Integrity of unpaid internships questioned

By Madeline Hoag

As the economy declined, more and more students began looking for alternative ways to gain work experience, including unpaid internships. However, many are starting to question whether unpaid internships are legal, and others wonder if they’re really worth their time.

Beaver JobNet allows for students to search for jobs and internships in a broad range of fields, allowing all students equal access to the jobs that are out there. There are certain fields that are more likely to hire unpaid interns or volunteers than others due to the nature of the work.

Adry Clark, assistant director and career counselor for Career Services at OSU, works to connect students with programs and reviews guidelines. Companies contact Clark wanting interns and she helps students better understand their opportunities, hoping to improve the state of internships for students at OSU.

“In order for an unpaid internship to be lawful, the intern must be working for a nonprofit company and there needs to be a lot of guidance and training,” says Clark. “More unpaid internships are arising due to the budget crisis and companies think that they can get someone to work for them for nothing. Scams, commission-based jobs, (and) work from home are all ways that employers are trying to get free labor.”

Clark’s job is to act as a gatekeeper when it comes to unlawful internships, but to also let students know that there are more internships out there than ever before. Students can come to Clark if they feel violated or used in any way while completing an unpaid internship. This will allow Clark to stay informed and better serve students.

“As more internships open up, they see it as an extended interview,” says Clark. “The employer is getting fresh talent, and if it works out, it is the best way to find future employment, which makes the whole experience positive.”

Some fields, like human services, teachers and counselors are more likely to complete field work or shadow someone in order to fully learn the job, an unpaid experience that is invaluable. Clark recommends that students talk to people in the field that they are interested in and conduct informational interviews in order to understand how they got their start, or if starting out with unpaid work is a normal practice for the specific area of interest.

“Business, social media, (and) engineering internships are largely paid positions, so students have a lot of leverage,” says Clark. “Sometimes students are so eager to accept, they forget to inquire about the pay, which is something that students should be assertive about. If the intern contributes and is an asset to the company, they can have a good case as to why they should be paid.”

Internships on campus have been growing over the years, particularly athletic internships. Nikki Pruett, director of promotions and fan development for Oregon State Athletics, enjoys hiring OSU students who are passionate about the athletic department. Athletic interns are each given a book scholarship each term or paid an hourly wage, depending on which department they are hired in, as well as compensated with Nike gear.

“Like other internships, it’s an opportunity to learn about an industry that may be of interest to the intern in the future,” says Pruett. “Each intern is working for people that have worked within this industry and have contacts outside of OSU. If interns do a good job within their department, their supervisors are more than willing to help them, as much as possible, to find a job after they graduate.”

In an article published in April 2010 in the New York Times called, “The Unpaid Intern, Legal or Not,” Steven Greenhouse reported that The Labor Department is “cracking down on firms that fail to pay interns properly and expanding efforts to educate companies, colleges and students on the law regarding internships.”

Greenhouse also reported that officials in Oregon and California have begun investigations and fined employers, increasing enforcement nationwide. If students at OSU are interested in seeking internships for college credit, there is an internship class that must be completed first that is available for almost every major. For more information, talk to your advisor or schedule an appointment at career services by calling 541-737-0519 or visit oregonstate.edu/career.

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