by Leo Wiles
20 July 2016
I’ve interned at Bauer, Pacific and several big newspapers and no work has come from it (I didn’t necessarily expect it to). I’ve been wondering though if I have the experience to start freelancing or whether I should hold out for an in-house role? Or should I take another internship? I’m a little lost. Confused Career Intern
Interning has always been the ‘past-time’ of the not so idle rich, or at least middle class students /graduates. Let’s face it: when you have a mortgage, a dog and a couple of rugrats you probably can’t afford to offer your services for free or below wage minimum (as the law now requires for intern roles). But when you’re in the shared house stage of life or living at home with the parents, getting a foot in the door during term breaks can seem like a great career advancement.
Or at least it used to be. Once a rite of passage that pretty much all of us untried newbies had to go through to be allowed access to the hallowed halls of the fashion department, showbiz desk and or sports pages, it’s now being frowned upon. Not only because of it’s potentially exploitative nature (I am still bitter about being sent out to fetch dry-cleaning and ice-creams under a Devil Wears Prada-style London boss), but also the lingering effects on self esteem, and an inability to value your work enough that you demand to be paid. Even though, in Australia, employers are legally obliged to.
As you may see I have a love hate relationship with interning. It has given me access and work experience in jobs from the age of 15, helping me make life changing decisions. It has fast-tracked my skills and given me contacts even when, aged 37 and studying media and communications, I interned for a social media company. I worked my entire college break as a way of getting a handle on all these new fangled arts of communication without having to pay for a course (and with the hope of potentially being offered a job).
And there’s the rub. The place I interned at had NO intention of offering any of their six interns a paid gig. They had people lining around the block to ‘work’ for nothing alongside their four full-time employees so it was very much their way or the highway. The interns had replaced the need for the company to pay for permanent or even casual workers. Once I realised that and I had gleaned enough hands-on experience to earn a reference, we parted ways. Because I realised that times are indeed a changing. Internships are no longer a way of employees working out if they like you enough to offer you a job. These days unpaid or even lowly paid internships are a built-in part of the accepted workforce and therefore unlikely to led to a job.
In fact, according to Forbes and a US survey by The National Association of Colleges and Employers, the hiring rates for those who had chosen to complete an unpaid internship (37 percent) were almost the same for those who had not completed any internship at all (35 percent). Students who had any history of a paid internship, on the other hand, were far more likely (63 percent) to secure employment.
Which leads me to think ignore the upcoming internship application season and head straight for the jobs boards as a way to ensure that your hard work DOES pay off.
Are you a recent grad or intern that found paying the hard yards paid off or completely sucked? We’d love to hear from you.
Internships are just a fancy way of saying slave labour.
Back yourself and apply for work!
Totally agree, Kylie!
Dear little lost: All of the above; why not put it out there for freelance work; apply for in-house jobs and instead of calling yourself an ‘intern’ why not offer yourself on a ‘try-before-you-buy’ week for companies you may be interested in working for. The key is just to get in front of people and ask for feedback from them. But frame it in a helpful way – with open questions, as a society we tend to hold back on any negatives so perhaps you can focus on where you might be going wrong and ask for help in that area. I am sure if you get in front of enough people and they give you feedback you’ll be on the right path. good luck
Couldn’t agree more Elizabeth. In these bold news days it’s a case of rebranding oneself and challenging labels. Media’s current state of flux allows it seems for an anything goes mentality – see NYT live FB feeds for example. Not sure I would call it journalism and or feature material but the publishers seem to think that the interaction with potential readers is enough to justify this mediocre step above a kitten youtube vid.