This week, HC Mount Holyoke decided to take a more serious approach to one of our stories. Women all over the country seek internships, and there are countless HC articles that tell you how to get an internship, and rave about how great it is getting paid to do something that will boost your resume and give you work experience. However, has there been much said about the unpaid internship? HC Mount Holyoke takes a real look at what it’s like out there.
In this economy, when even large companies and organizations often cannot afford to hire, bringing an intern into the mix has become common practice. Roughly one million Americans a year work as interns, half of them unpaid.
According to a 2010 study by the research firm Internbridge.com, “non-profits proved to be the top provider of unpaid internships with 57% of the internships they offer being unpaid”, while the “government made 48% of their internships available unpaid, and the for-profit sector offered 34% of their internships unpaid.” Even more relevant to the Mount Holyoke College community, The Debate Over Unpaid College Internships, published by Intern Bridge, reports that women were significantly more likely than men to be engaged in an unpaid internship.
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Recently, the unpaid internships so eagerly sought by undergraduate students who concerned about their future job prospects have come under serious scrutiny. Critics say these internships put students who cannot afford to work for free at a disadvantage and put many young workers who have been left jobless as a result of the current recession in a tough position: work for free to potentially gain valuable experience in their chosen fields, or opt for a paying job unrelated to their studies — or even menial — that won’t necessarily bolster their resume.
In an attempt to help students who find themselves this dilemma, Mount Holyoke College’s Career Development Center offers Universal Application Form (UAF) fellowships to “make it possible for students to pursue opportunities in traditionally underfunded fields, or for unpaid internships or partially funded opportunities,” awarding funds ranging from $1,500 to $3,000 to roughly 60% of all applicants last year. While this stipend can transform a summer for recipients, the rest are left to adjust their goals and look for paid internships or research opportunities that are few and far between.
While some employers are using internships appropriately, federal and state regulators are concerned that others are using internships to essentially acquire free labor. And unless your employer is a state or local government agency or a non-profit organization, this is generally considered illegal, according to the US Department of Labor’s Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Fact Sheet #71. Although some interns may sign on expecting unreasonably long hours, menial work and no advancement in their chosen field of interest, a for-profit company must pay you, unless the job is largely one in which you benefit from training. Even offering college credit does not relieve for-profit employers from having to pay their interns.
In early 2010 a set of six criteria for unpaid internships was released. As mentioned above, state and local government agencies and non-profit organizations are exempt (the rationale here is that non-profits allow unpaid volunteers to work for them), but all other unpaid internships in for-profit companies must meet the following U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division guidelines:
1. The training, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to what would be given in a vocational school or academic educational instruction;
2. The training is for the benefit of the trainees;
3. The trainees do not displace regular employees, but work under their close observation;
4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the trainees, and on occasion the employer’s operations may actually be impeded;
5. The trainees are not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the training period; and
6. The employer and the trainees understand that the trainees are not entitled to wages for the time spent in training.
In order to secure a legal and rewarding summer internship it is important to fully understand from the start what kind of employer you’re signing on with and what kind of work you’ll be doing.
Good luck, Mount Holyoke women! And remember that application deadline for the UFA fellowship is 5:00 p.m. February 24, 2012.
HC Mount Holyoke wants your feedback! Comment below if you’ve liked our more candid approach. Have you had an unpaid internship? Let us know what it was like!
Sources:
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/cdc/internships/funding.html
http://www.ceri.msu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Intern-Bridge-Unpaid-College-Internship-Report-FINAL.pdf
http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.pdf