By the way do you have a twitter or facebook account so that I can folow you.. I found your topic interesting.. thanks

Again to follow up on our conversation at the Puma event.

When I first came to the US from the UK in 1992, I was very surprised that people would work for free doing internships. A concept unknown I think in the UK at the time. Over time I began to see the value to both employers and interns for this sort of non-financial relationship.

I’ve also hired several interns at several previous companies. Backbone Media, and 48hourprint.com. Not only did those non-paid interns get to do some great work. Two of my interns at backbone Media were involved in two major blogging studies and were credited on the studies, but both eventually were hired by my company. Another intern, a person in their 40’s, was getting back into the marketing workforce, and the experience at 48hourprint.com helped them get up to speed with the current state of internet marketing. They eventually got a job at 48hourprint.com and they have gone onto a successful career as a director of marketing.

I think internships give small companies a chance to get to know people, and interns the opportunity to do the same as well as get some great experience.

I do agree with you that my preference would be to pay people, but if you don’t have the budget to do that, and there are people who would genuinely gain value from the experience I think it is a good strategy to follow.

More on the pay-for-internship @ http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2009/01/28/should-you-pay-for-your-kids-job-internship/

Rachel, Jim, and Willy – Completely understand that change isn’t easy and that the world is the way it is. People will always have competitive advantages over others. It’s my hope that we can be a bit more proactive in leveling the playing field by setting some standards when it comes to worker compensation at the student level. I think that the more conscious we are as a society, the more companies will be inclined to adjust their attitudes/policies.

Shawn – You touched on something that I think is the core of what will resonate most with businesses – talent management. If companies can identify talent within an intern and convert them to an employee, it’s a long-term win.

Pauline – “If this were my child…” I love that phrase because I think companies need to realize that the professional world should no longer function based on *their* needs. As gen-y matures in the workplace, we’ll essentially adopt the value systems that we’ve been taught. All businesses need to do today is ask themselves if they’re managing Millennials in the same way they want us to manage their grandkids.

This is a well timed discussion as many organizations are looking at their summer internship programs. I agree that it is good business sense to pay an intern for their work in some way. I would agree with Jim and others that a nominal wage of 10-12 an hour depending on the Metro area is appropriate. Other ways to compensate might be to pay for the course the internship is providing credits to or to make an in kind donation to the alma mater the student is attending.

I think the best way to think about it is… if this were my child, grandchild, nephew, god child etc. Would I pay them? If the answer is yes, than do it for everyone! You get what you PAY for in life.

I graduated in an economic downturn when it was an achievement to gett a job with benefits. I feel for the class of 2009.

Pauline
@pbrannigan

I’ve hired a lot of college interns over the years and always felt the right thing to do was pay them a “living wage” (often $10-12/hour). I wasn’t really seeing this as leveling the playing field between the haves and have nots, it just seemed like the right thing to do.

Just because you CAN in business, doesn’t always mean you SHOULD. Whether it’s not paying interns or squeezing vendors in tough times, I don’t think it’s the best way to build a healthy company (or society). While I’m as much a capitalist as the next guy, I want my team and partners to feel good about working for/doing business with me. If paying interns a small stipend to buy beers over the weekend gives them the flexibility to not take on another job, that’s good for me and my company.

With that said, I agree with Rachel in that most medium/large companies don’t take this approach. It’s their choice and if an applicant doesn’t want to play that game (or have the wherewithal to), I don’t think we should attempt to force change.

We all make choices in our career and whether it’s suffering for a period of time to take the unpaid internship that’s going to open doors in the future or taking a job that offers the flexibility for you to pursue a personal passion on the side, it’s our choice. Have a career game plan and then do what it takes to get you there. Unpaid internships may be part of the journey depending on what you choose.

Thanks again for throwing this out there for discussion. It got me thinking about decisions I’ve made it my career and how I want to grow my business moving forward. Both are top of mind these days.

Jim | @jstorerj

I agree wholeheartedly. If companies really want the best interns, and if they hope to convert those interns to successful employees who are willing to work diligently for them, they should show us, the members of Gen Y, that they actually understand how valuable our skill set is. Most people over 30 cannot even begin to fathom how in-depth and dynamic our experience is in interpersonal communication and new media processes.

Great post! Let’s hope it actually awakens people into realizing that the best way to insure company growth is to reinvest in your people.

I help a lot of college students find internships (paid and unpaid), but I’m not sure how to initiate change that will lead to more companies paying their interns. The laws are already pretty strict about unpaid internships, they’re just not enforce. I wrote an article about it here:

http://www.onedayoneinternship.com/blog/are-unpaid-internships-illegal/

The best answer is probably to create a business case showing that paid interns are of higher talent and perform better than unpaid interns. Is that true? I don’t know, but I’d bet it is.

While I agree with you conceptually and was in a very similar position during and after college – I gave up certain internships and jobs (I wanted to work on Capitol Hill but couldn’t afford to live off of $13k a year even with a second job) – it is unfortunately just not the way the world works. There will always be young men and women that can afford to not take a salary and because of that, there will always be organizations looking for free talent.

Other than legislation which is unlikely, I don’t know that it is solvable. Nor is it a new problem – in D.C. I was uncompetitive for some unpaid internships because I didn’t have a Masters or Ph.D. degree if you can believe it.

In my case I participated in a mix of things. I had some retail/waitressing/campus jobs, I did some shorter unpaid internships while working other jobs, I was lucky enough to have some paid internships, and I took a low paying job out of college that I had to supplement with a second job.

My intention here is not to be cynical but just to throw a dose of reality into the conversation. The reality is that we don’t all have the same reserves growing up – and we don’t start careers at the same place. My grandparents were farmers and 2 of them didn’t have high school degrees. It took the hard work and persistence of a couple of generations to get me to where I am today. That has always been the American story of prosperity but it takes a while…and there are a lot of bumps along the way.