Free internships: work experience or just free labor?
When Raul Pelagio started an internship at a law office last year, he got experience in his field by reading and delivering briefs to different courthouses. Though he said he enjoyed his experience, the hundreds of hours he spent filing papers didn’t earn him a penny – he was an unpaid intern.
According to Reader’s Digest, 75 percent of college students complete an internship prior to graduation today. 3 percent completed an internship in the 1980s.
Pelagio, a senior majoring in law and constitutional studies, did his internship at the law office of Hillyard, Anderson and Olsen in Logan.
“It gave me the chance to see what day-to-day life is like for attorneys, and it assured me that I was making the right choice,” he said.
Pelagio said the experience confirmed he was in the right major.
“Even though it was unpaid, I was really glad for the experience,” he said.
Donna Crow, executive director of Career Services, said the first benefit completing an internship is gaining work experience. She said completing an internship greatly increases students’ chances for employment after graduation.
“Around 60 percent of students do get offers for full-time employment from the companies they interned for after graduation,” she said. “This number gets as high as 70 to 80 percent for some larger businesses.”
She said about one in three college graduates is underemployed in the current economy, and internships can help insure students will not be included in that statistic.
“You gain that valuable work experience that employers are looking for, become more marketable and develop important networks,” she said.
Crow defined an internship as any work-related experience performed while a student is in school. This includes practicums and applicable volunteer work.
“There are formal internship programs for which you get academic credit, and then there might be informal experiences that you are calling an internship,” she said.
Crow said another benefit of completing an internship is the reassurance of your career choice.
“There is nothing wrong with students coming back from internships saying ‘What was I thinking? I can’t do that.'” she said.
Melissa Schaffer, associate director of Career Services, knows of students who have gone to a company and offered their services for free just to gain work experience.
Schaffer said it was never too early for students to start looking for internships.
“Many companies believe that the first time an employer sees your name should not be on your resume when you are applying for a job,” she said. “They want a relationship with you long before that.”
Crow recalled a situation in which a freshman student visited with a specific company every year at the Career Fair and communicated with them regularly through email.
When the student was a senior and looking for a job, the company had an opening and the student got the job because they were familiar with him.
“You don’t have to ask for employment today,” Crow said. “It could be looking into an internship for next year.”
Crow said visiting with employers early also helps students develop communication skills to be used later when you are applying for an internship or full time job.
“It’s not innate,” she said. “It’s not something you are born with.”
Crow said the last benefit of an internship is the possibility of school credit for the experience.
Pelagio gained three credit hours for the time he spent at the law office.
“I had to write a paper at the end of it on a topic that related to what the internship was about,” he said. “I wrote about immigration policy, which is what I eventually want to end up doing.”
Lauren Harper, a junior majoring in liberal arts, had an unpaid internship with Autism Speaks in Salt Lake City and the Obama for America campaign in Chicago.
Harper said her experience with Autism Speaks taught her a lot about how the political system works, especially in Utah.
“My internship was in two parts,” she said. “Before the legislative session, I helped coordinate meetings between legislators and their constituents affected by autism. Once the session started, I spent every day at the capital coordinating efforts between legislators, lobbyists and volunteers.”
Harper said she not
only learned about the surface of politics, but also gained some insight into the inner workings and systems most people don’t get the chance to see.
“I lost faith in humanity a little bit since politics definitely got in the way of helping thousands of children in Utah, but it was a great learning experience,” she said.
Harper said her experience with Obama for America involved writing memos for the President, Vice President, the First Lady and others.
Through this internship, she said she was able to learn how a presidential campaign works. She said the number one thing she noticed was how huge and complicated the whole operation was.
Harper said if given the chance she would definitely choose to participate in both of her internships again.
“It’s great to take a step back from school and gain perspective,” she said.
– ashlyn.tucker@aggiemail.usu.edu