“We are giving you a platform”
We get it. Really, we do. Infact, believe it or not, that is the reason why we applied for the damn thing in the first place. Not because of money, or because we were under the illusion that it would be easy. Nope. The great internship question is not whether or not you will pay me well. People don’t intern because they want to make money. We applied for that internship position you advertised because we want to learn.
That means little pay. (No pay is not ideal but may be acceptable in exceptional cases.) That means late nights. That also seems to mean doing full staff work using skills you learn on the go. That does not mean being abused.
The bulk of the advice on internship seems to focus on all of the great skills interns learn from the fast paced pressure pot that is internship. They say, roll with the bad times because they are preparing you for future roles. In essence, “this is how it is.”
That is where I have a problem. This narrative is very enabling. It lets bad employers off the hook because “that is how internships are”. Yes, but is that how they should be? When you parade survival bias as a norm you are part of the problem. It is great if like me you made a good thing out of being in a dangerous environment. What is not great is normalizing it.
There is a difference between a tough-love, be-on-your-toes learning/working experience and a downright abusive one. And the bulk of internships in Nigeria are toxic. They are abusive. And teaching current and future interns to roll with it is dangerous. Normalizing toxic work spaces especially when those at the receiving end are impressionable young people issa problem. Because you may have survived it with scars but many others, of no fault of theirs, will burn.
I interned with Silverbird Communications from 2012 to 2015. I also interned with The British Council in 2016. My time with Silverbird was unpaid (even though we were continually lied to that stipends would be disbursed), peppered with constant emotional abuse from immediate bosses and management, and very very inhumane conditions. My time with British Council was filled with very hardwork that tested and expanded what I thought at the time were my professional limits. In both cases, I learnt a lot. But without a doubt, the challenging but very much humane conditions of the latter enabled me to learn much more than I did in the former.
Also, bad employers don’t stop. You are not the first and you will not be the last. While working on a story about Silverbird (out this month), I interviewed former workers who had had similar experiences as me. Interning as is involves emotional abuse, physical abuse and a lot more. This is not okay. It is a cycle that will not change unless we reject this mentality that it is how things work.
The focus of the bulk of to-interns advice needs to shift. By all means intern. It is a GREAT way to garner real life experience in (and out of) your field of interest. It helps you, to use my only cliche of the day, get your foot in the door. And while interning, give higher priority to learning and doing as opposed to income earning. But know that work place abuse is not okay. It is not a part of internship. It is not how things work. And if it is, then it is not how they should work. Have a limit. There is a line. Very visible one. Between tough love and abuse. And employers who walk the abuse line do not need you enabling them by encouraging interns to suck it up.
If this is not the most coherent you have seen me, apologies. I understand deeply how important this conversation is and am very passionate about it. I also find this “my experience was horrible but it helped me” rhetoric disturbing because it does nothing to address the many failings of the employer and focuses solely on all the interns stand to gain. This not a balanced approach. It is quite frankly, dangerous.
