WATCH: Young, Educated And UNPAID

I'm an unpaid intern who made a short documentary about unpaid internships (watch it below).

For someone who has worked for free since I was 17 (besides a few short stints as a bus boy), this project hit close to home. Not only did it open my eyes to what constitutes an illegal internship, but it brought to light how touchy the issue is -- the amount of interns and companies that employ interns who turned down the opportunity to talk to me because they were afraid was remarkable. When did unpaid internships become the norm, and why? That's what I wanted to get to the bottom of.

While working on this project, I became more and more frustrated. It's a sad situation -- it's become the status quo for many students to take unpaid work and be expected to feel lucky about getting a foot inside the door and happy that their hard work might lead to a paying job eventually. And the trend isn't restricted to young people -- beyond the struggling undergrads and grads right out of college working for free and living with their parents (ahem), there are Americans well into their 30s taking unpaid jobs.

Economic Policy Institute Vice President Ross Eisenbrey says the most important thing is to inform companies of the Department of Labor's internship rules and predicts that many will change their policies because "it's the right thing." I'm not so sure about that, but I'm more worried about the toll all this has on the self-esteem of college students across the country. As the future of this nation -- and in the face of a terrible job market and ever-increasing college costs -- don't we deserve better?

WATCH:

 

Follow Jett Wells on Twitter: www.twitter.com/tjwell01

Comments

[TeacupKitten]

12:27 AM on 09/15/2010

These internships only take advance of young and able minds and give you nothing in return. Throughout my four years in college I refused to do any unpaid interships and got active on campus instead. At my school EVERYONE frantically held on to more than one internship. I refused. Just said, can't afford it and wouldn't do it if I could afford it. Less stress for me and no slave labor for free! And guess what? I got a job the day I graduated, before everyone of my internship expert classmates. Goes to show, how much they are worth and how much they take advantage of you.

[Adam Warrenchak]

02:44 PM on 08/08/2010

now a days, why would any rational person take a job without getting paid. isn't it obviopus that you are getting used, i mean really, you want experience, go to any companie where you mirror a person who works in your field and tell him/her that you want to be their assistant for a year for free. just bc your working for a t.v. station doesnt mean it looks any better on ur resume and your just wasting time you could be getting paid. i've worked all 4 years ive been in college, im graduating from a state university with a job lined up, cover your own @ss and work while in school and you will never be unemployed. students are to worried about achieving a meaningless 4.0 GPA and feel that alone will secure them a job. well, it doesnt. connect with people, find jobs throughout college, network and do ur school work and things will workout. anybody can go to a 4 year school with no job and get a 4.0, thats nothing special. work experience is, just get paid for it.

[ptfcNassoc]

01:07 PM on 08/05/2010

"Coffee runs? filing? data entry?" Why didn't these people just get secretary/office assistant positions? There's abundance of the those jobs around everywhere and then you can actually get paid. It doesn't look any better all because you did those things for the "Jimmy Fallon Show".

[nick1936]

10:40 AM on 08/03/2010

Leave it to Business to find a way to cut coast by exploiting common folks

[nike shox]

04:05 AM on 07/27/2010

why can't I watch this

[Michael Macher]

08:50 PM on 07/26/2010

Job well done, Jett. This is a really important issue. I'd be interested in getting a rough calculation of exactly how much money some of these businesses save by employing unpaid interns for professional level duties.

[mrm3]

04:31 PM on 07/26/2010

Only non-profits should be allowed to provide unpaid internships. That, or internships that are for college credit. Anything beyond that is slavery

[DonthePA]

08:58 PM on 07/25/2010

This internship sounds like a big rip off to me,why in green apples would anyone go to work without pay;even if it meant that the employer guaranteed me work after the internship. Is the expectation of the college graduate, I get the top job as soon as I get out, or do I really have to do an internship to get my degree? Sounds like the colleges and local business have the kids over the barrel,and their parents too. Soo why do an internship if its not going to count as experience,it either I get the experience or college credits,if it's that kind of job. I've worked countless jobs from labor to high-tech and not one of them even considered such a thing as an internship.So what kind of job(s) require a internship besides in the medical industry?? I would really like to know, as to boycott these type of jobs,and to the people that prosper by them.

[condor101]

09:12 AM on 07/25/2010

Unpaid Internships are a scam.Don't participate.
Several months ago I saw an Ad from a small company that advertised $10/hr.Recently I saw an Ad from the same company; The very same 'job' description,but this time they offered it as an "Unpaid internship".
Companies are baiting people with the idea that there maybe a paying job down the road,butall they're really interested in is using people as un-paid employees in guise of some "internship".
Don't fall for this non-sense.
I once took a low paying hourly job with a company that I peaked my interest. The work was tedious and non-cerebral and I hated it,but I stayed for 4 months and learned the business model and many details.Basically,I used the company as an internship opportunity to learn about their business,suppliers,and customers. I made sure I was at least getting paid for my "internship".The company never knew that I was using them.They started giving me more responsibilities because they saw that I was bright,but I left soon thereafter. I was not going to use my brain cells and "think' for a minimum wage salary.
Just before I left that company, I started my own business on the side, using their business model. It's been a great success. Using that company for my benefit and getting paid was definitely the best thing I could have done to launch my own business.

[fauxpress]

12:16 PM on 07/24/2010

I used to take on unpaid interns. No more. These entitled young people can invent their own wheels from now on, or pay me to show them how I re-invented mine on the shoulders of the generation to precede me. Good luck with that to both those of us with experience and those without. I interned for free for 4 months when I first started out. Never regretted it. If you think for one minute that I'd hire or recommend you without seeing how you work -- especially under pressure -- you're dreaming.

[gda002]

10:41 AM on 07/23/2010

I took unpaid internships in college simply because certain companies simply do not have the money to shell out for untested, inexperienced college students to learn. If you are taking unpaid internships in your 30's....well, I"m not really sure what to say to that.

[MyReality2011]

12:54 PM on 07/23/2010

people trying to break into certain fields have to take an internship in their 30s in order to demonstrate their interest in the field and make connections. It sucks. i know a guy who was an intern at 32 who had spent the previous half-decade as a high paid attorney. he might have even lost his lawyer gig due to the economy, i dont know. Sometimes being you and gifted gets you nowhere and it feels like crap.

[monk2000]

01:27 PM on 07/23/2010

There isn't a company that offers "unpaid internships" that couldn't afford to pay them min wage.

Do you think it's fair for people to not get paid for work they do?

That's it. Seriously... do you think that's right?

[gda002]

06:26 PM on 07/23/2010

I guess I should have made my field more clear. Literary journals and publishing houses seriously do not have the money for all the interns. They just don't. No one makes anyone take an internship. If someone doesn't want to work without pay, then don't.

[Cameron Collins]

03:45 PM on 07/24/2010

That's not true at all. I run my own small business and we would give just about anything to have some unpaid interns, as there is so much work to do. But adding another cost, even a small one like minimum wage, is not in the cards. Doing some intern work to help a position grow into a full time job that pays seems a lot more reasonable to me than so many other big firms in my industry who pay $15/hr to the employee and then bill out to their clients at $150/hr.

[Senseid]

03:40 AM on 07/23/2010

The really depressing thing is that most people must receive credit in order to take on an unpaid internship, which means that you are actually paying to work for free because you must pay for the credit at your school.

[The Ideal Realist]

05:57 AM on 07/23/2010

Exactly! Not only did I have to pay for the three credits from my OUT OF STATE college to get an internship credit but I also had to pay an internship fee for the paper work to go through and the supplies I needed to finish my assignments connected to my internship (Portfolio supplies.) The only payment I received was work study and that was only because I lucked out and actually HAD work study money to spend.

[MyReality2011]

12:49 PM on 07/23/2010

Right! People concerned with this issue should realize that some interns are actually paying hundreds of dollars to work

[mjeffn]

10:56 PM on 07/22/2010

It'll be interesting to see how far society allows business to push this boundary before society rebels against it. It could set unions growing again.

[Leviathan21]

10:51 PM on 07/22/2010

Media companies are actually among the worst offenders when it comes to unpaid internships and nepotism. Getting into journalism, if you don't have money or connections has increasingly become very very difficult. (interesting note: HP actually takes in many unpaid interns and recently auctioned off an internship for $9,000 for a charity).

People love to hate investment banks. But, they are among the most fair when it comes to treating interns. Pretty much all banks have a policy of paying interns the same as what they would pay a regular entry-level employee.

[pablogalante]

09:24 PM on 07/22/2010

Finally some truth

I did this internship program from this site http://www.studyabroaduniversity.com/internshipabroad.html

go tme nowhere -- was a waste of time and effort - well I got credit so not too bad