As my junior year of college came to a close, I realized that I’ve never had an internship. It seems like all through college, it is tasked upon you to find one, to network a ton and to ultimately gain valuable experience that you can apply to a later job. The other college summers that passed me by were spent working as a camp counselor; a great job, but not something I am going to be doing for the rest of my life.
As I searched for jobs, I felt frustrated. I couldn’t find anything in my hometown except unpaid internships. I wanted the experience, and, to be honest, I wanted the pay. But as I thought more about it, I decided to take a job that wasn’t paid at all. What started out as hesitation slowly grew to confidence in my decision. Here’s why:
- Low-risk experience
According to a Forage study, 47% of college students don’t feel confident that they know how to get their first job. Only 48% are confident that they know how to find the right career path, the study said. Even people I’ve talked to, who are also current seniors in college, aren’t sure what they want to do after graduation. For me, being an English major, it’s hard to know because there are so many possibilities. I have been lucky to engage in on-campus jobs and opportunities that gave me exposure to English-related fields, so I wanted to try a job that would give me valuable experience, but in something I am unfamiliar with. This landed me with a marketing internship.
I combined some interests of mine, like social media, editing and writing, into one job. Skills that I’ve learned from my major came as a big, unexpected help with my marketing job, which led me to the understanding that just because you are studying one thing doesn’t mean you need to do that forever. And if you do, you just might be able to pull some tricks out of your hat of past college classes like I did with English.
The best part? It’s low-risk. If you try a new opportunity and dislike it, you can stick with it for a short time and try something else.
- Testing the waters
Unpaid internships are low-risk careerwise, but the same also applies to most companies that offer them. With an unpaid job, there are less ties to a company, such as no expectation of benefits. So if it turns out that you don’t particularly enjoy a place of work, you don’t need to come back. It’s great that you tried, but it just wasn’t for you.
But if you like the company, you can easily apply for a different, paid job later. You will know the people there and they will know you, and you’ll know the ropes. This will all come in handy when you get that new hire letter for a paid position.
- Networking
Networking is great to do in any job. Knowing people and forming connections with them will get you far in life and in the workforce. But the nice thing about an unpaid internship is that, even if you don’t continue working for that company when you are done with the internship, you can keep those connections and use them for different jobs.
You can obtain letters of recommendation, and you may meet people they know who can be added to your networking list. The same applies if you are doing the unpaid internship just for the experience: now you have a list of people that you can pull out of your back pocket if you ever need it.
- College credit
This one is simple: need some credit? If you take an unpaid internship, you can still get something out of it. Many of these jobs offer college credit, which you can put toward completing your degree.
- Boosting your resume
Obviously, both an unpaid and a paid internship will add experience to your resume. But unpaid jobs can show commitment to a role and that you were able to get something out of your experience other than just money.
Experience in and of itself is a good thing to have; you will have learned a lot and you can take that with you to future roles. Unpaid internships might show that you really wanted to be there and to show up, regardless of whether or not you were getting paid.
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Something to remember: contrary to popular belief, unpaid internships are legal in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Labor has a test for interns and students to determine whether or not they need to be paid. The test’s seven factors are flexible rather than determinative and can depend on circumstance, but if one of these factors confirm that a person is not an employee, it is not required for them to be paid minimum wage or overtime, according to the Fair Standards Labor Act.
It is also possible that some people are unable to choose unpaid internships, largely due to financial reasons. An article by the National Association of Colleges and Employers says that students residing in expensive urban areas or who are from low-income families may be more affected. The article continues to say that unpaid internships can exclude talented people who cannot take the job because they need to be paid to support themselves. Therefore, career professionals need to understand that no pay may reduce students’ financial well-being, employee retention, federal compliance and student networking, according to the National Career Development Association.
It is important to understand the risks unpaid internships may have. The NCDA says that employees may feel used for free labor, that federal laws against employment discrimination do not apply for those who are unpaid, that networking may be hindered due to employees needing to miss events to work other paying jobs and that expenses like rent may hinder the internship experience.
With this in mind, if you are able to choose the unpaid route, it just might surprise you! Though it is understandable if this mode of career exposure is not feasible, in short, there are absolutely benefits to taking an unpaid internship. They come with many of the advantages of a paid one, but with added opportunities like the ability to test careers, engage in extra networking and earn college credit. My experience was one I would do again, and I would recommend it for anyone interested.
Bridget Schmid can be reached at schm1520@stthomas.edu.
