2008 Woodie Awards
Video related to this article is available below.Issue date: 2/18/08 Section: Opinion
Zachary Noyce | Pay me, please
Companies violate an age-old principle when they hire interns to work for nothing
Zachary Noyce
I've pretty much made up my mind about this: I would like to have a good job someday.
While I haven't conducted any scientific testing yet (and I'm seriously questioning whether that grant will ever get approved), I'm pretty sure that I'm not alone.
These are different days from those of our parents. We know and accept that most of us will have several different jobs in our working lives - even several different careers. To many of us, that's probably a big part of why we decided that attending a school like Penn could be worth facing the tuition, the term papers and the women screaming "Vagina!" at us over and over again on Locust Walk.
Call it arrogance. Call it competitive spirit. Call it careerbuilder.com Darwinism. We want to get a step ahead in our job hunt, and we're determined to do what it takes.
That's why you'll spend late nights scouring Web sites looking for the perfect internship and spend days wondering which professor to ask for a letter of recommendation - after all, only two of them even know your name. After all, working as an intern isn't just about being the punch line in a 90s Jay Leno monologue. If you apply for a job without an internship on your resume, you might as well admit that you came in third place in your fourth-grade spelling bee. You don't stand a chance.
Regrettably, a lot of the internships landed by Penn students don't come with a paycheck.
The Office of Career Services insists that any internship can be a useful experience. "It may be tough to get through that summer" without an income, Claire Klieger, associate director of Career Services told me, "but a good internship will end up paying for itself."
Unfortunately, while it may pay for itself, it won't pay for much else. Last I checked, landlords and fast food joints don't accept "life experience" as a form of payment. Living without a paycheck is much easier said than done.
More often than not, expediency and pure desperation push students to accept unpaid, demanding internships.
Melody Kramer, a 2006 Penn graduate who now directs NPR's Wait Wait … Don't Tell Me!, decided that her credentials as a Daily Pennsylvanian columnist simply wouldn't take her as far as she wanted to go in her career. (Crap!)
After two years of saving the money she earned at two on-campus jobs, she accepted an unpaid internship at Esquire magazine. More than a little nervous about living in New York City without an income, she now admits, "I had no connections, no idea how to break into journalism."
Some industries are notorious for refusing to pay interns. Director of Career Services, Patricia Rose emphasized, "The bottom line is there are industries that don't pay [interns], and many of them tend to be quite glamorous." And if we were to refuse to apply for an unpaid internship - out of principle or necessity - "there's a long line of people who want to break into that industry."
Kramer perceived a similar motivation in her former employer. "I think Esquire thought it could get away with it, as a lot of journalism jobs do."
Could Penn do anything about it? That's a pretty tricky question, too.
Rose lamented, "We encourage employers to pay our students. I wish I could mandate that everyone pay, but I can't."
She told me that the various Ivy League career centers "have discussed [the problem of unpaid internships] many times over the years," but always conclude that refusing to list unpaid positions would do a lot more to limit the resources of students looking for an internship than to pressure employers into paying interns.
I may be tilting at windmills here, but I've made up my mind. I can't afford to choose "life experience" over food and housing.
And it's a matter of principle. People should be paid for the work that they do, even if they happen to do that work as interns. Companies shouldn't ask that kind of sacrifice from college students, and we shouldn't give it to them.
Zachary Noyce is a College junior from Salt Lake City, Utah. His e-mail is noyce@dailypennsylvanian.com. The Stormin' Mormon appears Mondays.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 11
Melody
posted 2/18/08 @ 10:47 AM EST
Nice job Zach! I completely agree.
person
posted 2/18/08 @ 10:57 AM EST
As someone who used to manage an internship program at a nonprofit, let me just say: I totally sympathize. I can't tell you how much I wish we could have paid our interns, especially since most of us (the staff) had once been interns ourselves. (Continued…)
Melody
posted 2/18/08 @ 11:12 AM EST
One more thing. When I lived in NYC, I often went to consulting dinners and/or cocktail hours to supplement my meager Ramen diet. People attending these dinners were working as summer analysts in NYC ibanks and consulting firms (i. (Continued…)
E Pluribus Intern
posted 2/18/08 @ 11:40 AM EST
A lovely sentiment, but let's face it, the only reason they're giving you an internship is because they don't have to pay you. You, in turn, get your foot in their door, or someone else's (ask everyone who's interviewing right now how valuable that can be). (Continued…)
Chronicles of Riddickulous
posted 2/18/08 @ 1:56 PM EST
bs alert. kramer deliberately used her dp column to get an internship and build a career. she told almost everyone around her about every step of her career development. (Continued…)
Think Again
posted 2/18/08 @ 2:21 PM EST
You hit on exactly the point in the article and then glossed over it. The jobs that don't pay are ones that are:
a) in high demand
b) require relatively little skill (writing - everyone waiter in LA has a screenplay, media - everyone in the country wants to be working on a hot sitcom or a blockbuster sequel, etc. (Continued…)
Melody
posted 2/18/08 @ 3:53 PM EST
Chronicles, I paid for my housing in NYC using the money I got from my 15 hour-a-week job in the library, and my tutoring job at the Kelly Writer's House. (Continued…)
Joe
posted 2/18/08 @ 8:48 PM EST
Nicely done, Zach. I am in complete agreement, though there is an issue of companies not being able to afford to spend money on the interns, as mentioned above by "person" and you can't really fault them. (Continued…)
Y.E.A.
posted 2/19/08 @ 3:00 AM EST
Joe makes a good point. Since Penn won't give course credit, this can force you out of a job you might have been willing to take anyway. What does it benefit you to have the prize dangled in front of your face? Penn should only post for companies that pay or don't require you to recieve academic credit. (Continued…)
Chronicles of Riddickulous
posted 2/20/08 @ 2:23 PM EST
kramer, we all know that you're not being honest and that you're from a rich cherry hill family. but let's say that you did pay for your housing with these jobs. (Continued…)
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