i wholeheartedly agree. i can’t take unpaid internships. financially cannot.
the irony is that there are great, paid internships available, but those internships that are the coveted, highly-competitive ones are nearly always unpaid.
I think this completely relies on what you’re studying and what industry or area you’re getting an internship in. At my business school there are no such thing as unpaid internships, and the thought of an unpaid internship would be laughed at. Average monthly salaries ranged from $4,000-$6,000 for seniors or soon-to-be grad students, and when overtime gets factored in, it’s not uncommon for students to return with $15-20K from 10 weeks of work (in highly coveted and competitive positions). Way more important than the money however, is the way interns in these firms are treated. When you interface with clients or other members of the organization, you are not presented as an intern, but as ‘staff’.
If you want to see whether a responsible adult can hold a responsible adult’s position, treat and pay them like one, not as an ‘intern’. Doing so creates an atmosphere of mutual accountability and goes beyond simulating what a position will be like. It puts you in that position and gives you a test run, with more guidance and resources than you’re likely to have when you start full-time.
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