his school bills intern credits. You don’t want him to also pay for the school credit for a job that doesn’t pay. Btdt.

OP here. I hadn't even thought about this. Crap! What a mess. Oh well, I'll warn him that we're not paying for credit as it's unnecessary for graduation. Thank you once again for your wisdom!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I want to thank everyone for their thoughts. Some of them were crucial in our decision-making process. DS has decided to accept the position, without sending the email re: stipend and credit. As were were discussing it yesterday afternoon, he pointed out that the application was very clear that it was an unpaid position. Well, DS, that's something you should've told US...but I digress.

He is excited to pursue this opportunity and DH understands it's an itch that DS needs to scratch. There's no better time to do it while he's young and still learning about himself.

So, again, thank you all. This board has been a touchstone of advice for me since DS was a newborn, which is a reason I keep on coming back!

Oh! Forgot to add that he's working with his advisor to get academic credit for his work. So, even though he really doesn't need it to graduate on time, it might help go towards a second minor or something like that. Something is better than nothing, I suppose!

Look at how his school bills intern credits. You don’t want him to also pay for the school credit for a job that doesn’t pay. Btdt.

OP here. I hadn't even thought about this. Crap! What a mess. Oh well, I'll warn him that we're not paying for credit as it's unnecessary for graduation. Thank you once again for your wisdom!

He should also see if the college offers grants for students who take unpaid internships. My DD's college has a fund for that and you have to apply for the grant. Not a ton but typically at least covers housing and basic living expenses. And it's a rolling application/decision process so better to apply early. We heard about this from a few schools we visited.

[Anonymous]

I think you should "let" him take the internship. (Granted, I thought that unpaid internships were a thing of the past, and that it's considered inequitable to even offer unpaid internships.)

However, when I did an unpaid summer internship in the 1990's, I worked on evenings and weekends at a retail job. My parents appreciated that at the time, and it was actually fun.