Today, CJP Communications tweeted an article, Fewer Unpaid Internships to Be Offered. Along with the link to the article, CJP asked if this was good or bad for college students that employers are offering less unpaid internships. It got me thinking, and thinking hard.
If organizations offer less unpaid internships due to legal actions then I think this will hurt students significantly. Many students, including myself, use unpaid internships for the experience. We are not in it for the money, but we are in it to gain valuable experience so that we can become qualified for jobs later on down the road. As the article points out, “many employers are doing away with unpaid internships or converting them to paid programs amid lawsuits that claim interns should have been compensated for their work.” Yes, employers are going to offer compensated pay, but realistically, this narrows down a tremendous amount of employers who cannot afford to pay for interns.
Therefore, if organizations take away the privilege of working as an unpaid intern, then how are we supposed to gain experience? Currently I’m in the job market, hunting avidly for a public relations job, and what I find is that most entry-level positions still want at least 2-3 years of experience. And lets ask ourselves something, if we (students) can’t get internships to gain this experience, then HOW can companies expect us to have experience?
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