Ask the Experts: Are Unpaid Internships Illegal?
Question:
I am looking for an internship. Some that I’ve found are paid and some are unpaid volunteer internships. Is it legal for an employer to hire me as an intern and yet not pay me?
First Answer:
The concept of internship is an opportunity for a student to have a work experience. The employer agrees to mentor the sutdent so that it is a learning experience. There is no obligation for payment and usually the two parties work out an agreement in which they specify the terms, obligations, entitlements etc which may include a salary or may not. There are both paid and unpaid internships as well as those that carry academic credit and ones that don’t. You need to be clear in your own mind of what you are seeking and then address these concerns with the representative making you the internship offer.
— Debra Feldman, founder of JobWhiz, creator of the JOBWHIZQUIZ, and specialist in cyber savvy strategic job search consultations
Second Answer:
An internship often means working for reduced wages, but if you’re not getting paid anything, you are technically just a volunteer. On the other hand, if you are getting school credit and/or learning higher-end skills that you will find useful in the future (not just filling space at a desk or doing routine clerical work), and if the term of your “employment” is temporary, then that’s a fair trade and I’d call that an Internship.
— Alison Blackman Dunham, life & career expert, columnist, personal public relations consultant, half of THE ADVICE SISTERS®, and the author of the ASK ALISON career advice column
Third Answer:
Unpaid internships are common and legal. The premise is that as an intern, you are not yet an “up-to-speed” professional and will need more supervision and training, and deliver less value to the organization, than an already competent employee. The internship “pays” you with training and real-world experience that adds value to your résumé. Another acknowledgment that your internship provides valuable training is that some schools will offer academic credit for internships they monitor, but when an employer says “available for academic credit,” that may mean only that they don’t want to pay you, not that your school has agreed to give credit.
Whether or not an organization chooses to pay its interns is a function of supply and demand, budget, organizational philosophy, and the ability of international students to get work authorization. For example, if students are standing in line, eager to work for a certain organization to get its name on their résumés, the company may not need to offer pay to get qualified students as interns, for free. On the other hand, large national corporations that use internships as a primary recruiting tool often pay interns very well. Certain nongovernmental organizations offer only unpaid internships because they are in high demand from European students who must have an internship in such an organization in order to graduate: again, larger supply of students than demand drives the decision. In New York City, with over 60 nonprofit organizations per square mile, competition for interns can be stiff, and all but the poorest funded nonprofits, i.e. arts organizations and small start-ups, offer pay in order to be able to attract interns. In Washington, D.C., there are more students seeking government and nonprofit internships than opportunities, and many are unpaid or very low-paying ($6.50 an hour). Graduate students at my university earn $12-$25 an hour in New York City in the nonprofit sector and $19-$27 in the for-profit sector; undergraduates earn significantly less, often $8-$10 in nonprofits, more in the corporate sector. Financial services is the best paying industry.
Whether or not you choose to pursue an unpaid internship is a matter of weighing the value of the experience against your need or desire to earn money during the period of the internship. All other factors being equal, why not get paid for learning the skills of your chosen profession? But often, not all factors are equal. Here are some important criteria:
- Amount of interaction with an expert in your field: this is often more important than whether the project you are working on is one of interest to you. The amount of attention and guidance you get from a working professional often produces the highest level learning experience.
- Know what you want to get out of an internship, and hold out for it: a new skill, more experience in a role you’ve had some in (depth), training in a software program, an experience in a different function or role (breadth), to get on a hiring track with an organization or within an industry. Trying on a different role allows you to find out what you like and don’t like about different job functions; getting an internship with an organization that hires primarily through its internship program is an inside track.
- Nature of tasks you will perform-are they commensurate with college or graduate school levels of skill? Avoid internships without defined tasks. Most good internships are project-based and expect you to deliver a product by internship’s end: a survey, a report, an analysis. You get to demonstrate the application of a skill set, possibly learned in the internship, to a real-world problem. Make sure it goes on your résumé.
If the internship that satisfies most of these criteria is unpaid, and you can afford to spend the time unpaid, it may be the most appropriate. A paid internship that does not meet these criteria is a bad investment.
— Carol Anderson, Career Development and Placement Office, Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy at New School University in New York City
