Comments on: Internships are Necessary, Even If They Are Unpaid

By: Grace Boyle

Grace Boyle — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 20:03:00 +0000

Great points, John! I love the piece about spending time with your boss. My current boss (full-time, not an internship) is still very much a mentor of mine. I respect his knowledge and love the learning process.

Thanks for stopping by – your comments were so insightful!

By: John Heckers

John Heckers — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:43:00 +0000

Oh, and just one more. Don’t over-schedule yourself with things that will keep you from working hard at your internship or learning at your internship. Many Millennial Generation folks like to have every second of every day packed and busy. This is a mistake because it keeps you from hanging around and seeing interesting, and often vital, stuff. Make your internship the top thing on your schedule and keep your social calendar and other personal activities light.

By: John Heckers

John Heckers — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:41:00 +0000

Great article and good advice for young people coming out of an educational experience. I would add one more. Hang out with your bosses as MUCH as they will let you. Don’t watch the clock, and don’t rush off at the end of a business day to be with friends. If you’re serious about your career, spending the time to actually learn the business (much of which does NOT take place during the business day!) is essential. I’ve seen too many interns see their time as theirs and the company time as a sacrifice that they’re making of their social time. Get over it! The company supervisors, managers and owners are putting out a great deal of time and energy that they could be putting out on something other than you. It is a gift to you. Your work is not necessarily a gift to them, although your fresh ideas and familiarity with various forms of technology certainly DO help. But understand that the management is spending a great deal of valuable (and often expensive) time mentoring you and training you. Most of us feel we need to give something back to the community and to help the younger generation.

By: Grace Boyle

Grace Boyle — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 07:25:53 +0000

@Jon That's too bad about your classmate. Of course you're going to make mistakes in senior classes regardless of your experience. Point blank, if you have internship experience it shows you have motivation and drive versus someone who didn't do one internship in college.

When companies are smart, they obviously hire someone beyond their internships. They hire for personality, skill set, intelligence, etc.

And no, I've never worked as a dishwasher, so I've never needed to hire for that kind of position. I'm far from failure. Maybe you should take the time to know someone before making assumptions.

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 06:39:15 +0000

More mindless drivel. My classmate had some internships. Yet, he was still a pothead, and still made mistakes in senior classes despite having "experienced" the same material in his internships.

I'm sure somebody like you would hire him over an intelligent person, purely based on his "internship" experience.

Oh, it makes me all warm and fuzzy to know people like you keep flooding the workplace.

You probably belong in the same class of people who, when hiring somebody for a dish washing job, askes "what makes you think you could do this job". Fail much?

By: Grace Boyle

Grace Boyle — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:25:53 +0000

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:39:15 +0000

By: Grace Boyle

Grace Boyle — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:54:55 +0000

@AC I disagree. I don't think unpaid internships are stupid career moves, however, I understand your point in that sometimes internships don't offer as much value if they know they don't have to pay you. As you will see in various reader comments here, many had very informative and worthy unpaid internships which help lead to their current career success.

I can attest, because I had unpaid internships and in college, they were FOR credit. I was given responsibility and I was sure to be careful about the kind of internship I was getting myself into so that it would be worth my time.

By: Grant Grigorian

Grant Grigorian — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 01:21:03 +0000

An unpaid internship is not only "social in nature."

Even under the FLSA, an intern must receive training similar to that offered in a vocational school. The training must be for the benefit of the intern and the the law regards an internship as a training program.

It may not be the correct move for your career, but for a lot of people, unpaid internships have provided valuable opportunities they couldn't have had otherwise.

By: AC

AC — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:23:05 +0000

Sorry, but this is a very stupid career move…unpaid internships. According to the Department of Labor's Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA), an organization can only offer an unpaid internship to someone as long as the work the unpaid intern performs is of no value to the organization. The value in this type of arrangement is more of a social nature…such as making new friends, contacts, having fun in a new city or town…but, not necessarily for the purpose of obtaining “experience” in the form of stretching one's skills or getting an accomplishment to put on the resume. People should understand that distinction before they get into this type of arrangement.