Go Pyrate! present:
Interns are not cheap labor
Offering an internship comes with responsibilities
The season of internships is upon us!
For many companies out there, that means getting a few cheap warm bodies to do thankless jobs. In many cases even, “cheap” mean “free labor”.
I know the argument: “We provide them with valuable work experience, and there are cost to training and managing them. If anything THEY should pay US for that privilege”. What a load of crap.
Your internship rarely provides valuable experience
Students or graduates need their internship to practice their skills in a real-world environment, as well as to learn all of those little things that can only be taught through experience.
They need opportunities to test themselves, and guidance on how to turn failure into success. They need to learn to sell their ideas. They need to learn how to avoid missteps while navigating all of those unwritten and unspoken workplace rules.
Sadly, few internships offer them those things. All too often, internships fall into one of the following categories:
The personal assistant
Picking up dry cleaning, fetching coffee and following their…
