At UNC, and likely other prestigious universities, there is unnecessary pressure to secure a summer internship opportunity.
There is an unspoken stigma around spending your summer break scooping ice cream or waiting tables at your hometown’s local restaurant, yet, these are valuable experiences that will still translate into your future endeavors. At a minimum wage job, you can build valuable customer service skills and strengthen your professional resume without spending a summer receiving no income. In a professional interview, there are definitely skills you can cite regarding your role as shift manager just like, if not more, than in an unpaid role.
As April wraps up and every student is scrambling for last-minute internship offers, please keep in mind that “experience” should not be worth the price of unpaid work.
Unpaid internships reinforce the idea of privilege — and if you have to relocate and travel for the experience, you are actually paying to be unpaid. Being an unpaid intern is not much more than being a volunteer. Most people in today’s world and economy cannot get by and live each day by doing unpaid tasks and labor. If you’re even in the position where you can take an unpaid internship, you’re lucky.
In a 2023 study done by Lending Tree, it was reported that 47 percent of unpaid interns took on debt to complete their internship program. This creates just another bill to add on top of the several post graduates and young professionals already deal with.
With this, a 2022 National Association of Colleges and Employers study reported that paid interns received an average of 1.14 job offers after graduating, whereas unpaid interns averaged 0.94 job offers. It is not necessarily in the cards that doing your time unpaid will enable you a higher, paid position in the future.
I have to confess that I am an offender of participating in an unpaid internship. My experience, despite me writing and urging others to not partake, was very positive. But, I was lucky and privileged to be able to take the opportunity.
Every day, clocking in felt like I was shadowing a paid person at the company. I began to understand the schedule and culture of the workplace and core values of the company — I was a part of this layered, textured tapestry that made up the organization. It felt meaningful. But as I’d leave for the day, I had to change out of my business casual attire and get ready to drive over to my minimum wage job in order to make up for lost time and money. I never slept and never had me-time as I spent it making back money I had effectively lost while working unpaid. I had no life working an internship. It felt like I was constantly overworked to be undervalued, and the toll got to me.
My experience being an unpaid intern wasn’t like the notorious internship stories where all I did was fetch mocha lattes and iced chais. I was actually able to build my resume and portfolio. But, my beneficial experiences aren’t necessarily the norm and didn't ensure me a future position. I really thought that this experience would translate into success with other applications and interviews, but I gained no tangible career benefits.
