Paying For Internships?
When most people think of internships, they think of college students working their butts off all summer long to gain job experience. However, many internship opportunities offer year-long internships in finance, journalism, TV/film, advertising, engineering, technology and other fields. If students are considering waiting until they finish college to snap up these opportunities, they may find themselves out of luck, as most internship positions are only open to current students. With everyone touting the value of an internship and such fierce competition among current students, some kids are driven to extremes to make their dreams a reality.
There are many different kinds of internships for those who will work for free, but some wonder if the paying types have gone extinct. “We used to pay, but we’re not doing that anymore,” explained Tom Triozzi, senior VP of BellAtlantic. “We ask them to work for free for a great work experience.” In this economy, even the competition for unpaid student intern positions has become so fierce that the NY Times reported some students are actually paying for their unpaid internship positions! “It’s kind of crazy,” said David Gaston, director of the University of Kansas career center. “The demand for internships in the past 5, 10 years has opened up this huge market.” One student’s parents paid $8,000 to get him an unpaid internship at Ford Models this summer, which was an opportunity, his parents say, he wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.
The company the parents used was called “University of Dreams” (www.summerinternships.com). For $5,000 to $10,000 a summer, students are guaranteed internships at places like the US Chamber of Commerce, Ford Models, Sirius Radio, Common Cause, C-Span, MWW Advertising Group, Hilton Barcelona, NBC, Dreamworks, Miramax, Paramount, Sony/BMG, GMAC Real Estate and US Weekly Magazine. According to their 2008 report, their latest batch of summer internships resulted in 47% of survey respondents saying they were offered a full-time job upon conclusion of the program.
Yet the news is not all gloomy, experts suggest. Target, for instance, has held onto their paid internship programs to help them find the best and the brightest workers. “We get a lot of great talent,” comments Target recruiter Victor Rota. “Seventy to eighty percent of them come back to work for us, so the return on the investment is there.” Additionally, the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that companies that do offer paid internships are increasing the hourly wage by 5% on average, which takes the national average to $17.13/hour.
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