Out of approximately 600 students who applied, 80 were accepted by CBS News last summer, where they worked full time for 10 weeks on various programs while living in either New York City or Washington, D.C., two of the most expensive cities in the world to live in.
At the end of it all, there was no paycheck ““ a situation which is similar to what many other interns may encounter.
This spring, thousands of college and high school students across the country will finish writing applications, taking out loans and seeking housing in order to do an internship ““ paid or unpaid ““ this summer.
Dario Bravo, manager of Internship and Study Abroad Services at the UCLA Career Center, said doing an internship before graduation is essential, even if students need to do one that is unpaid.
“It’s not something you can choose to do or not to do because the No. 1 source of hiring for employers today is through their internship programs … not campus interviews, job fairs and all that stuff,” Bravo said.
But when half of all internships are unpaid, according to Vault’s career information Web site, some say less affluent students are at a disadvantage in the job market.
In addition, some have also questioned the legality of having interns work for free.
According to the Department of Labor, a previous Supreme Court case mandated that employers can have unpaid interns if they provide training for the intern and do not derive too much “immediate advantage from the activities of the student.”
Anya Kamenetz, the author of “Generation Debt,” wrote in her blog that this means many intern programs go against the standard set by the Department of Labor.
“These requirements directly contradict the premises upon which students take internships ““ that they will provide both valuable experience and a path to employment,” Kamenetz wrote in her blog.
Katie Curcio, internship coordinator for CBS News, said CBS interns are not paid because most interns are not paid in the TV industry.
“This is the industry standard. If and when it changes we will be happy to change with the times,” Curcio said of unpaid internships. “But (the internship) is definitely a valuable experience and it pays off in the end.”
And interning can lead to future job offers ““ in three and a half years of taking on about 160 interns a year, Curcio said CBS has hired 59 of its interns.
But Kamenetz said the amount of unpaid interns creates several problems in the economy and the job market: Instead of the best people being hired, the people who can afford to work for no pay are landing the jobs.
“They fly in the face of meritocracy ““ you must be rich enough to work without pay to get your foot in the door,” Kamenetz said in a column.
Unless a university hosts a center in the city of the internship, as is the case with the University of California’s centers in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., students cannot use financial aid to cover internship costs, Bravo said.
Zafir Shaiq, a first-year economics student, said he has submitted his application for unpaid internships for several politicians in both Sacramento and Washington, D.C. Now he is just wondering how to pay for it.
“The maximum stipend from the D.C. program is $1,300, but it costs around $4,000 to just to live there for two months,” Shaiq said. “But I have some money saved up from my job and my parents are going to help, so I think I can pay for it with the combination of everything.”
Eric Lochtefeld, president of the University of Dreams internship program, said he is sad to turn away people who cannot afford to do an unpaid internship, but students have to accept that this is the way the job market works now.
For $6,500 to $9,000, Lochtefeld said the program places customers in unpaid internships for New Line Cinema, Hearst Corporation, MTV and Sony Music Entertainment and several other companies with housing and career-building seminars included.
“One thing to realize is that I’ve got 27 employees who are (University of Dreams) alumni, and they came from middle-class backgrounds, took out loans, and it worked out for them as a full-time job,” Lochtefeld said.
Randy Hagihara, internship director for the Los Angeles Times, said he wonders how some employers get away with not paying their interns. The Los Angeles Times pays their interns $600 a week for 10 weeks.
“We believe that if a person is good enough to work at the paper, they should be compensated for it,” Hagihara said.
Hagihara also said the L.A. Times pays interns in order to compete with other publications for the best journalists.
According to Lochtefeld, taking out loans to do such internships if need be is just part of working up the corporate ladder.
“The reality is that most companies don’t have to pay their interns because they have so many students willing to work for free,” Lochtefeld said. “It’s an unfortunate reality, but if they are paid, it’s for a reason ““ to compete with better recruiters, not because they believe it’s altruistic. It’s about the bottom line for most employers.”
Kamenetz also pointed out in her column that unpaid internships may be creating too much free labor in the corporate world.
CBS spends some money on interns’ living expenses though, Curcio said. “We do give our interns meal tickets.”