Internships, Dare I Say Revisited?

As promised (warned?) I am returning to a previous story yet again today. While it may be a bit lazy to keep going to the same trough, the unpaid intern issue at the Charlie Rose show I wrote about a little over a week ago has legs. While I wrote that I was in favor of unpaid internships for the opportunities they give many students who would not be able to gain work experience otherwise, some people are seeing another side of it. Indeed, like so many things these days, some folks have gone so far as to turn it into a class issue.

 Their argument is that unpaid internships are really only for people who can afford them, that they are career advancement tools for the privileged. This view was also expressed in the comments section, if only rhetorically, by Mike Azmera, a friend of the site, contributer and all around deep thinker.

Though I value Mike's opinion in so many things, I just have to agree to disagree with him and many others who believe that unpaid internships create insidious problems and serve as a weapon in the class wars. While it is logically true that being able to afford an unpaid internship is a prerequisite for accepting one, it is worth considering what afford means.

It of course could mean a privileged individual, knowing that he or she will be supported by a trust fund, rich parents or an eccentric uncle, who therefore has no fears about going without for a summer during which she is not being paid. However it can also mean a working class individual with no such lifelines who is happy to get a government agency or stockbroker's name on his resume even without being paid. He might work nights at a bar, accept a work study program as part of his financial aid, or save up from other jobs to take the opportunity. It might be a struggle, but then, the payoff of getting a job based on that experience is made all the sweeter.

For anyone who doubts that this scenario can play out, that is actually my story. As I noted in the comments section of the Charlie Rose post, I took unpaid internships during both undergraduate and graduate studies and wouldn't have been able to get experience any other way at the time.

In economics terms, I traded my labor for a name on a resume and a recommendation from someone who mattered to future employers. In slightly more etheric terms, this working double duty and taking advantage of opportunities is described by some as the American Dream. Though I will sadly grant that this concept is becoming more and more remote to many folks in these tough times, I hope it is at least recognizable for most of our readers. Otherwise, America has a lot more trouble on its hands than unpaid internships.