Should I Take an Unpaid Internship?

I know what you're thinking, Ugh, another crazy college communist who wants me to work for free! No. Here are some of the best reasons to seriously consider an unpaid internship.

Internships Help You Get Ahead

I'm in graduate school right now so I can become a city manager. That's the end goal. Right when I graduate with my masters degree though, I'll probably have to get a job as an assistant city manager somewhere first, and get some experience. My buddy worked an unpaid internship, that later became a paid internship at a consulting firm for local governments. He graduated with his bachelor's degree and within a few months had a job as an assistant city manager. He essentially skipped the step where he was supposed to get his masters degree, the step that I'm spending thousands of dollars on now. Tuition for my masters program costs about $30,000 every year. Internships pay for themselves.

I also am at the number 1 public affairs school in the country right now. I'm here because of the experience I had on my resume. I've worked with a few state senators, helped craft laws, created continuing legal education curriculum, had an internship take me to Oxford and London, and worked in a city manager's office. Graduate programs like this kind of stuff.

Amazing Opportunities

There are a lot of internship opportunities out there. Some see interns as cheap labor to do meaningless, boring tasks, like filling in spreadsheets. If the internship is miserable, how do they get people to stay? Money. If you want a good internship, one that will give you good experience and be fun, you might want to look into an unpaid internship.


Get Paid Later

My buddy who is now an assistant city manager started at an unpaid internship and later transitioned into getting paid. I had an internship like that as well. The internship leader actually blatantly told me months later, after he had started to pay me, that they start to pay the interns they actually like so they stick around. The others usually leave, or continue to do free labor. The internship people win, and the people that work hard at the internship win.

Get a Job Out of It

My dad likes to tell a story about a guy in the great depression era who walked onto a construction site and asked for work. The construction boss told him that they didn't have the means to pay him. He didn't care. He just wanted to work. He worked hard. Who do you think they hired when they got more money? I've gotten a job out of an internship, and lots of other people have as well. That's the dream. Even if you don't get a job with the company you interned with, you can get a letter of recommendation, a reference, and experience. I've had people say that every place hiring wants experience, but they don't have experience, so they've never been hired and can't get experience. Internships beat the cycle. Get one. Or two. Heck, I'm looking for my sixth internship right now!


Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 3, 2022 at 12:12 AM

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