This summer, thousands of undergraduate and graduate students have either entered companies or government agencies to work on tasks, projects and other menial activities for those who are already employed there. The catch: they get paid. You, the humble and grateful intern, get nothing.
Yes, internships are a vital means of earning work experience as well as develop proper office space etiquette; but some of my fellow interns across the United States will argue that experience alone is not enough.
Basically, some see this as unfair free labor.
All this got me thinking the other day when I saw an article where someone wrote passionately in opposition to the practice of unpaid internships. Without going into specifics, their arguments circled around the realities of the world today, that it is necessary to intern somewhere where the company or agency pays for the work you do. It's only fair, right?
Unpaid internships are a valuable means of not just getting experience but learning humility as well. Internships come in a diverse assortment of roles and duties that reflect the agency or the company the undergrad or grad decides to intern with. The role that one intern takes on will never be the same as another intern, which is why it is difficult to equally pay interns the same rate across the board. Each intern's tasks will always be lighter or heavier than the intern in the cubicle next to them. An intern can range from the coffee runner to someone who helps draft regulations to someone who attends the board meetings with their supervisor and meets important VIPs.
But there is one critique of the Millennial generation; they say we are an arrogant generation that wants to teach the prior generation what we know and what we want to learn. We are entitled to all that is at our disposal and we will fight, claw and jostle to the position we want most. Yes, there are more pressures upon our generation to find a job upon graduation.Yes, there aren't the same amount of jobs as when our parents graduated college. Yes, some jobs we are looking for no longer exist. Many of us look at the inevitable of living at home for a year or so not out of choice but out of necessity. For these reasons and more, I strongly believe that to say the Millennial generation is narcissistic and arrogant is a false characterization.
But in truth, all we want is the same opportunity and fairness that our parents experienced when you could pay for a year's worth of college from a summer job and not have to take out loan after loan from the banks that you will more than likely spend the next half of your life paying back. And that doesn't even include the cost of acquiring a masters degree, which is a must in today's economy.
It would be easy to say to blame the system for all the problems interns and graduates-to-be face. But the reason why many have interns have their internship is because it is unpaid. To have to pay interns will make it difficult for non-profit or government internships even harder to come by, since their sole purpose is to provide a service rather than to make a profit.
In the end, it would be nice to receive an income while interning, but for many, it is unrealistic due to the facts of today. Yet, for many like myself who had searched for a way to get a foot in the door in the professional world, an unpaid internship is a entry way ticket to a greater world of possibilities. Should organizations cover transportation expenses or food expenses at the minimum? Of course. But in the greater picture, having something like an internship to boost someone's resume is worth more than a few hundred dollars an intern can make in a few weeks time during the summer.
