I hate to prick the balloon, but I think it’s a question of supply and demand in the labor markets.

I’d be delighted to pay $50.00 a day, not a week, including room and board for an intern to work at real estate management. Prerequisites for applicants should include honesty, minimal literacy, a willingness to work hard, as well as physical strength and stamina. Intern will learn basic gardening, window washing, elementary painting and carpentry and variety of what used to be known as domestic sciences.

I bet I have no takers!

Your message reminded me of a seminar I attended in which the speaker pointed off in the distance and asked the audience if they had this kind of boss who would say, “Do you see that house over there on 10 acres, the one with the lush landscaping, swimming pool in the back yard and the Rolls in the driveway? If you work just a little harder and longer, all of that could be mine.” [Her point was if you do, move on.]

Good for the Museum of Natural History, for Hearst, and for all the people who work with an intern and give them great instruction and invaluable experience.

She did real work with the public, and loved being there. But what’s the message when corporations don’t pay anything? Along with getting a bit of experience in a possible career path, a key thing that students need to learn is money management. And shouldn’t corporations be teaching students that hard work leads to monetary gain? Or is their message: You work hard, we’ll keep all the money, thank you.

I was never comfortable with the concept as I thought they should be given a salary, but was told that the experience was a salary. I wasn’t writing the checks so I accepted the situation and tried to include the interns in as much of the every day studio work as possible. However, many a day the experience was limited to filing artwork especially if we were on a deadline and time was of the essence.

I think like so many business agreements you take from it what you can and move on if it is unfair. Interns can learn from being “used” and learn how to negotiate next time around. I certainly would have respected an intern who defined what they wished to gain from the experience before excepting the job. One intern wanted to enhance her portfolio so I immediatley knew the assignments I could give her and we were both happy. I guess it is the old …. good communications up front works. Interns can ask for a job description !!

Were that all internships were as you describe them. Some may still be.

I don’t see payment as a legal issue–maybe not even an ethical one or a what the traffic will bear situation. If someone is working for you, you pay them. Does a teen mowing the neighbor’s lawn get no money because he/she is not the employee of a landscape business? A babysitter in nanny training work for free?

I have a rule. If a friend feeds my hypothetical pet goldfish when I am out of town, I am grateful and bring a souvenir in thanks. But if this friend does work for me, I pay them. The same goes for interns.

I worked in a field in which interns didn’t have either the specialized training or experience to be of much use to us. However, corporate policy was to take them on because if they were bright, having them spend a summer with us was an inexpensive way to recruit potential management talent. That said, I tried to avoid having them assigned to my department. Incidentally, we did pay them.

As to whether interns should be paid, I’m of two minds. As a moral matter, I think they should be. But I also believe in letting market conditions determine the level of wages any employer should pay. If someone is willing to work for free, then I can’t blame an employer for taking advantage.

In the good old days these young people could expect to find
entry-level jobs that were at times menial and at other times
exploitative—but with a difference: They got paid and received some
benefits. Today, it’s virtually slave labor. The hours are long, and
even if there is a promise of a full-time job at the end of the
internship, in so many cases that promise is unfulfilled. The intern
leaves, perhaps richer in promise but poorer in pocketbook. And a new
intern is brought in—at no charge.

I know there can’t be anything like an intern’s union, but I think
there should be a statute on the books that will ensure that an intern
receives modest payment for working long hours and weekends and that
some form of compensation is offered—even if it’s only carfare. Why?
Because I think that a great many companies are getting a free ride
today, knowing how desperate so many recent grads are to gain on-site
knowledge and experience.

It was once considered an honor to be awarded an internship; now the
general feeling is, “You got screwed.”