General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe booming intern economy--All work and no pay
http://www.economist.com/news/international/21615612-temporary-unregulated-and-often-unpaid-internship-has-become-route?fsrc=nlw|hig|5-09-2014|5356c587899249e1ccb62fe5|NADon't talk to the press. Have a good attitude. Always say yes. You are not here to change the world. And ladies, please, Do not put us in a position to remind or suggest what qualifies as proper attire.
These are among the instructions given to interns in the office of John Boehner, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, in an 80-page manual accidentally left at a Capitol Hill house-party last summer and then posted online. Interns in Boehnerland, as his offices are known, spend their time answering the phone, sorting through the post and giving tours of the Capitol (Do not make something up.). They are instructed to point out a photograph of Mr Boehner with his high-school friends, illustrating [his] humility.
Boehnerlands Washington offices are employing 24 unpaid interns this summer. The 534 other members of the House and Senate have many moreno one knows exactly how many, because Congress is exempt from freedom-of-information laws, but perhaps 6,000, with more in spring and autumn. Down the Mall, the White House has employed 429 unpaid interns in the past year. The Supreme Court has its own programme. In all, each summer between 20,000 and 40,000 interns work in Washingtons government departments, lobbyists, non-profit groups and firms.
The internshipa spell of CV-burnishing work experienceis now ubiquitous across America and beyond. This year young Americans will complete perhaps 1m such placements; Google alone recruited 3,000 interns this summer, promising them the chance to do cool things that matter. Brussels and Luxembourg are the summer homes of 1,400 stagiaires, or embryonic Eurocrats, doing five-month spells at the European Commission. The Big Four audit companiesDeloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)will employ more than 30,000 interns this year. Bank of China runs an eight-week programme (full of contentment, yet indescribable, according to an intern quoted on its website); Alibaba, a Chinese online-retailing behemoth, has a global scheme. Infosys, an Indian tech giant, brings 150 interns from around the world to Bangalore each year.
littlemissmartypants
(22,656 posts)Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
exboyfil
(17,863 posts)My daughter was an engineering intern this summer in an "early talent" program. She made $10/hr. and will get $2,500 for each semester that her GPA is over 2.8 in college. My opinion is that you don't go into an occupation that refuses to pay you (I know hard to due in today's environment). My other daughter had unpaid clinicals as part of her CNA class, but she is now applying for CNA jobs while in high school (she plans to go to nursing school which also has unpaid clinicals).
The biggest problem with unpaid internships is that they reinforce class differences. Families that can afford to have their children do unpaid work have an advantage over and above many of the internships are acquired by the family knowing someone.
hack89
(39,171 posts)we view it as an extended job interview and end up make job offers to most of them.
eridani
(51,907 posts)babydollhead
(2,231 posts)He will work 40 hours per week, for one year. He will make 12,000.00 total, for the year.They have coached him on applying for food stamps. If he sticks it out for the year, they will pay 5,000.00 off of his student loan.