Dedicating your time, effort and attention to something that doesn’t reciprocate that love through financial compensation is the experience of many unpaid interns. While adding work experience to your resume or having a reference might help your future career endeavours, there are a couple of issues with unpaid internships.
1. It puts wealthier students at an advantage since they can afford to take unpaid work
2. They undervalue a student’s skills and knowledge.
3. They allow companies to overwork and exploit interns
4. IT’S FREE LABOR
I worked as a content creation intern for a beauty company over the summer. While I tried to maintain a positive attitude about the job, I was overworked and unsatisfied with the assigned projects. When initially applying, I was under the impression that it was part-time and I would have to commit 15 hours a week, but then I was assigned tasks that would take up 30 hours during the week. The remote job made it difficult to build connections and learn from the professionals I was working alongside. Unable to maintain the excessive workload without compensation while generally feeling unvalued, I left that internship within two months and certainly didn’t look back or bother adding it to my resume.
I wish that every company could pay its interns, but the reality is that unpaid internships still exist. If you are a university student hungry for work experience, leverage your connections to find better offers, ensure the company you are applying for is reputable and trustworthy. Don’t be afraid to ask several questions during your interview about the role and establish your time commitments and expectations. Getting free work opportunities is relatively not hard. It’s easier to hyperfocus on your resume’s quantity of work experience, but what’s much more valuable and less commonly done is investing time on a personal project related to your field. It will allow you to stand out from a crowd of applicants and lead to paid internships and job opportunities that you will enjoy and excel in. Most importantly, be confident in yourself! Lack of confidence is the core reason I aimed low and aimlessly applied for anything and everything on a job board. Instead, be pickier and know your worth!