Is my daughter being used?
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Anonymous
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The bad thing about these unpaid gigs that offer lots of "experience" are only feasible for those that have outside support, i.e., wealthy kids. This means that these valuable experiences are not accessible to poor kids. So in addition to this being inherently unfair (some people might not care) but it means that 1) the field is going to be made up of only one type of person and 2) the organizations are likely missing out on lots of talented people. If I were running an operation I would pay. It would ensure I really got the creme de la creme instead of only the people who could afford to work for me. I imagine it pays in the long run to do this.
Plus in this day and age it's just not right to give someone a position and not pay for it. This is different than volunteering where you can come and go as you please based on free time. |
Anonymous
Not to be the old man who walked up hill both ways to school, but I grew up poor and took one of head unpaid internships. I just had to work a second job to do it. |
Anonymous
Are you obtuse? Where in OP's daughter's schedule is there room for a second job to pay the bills? |
Anonymous
I am telling you that I personally did a similar schedule while working a second job. I am sorry that this is apparently unbelievable to you. |
Anonymous
What was your second job and when did you work? |
Anonymous
I was a line cook, so mostly evening and weekend service. |
Anonymous
Ok. For a 24-hour diner I could see that being an option if OP's daughter really wants to continue the internship. |
Anonymous
It was exactly what she wanted to do. Some kids are like that. |
Anonymous
It's a bad system because the only way to afford to work for free full time is of you have a lot of savings or someone else is paying your bills or you can find some other part time job/Uber type gig. |
Anonymous
| This is the stupidest complaint I've read by a parent in ages. What do you think your daughter is worth in the marketplace when her other option is a retail job? She can get another job and tell them when she's available or quit. Interns are such a pain, the amount of coddling and training they take is a burden on anyone supervising them. That is why they are unpaid for the most part. |
Anonymous
| I'm in a different field (science). I mentor unpaid interns during the summer. Some come with fellowships but others not. I'm lucky if they produce a single piece of usable preliminary data in their 8 weeks in the lab. I write them letters for medical and graduate school of they did a good job. When I interview for paid positions or graduate school I do not consider anyone who does not have at least 1 summers worth of experience and a good reference from that experience. I think the students fair much better than I on this arrangement. The are getting a free educational opportunity, mentorship and a foot in the door. |
Anonymous
| Sadly, unpaid internships are the norm. The fact is, even masters degree/law students are willing to take unpaid internships for the experience (and resume line). It has been this way for a while, especially in 'soft' fields such as politics, pr, marketing, media, journalism, etc. If you're unwilling to accept an unpaid gig while you are in school, you're likely to find yourself falling behind your peers who sacked up. Working a second job is not difficult, and most supervisors of unpaid interns are very accommodating. Especially on Capitol Hill, unless your boss (some lowly legislative correspondent) is a real ass, they will not have an issue with you leaving a half hour early to get to your paying gig. They get it - as they likely had to do it as well. Hell, look at Paul Ryan. |
Anonymous
I certainly agree in science and a lot of other professional fields. I mentor law students and run internship programs and we consider an intern to be stellar if they do more useful work during a summer than they cost in terms of our management and mentoring time. An average intern is roughly a wash and a bad intern is a net loss. Folks who act like all unpaid internships are abuse have it wrong. The test right now correctly focuses on whether the internship is providing real non-monetary value and is not being offered mostly for the benefit of the employer. NIH internships and law summer jobs seem like very clear cases where it can be appropriate not to pay because they provide at least as much if not more value to the student than the company. Some corporate internships, such as Madison Avenue internships, seem very clearly the opposite because interns gain no meaningful connections and spend their days photocopying and doing other tasks that most companies have to hire someone to do. Political internships are a tough case because the work interns do really is helpful; you need people to knock on doors, make phone calls, stuff envelopes, etc. and an intern can do that almost as well as a veteran staffer. So the campaigns clearly benefit. But at the same time, so do the volunteers, who do build important knowledge and connections that will help them in the future. Plus there's arguably a civil and public benefit to helping campaigns educate the public and getting more of our younger citizens to have tangible civics experience. So I can see the arguments both ways. |
Anonymous
This is how I know you don't know what the hell you are talking about. The vast majority of line cook and other menial non-waitress jobs are staffed by illegal immigrants nowadays and do not pay even minimum wage. Do you really not get that wages for such jobs have not kept pace with inflation and do not cover even a pair of socks on a part time basis? |
Anonymous
I thought the same about Peace Corps when I served. And this was before the whole student loan debt crisis. |