Once upon a time I would have shined the shoes of an editor if it meant I got to hang around a newsroom and inhale the heady-smells of fresh ink as the papers rolled off the presses. I would have made the coffee. I would have danced on cue, had anyone demanded it.
When I landed my cadetship I arrived at work an hour early and always left hours late – unpaid – because it meant I was surrounded by the process and learning, learning, learning. It wasn’t work, as such. Or at least it didn’t feel like it.
Was I exploited? Probably. Did I care? Hardly.
Who are these work experience students demanding to be paid? If your employer is on their game, you are being paid. In knowledge. In experience! It’s hard to crack into the job market with even a degree these days. Employers want some depth. Some on-the-job training.
Of course, some people really are taken for a ride. Australia’s Fair Work Ombudsman will investigate claims young people are being shafted by unscrupulous employers making them work for free – sometimes up to a year – without offering them employment at the end of it. Fair enough, that’s tough. Some examples from News.com.au:
– A university student studying teaching who worked for a year at a school without being paid in the hope it would further a career.
– A bar worker who also worked unpaid for about a year at a city venue.
But I’ve seen the opposite, too. I’ve seen 17-year-olds and 18-year-olds waltz into newsrooms and offices expecting to be treated as publishing mavens with all the experience of people who’ve been doing the job for years, decades. Going to the Post Office is beneath them, you see. Getting lunch for someone is a terrible affront to their well-honed craft, you see.
I would have queued in a Post Office for a thousand years if it meant an editor spent just five minutes telling me about his job. I would have licked 100 stamps with my own tongue.
I had some sense about me. It’s not like I would have interned with a mad scientist (“I just need you to strap this needle device to your chest”) or given up my time for Cat Walkers R Us. But where it counted, I gladly would have gone.
Maybe I’m a sucker, a glutton for punishment. But … it worked.
Let’s ask my own boss and former work experience wrangler Mia Freedman some questions for her take.
I made this tea and got this sandwich myselfQ: Why do employers even have work experience students and interns anyway?
A: There are two reasons usually. One is altruistic – the desire to give experience to those looking to get into the field. And of course there is a more self-interested reason: to get help with some of the tasks your paid staff members don’t have time to do. Ideally, it’s a combination of both reasons.
Q: Isn’t it exploitation? Getting someone to do all the crappy jobs without paying them?
A: Well, if either party has that attitude, it’s not going to work. There has to be an understanding that it’s a mutually beneficial arrangement. The student gets some experience they otherwise couldn’t get. And the employer gets some help.
Q: What’s the biggest misconception about interning?
That it’s just free labour or that they’re being exploited. Also, that they will be doing skilled or senior tasks. Interns and work experience students need to understand that work places are extremely busy. There are rarely enough staff and never enough hours in a day. In the media, the environment is usually high stress and high stakes. Mistakes can be potentially embarrassing for an organisation and even have legal implications.
Having an intern around means that everyone has to notice they’re there and often adapt their behaviour accordingly. There are private or industry specific things that are discussed in the course of a working day that aren’t appropriate for interns to be part of. That’s why you can’t just “sit in on meetings and learn”.
Q: So, what should interns expect?
A: Maintaining a good intern program takes time. The employer needs to do a thorough job description and the intern needs to be aware of the kinds of tasks they’ll be doing. Everyone needs to be comfortable. You don’t want to do it? No problem. There’s probably a queue behind you that stretches around the block.
Interns can’t be given senior or skilled tasks because if things go wrong, there can be huge consequences for the organisation. At the smaller end of the scale, it just takes twice as long to redo the task or undo errors. That’s not to say an intern can’t advance and take on more responsibilities but you have to be patient. Don’t come into a website expecting to write posts and don’t come into a magazine expecting to choose the cover.
I’ve seen both happen so many times and it’s frustrating for everyone. Manage your expectations. Listen and learn. And ask straight away about their social media policy. Find out what is appropriate information for you to share with your own networks and on your own Tumblrs or blogs.
Many organisations would be horrified if they found out an intern or work experience student was sharing information (even if it seems harmless) about their placement online.
Did you do work experience? Have you been an intern? Did you feel exploited or lucky?
Top Comments
I both agree, and disagree. As a design student fresh out of university, I have been looking for many opportunities for internships and work.
In the past, the internships I have done have not been pleasant experiences. I was prepared to do the mundane jobs, and very accepting of it. But when you've spent a day or a week sewing pieces of paper together, or separating string from safety pins, and nobody even thanks you for it, it doesn't exactly make you feel appreciated.
On the other hand, I've been fortunate enough to have been part of a smaller business who really appreciated me, enquired about what my skills were, and let me make use of some of them. Being appreciated for your presence makes you ever willing to do the mundane jobs - because those jobs do exist in any industry, and of course it makes sense for the interns to do them before they can climb ladders of trust and skill.
Searching recently for internships or graduate positions isn't easy. Paid work demands experience I don't yet have, but many good internships require full-time work, for a minimum of several months, no salary or expenses, and no promise of a position at the end. I understand that I'm untrained in their business, and that at the moment, I am not necessarily worth paying, because I can't generate any profits. I am very willing to do 1 or 2 days' unpaid work, sure. But how can anybody asking for applications for full time, long length, unpaid work, and not be discriminating against people who don't have the money to work for free. I have to eat and pay rent - there's a minimum wage for a reason. Businesses might actually do well for themselves by realising that just because a person can afford to work full time unpaid, it doesn't necessarily mean they're the best at what they do.
I think there's a lot of scope in the business - intern collaborations, but both sides need to consider their mutual needs.
I started doing work experience at a law firm as the Receptionist around September. I wouldn't mind doing but the thing is I get up round 9- 10 am everyday to open the office and a lot of the time leave around 8pm. My boss said she appreciates everything I've done to help but she still hasn't considered having me permanently because she feels I "Haven't learnt anything" and wants me to stay a month or two longer. The thing is she said because I can't find any work and I've been going to unsuccessful job interviews, that I should stay here just to motivate myself and have something to do, but it's not flexible at all! Sometimes, she even calls me after I just get back from there saying she needs me to come back at the officw! I never have by the way, but I just think to myself she is something else. What's worse is that she constantly has people coming and going, which sounds normal. But as she told me during the interview that if I like it here enough I can stay here permanently, and then ask if I want to extend my time here. And she paid the women who trained me, I just think she only wants me here because everyone else has left and I'm the only one here, but doesn't want to pay me purely because she doesn't want to. It's been over two months now and I should have left last week. She seems nice but she just wants me to do her dirty work and not have to spend any money for it. It's stressing me out because I hardly have time to do anything else. I apply for jobs at work here everyday on the computer but then she's constantly asks me to do this and that for her. She knows I have no money, xmas is coming and I've just become so angry and passive aggressive. I haven't slept properly in about a month. And when I ask if she called to ask for new replacements she dismisses it. So if she thinks I'm good enough to stay but still does not want to offer me a job- I'm being exploited, aren't I? Although I did enjoy it in the beginning, although I was a bit iffy about staying so late and being expected to come monday to friday. Right now, I just want to get up and leave. The only reason I'm still here and stuck to it is because I need references.