NYT: Crucial Unpaid Internships...Separate Haves from Have-Nots

[DeepModem Mom]

Crucial Unpaid Internships Increasingly Separate the Haves From the Have-Nots
By JENNIFER 8. LEE

Published: August 10, 2004


WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 - Susan Lim, a 20-year-old Georgetown University student, is working 89 hours a week this summer: two part-time jobs and an unpaid internship offered through the Public Policy and International Affairs Program.

Her schedule - working for money as a clerical assistant and a summer school resident adviser and without pay as a researcher at the public policy program - is a sharp contrast to that of her Georgetown classmates. Many of them have parents who support them through unpaid summer internships, or they have qualified for paid internships because of experience as unpaid interns during high school....

***

The focus on internships as a tool for professional success has never been greater, according to Mark Oldman, co-author of "The Internship Bible" and co-founder of Vault Inc., a career counseling company. About 80 percent of graduating college seniors now have done a paid or unpaid internship, according to surveys by Vault, compared with about 60 percent a decade ago.

"The interest in internships is at a fever pitch," Mr. Oldman said. "It used to be that internships used to be a useful enhancement to one's résumé. Now it's universally perceived as an essential stepping stone to career success."

But as internships rise in importance as critical milestones along the path to success, questions are emerging about whether they are creating a class system that discriminates against students from less affluent families who have to turn down unpaid internships to earn money for college expenses....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/10/politics/10interns.html

[LiberalEsto]

1. Internships

So true. I have a 20-year-old daughter working as a DNC fundraising canvasser -- at least she gets paid. We can't afford to subsidize a lengthy unpaid internship for her -- not with her younger sister about to enter college.



Next: They'll outsource all the good internships to India.

[pw]

2. This is such old news

It's not just internships but the miserably-paid "assistant" or "trainee" jobs in a long list of elite sectors of the economy (media, finance...) that separate the will-haves from the have-nots. If your parents don't have the money to support you through two or three or five years of living a fancy lifestyle while being paid not that much more than minimum wage, it will be much harder for you.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. I'd never thought of those glamorous "entry-level" jobs as...

most likely parent-subsidized jobs, in a similar category as internships. You're right.

[hatrack]

9. Shit, Naomi Klein was writing about this five years ago

Leave it to the NYT to be on the cutting edge of "news" reporting.

[Joy Anne]

3. internships in the good old days

In the 1960s, internships were required in many majors, e.g., engineering, and they paid well enough for students to save the following semester's tuition. Life today is such a ripoff. Don't get me started.

[AngryAmish]

5. So right

I did an unpaid internship one summer - 30 hours a week. So I had to work my paid job from 3am until 8 am then 4 pm until.... I needed the money and I got paid a lot as an assistant stationary engioneer. Looks kinda funny when working in a suit and having grease under your fingernails.

One of my fellow trainees was from the U of Chicago. He got a tuition subsidy for his public sector unpaid job. Plus his parents bought him a condo and a car. He could afford to shoot for a lower-paid yet high glamour job (FBI).

This is too true.

[Gman]

6. Unpaid internships in business amount to free labor

and really ought to be illegal. Its nothing more than taking advantage of free labor.

I ran across a kid at Enterprise car rental a while back doing an unpaid internship. I was shocked that he was working at the rental desk for free. I told him just how the company was taking advantage of him. His resigned response was along the lines of "Oh well". I told him he may as well be flipping hamburgers for free for all the business experience he may be gaining from working the rental desk for free.

[Freddie Stubbs]

14. Not all internships are a rip-off for students

They often provide useful learning opportunities and enable students to make contact that will lead to jobs after graduation. You just have to do a little research beforehand.

[struggle4progress]

21. Allowing companies to exploit free labor depresses wages. eom

[2Design]

7. disney internships are similar...low pay and many

get to do bathroom cleaning or retail or food and it is considered a semester work. They pay low, rent to them with 4 people to an apartment. Many companies are filling low paying jobs by calling them internships. They have college level students doing 'crap' jobs.

[psychopomp]

8. This thread is a real eye-opener

and the NYT should be credited for pointing out an important trend that contributes to the rising importance of class in the United States.

There was a time when most people expected to have a fair chance at good jobs, home ownership, retirement. All of these and more have slipped out of reach for what used to be called the "middle class." The middle has become hallowed out and the "two nations" have become further apart.

And Dumbya just rubs it in our faces. He admits that the very rich don't really pay taxes so we shouldn't bother asking them to give back to the country that allowed them to prosper.

[SOS]

10. Reminds me of an old joke

"Now I'm going to have to get a real job, because Daddy can't afford to send me to Conde Nast anymore."

[DeepModem Mom]

11. Never heard that one, SOS! But have a number of young women...

to pass it along to. LOL!

[MountainLaurel]

12. Bra-frickin-vo

This has been a rant of mine for ages. Students who can't accept unpaid internships for whatever reason (must get paid employment to cover the next tuition bill, are nontraditional students who work full time, can't afford the daycare for the time involved if they aren't getting paid) automatically are running behind when they finish school. And often, these are the students who aren't at the big-dick universities, so they don't even have the "I went to Harvard" to fall back on in getting that first job.

Meritocracy, my big blonde ass!

:nuke:

[DeepModem Mom]

13. Great post, ML! LOL!

(I think you're a student yourself -- best of luck to you!)

[MountainLaurel]

15. Thanks

One more semester of grad school . . .

This issue has been popping up frequently on the discussion boards and even within my program, in which the school library media specialist track REQUIRES an unpaid practicum (think student teaching for librarians). Considering that many of the students are currently full time workers, often with families, I have no idea how they can manage it.

But there's a lot of talk about other tracks within library and information science needing to require students to do practicums before completing their degrees. I can understand the need from an academic standpoint, but who the hell is gonna pay my mortgage and keep my cat in kibbles while I'm doing this? I wouldn't want to take out a penny more of student loans than necessary.

[DeepModem Mom]

16. Wow -- I knew about this issue, but was aware of no REQUIRED...

unpaid worktime.

[dryan]

17. When I was in college....

we had to do a semester-long practicum at a local hospital. My major was medical technology and I had to work as a phlebotomist--a person that draws blood. I was expected to be at the hospital at 6:15 AM before the patients had their breakfasts. Take the blood and process it. I was also expected to work in the Emergency Room twice a week to take blood and type it; this included people that were shot, had been in car wrecks, stabbed, whatever. I worked until 4:00 PM. I didn't get paid for this but I paid Valencia for 9 credit hours.

[MountainLaurel]

19. Student teachers

Have to do at least one semester of in-classroom time -- writing lesson plans, teaching the students, grading papers, writing IEPs for special ed students, whatever. That's probably about 50 hours a week of unpaid work.

[Mandate My Ass]

18. Excellent rant

"big-dick universities" lol. I have to remember that one. :hi:

Having gone to a big-dick university myself, I have to tell
you that the legacy students got all the good internships and
schlubs like me were left with the scraps. My only joy in life
these days is when the university sends me letters for begging
for donations...and I tear them into little shreds as I dance
around my house. Fugeddaboudit.

Good luck in your last semester. I hope your future is bright.

[MountainLaurel]

20. You should write them back

And let them know exactly WHY you won't be donating to the school anytime soon.

:hi: