UNPAID INTERNS NO MORE LIKELY TO GET PAID JOBS THAN THOSE WHO DON’T BOTHER OR CAN’T AFFORD IT
If you’re going to do an internship, make sure that it’s paid.
Graduates who do unpaid internships are no more likely to find a paid, permanent job than those who don’t do an internship at all, according to new figures. And those who have interned unpaid are also more likely to accept lower wages when they do eventually start to get paid, which has a scarring effect for their long-term career.
That means that unpaid interns lose out on two counts. They spend money on rent, travel and other living costs during their internship, where their non-interning peers save their money. And when unpaid interns do find paid work, they’re more vulnerable to being low-balled by employers determined to spend the bare minimum on their junior staff.
An American study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that hiring rates for those who had chosen to complete an unpaid internship (37%) were almost the same as those who had not done an internship at all (35%) (that 2% difference isn’t statistically significant). By contrast, those who had any history of a paid internship, were far more likely (63%) to secure employment.
The findings will alarm the thousands of UK graduates currently interning unpaid in the hope that it will lead to a proper, paid, permanent job in the future. If it doesn’t, then why bother at all? Conversely, this could be good news for graduates who can’t afford to intern for free, who may actually be no worse off then their peers who can.
And there is another reason to question the value of your unpaid internship – it appears that working for free leads graduates to undervalue their worth, leading to deflated graduates’ salary expectations when they finally are offered paid employment. Those with unpaid internships tended to take lower-paying jobs than those with no internship experience whatsoever (£21,700 and £22,500 respectively). Students with paid internships far outpaced their peers with an average £31,500 salary.
These salary figures sound quite high to Graduate Fog, but they make the point. For a long time, we have suspected that unpaid internships have an effect of depressing graduates’ sense of what their work is worth, as the subliminal message is “Your output is worthless”. And we have questioned the value of unpaid internships, when we know that many do not lead to a paid, permanent job but instead to yet another unpaid internship.
But we are surprised to see that the impact of an unpaid internship on a graduates’ job prospects appears to be zero. Young jobseekers are consistently told that experience is the vital missing ingredient from their CV. Is this not the case after all? Are employers actually put off by graduates who have worked unpaid, possibly seeing it as a sign that they are not very good, or do not know how to negotiate? If this is the case, they simply can’t win. So what exactly are bright, ambitious graduates supposed to do in order to secure a proper, paid job in 2014?
*DID YOUR UNPAID INTERNSHIP HELP YOU GET A PAID JOB?
What do you make of this survey? Are unpaid internships worth doing? Did yours lead to a paid, permanent job? Did it have an impact on what salary you asked for when you were offered a wage? Have your say below…
An unpaid internship at least gives you something to put on a CV. I’ve been out of work for long enough now that employers will not touch me. Ironically my biggest barrier to employment is being unemployed. I’ve been diagnosed with depression and anxiety and have lost touch with all my friends. Living the graduate dream eh? Being exploited on an unpaid internship is a better predicament though I understand it might not feel like it to those earning £0 for their day of labour.
@Graduate
Despite these figures, I’m inclined to agree – I think doing something is always better than doing nothing, even if it is unpaid. Unfortunately, not everybody can afford to work for free, and there are serious questions for me about why anybody SHOULD – especially when so many of the employers who have unpaid interns have plenty of money, they’re just too tight to hand it over to their junior staff!
Sorry to hear you’re having such a tough time getting your career going. I’m sure a lot of Graduate Fog’s readers will sympathise / empathise. It is not easy to get out of that slump.
Have you read the pages on this site called How to stay motivated? I think you’ll find them helpful.
And don’t forget that How to Get a Graduate Job in a Recession is still only £9.99 – and if you don’t get a job after buying it, we’ll give you your money back! I’m proud to say we still haven’t had a single copy returned.
Here is the link to buy the book on Amazon
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Whatever you decide to do, keep coming back to Graduate Fog. I’m really proud that the community we have built is so supportive and encouraging to people who are struggling. Lots of people who have been in your shoes have turned things around, so you can too.
Tanya x
I have to disagree with this article, I interned unpaid for 2 months in the features departments of large magazines, the people i met at these internships introduced me to my current employer where I am now working as a Digital Content Editor. My salary is closer to the lower bracket than the higher one, however had a not accepted an unpaid internship I wouldn’t have had the experience or the connections to be considered for a role like this.
@Graduate I’m very sorry to hear how tough it’s been for you.
This next bit of advice may seem unrealistic to you – but honestly, it isn’t. What I’m suggesting is often the easiest way to give yourself a CHANCE in a dire jobs market.
Decide on a career path that seems both attractive and fairly realistic in terms of your skills base and (at least average) availability of jobs. Then investigate what skills and experience employers expect / need in candidates for entry jobs (use the job ads as a guide). Think laterally on how you could develop these skills and experiences by creating your own “internship programme”.
The employers ask for project planning experience? Look at something that matters to you – eg improving local support for users of mental health services – and create / project plan a small programme to do just that, documenting your activities and successes. Don’t forget to bring the local press on board – while explaining what you’ve achieved to their readers they can also alert them to the fact you’re looking for a related job! Good luck.
It’s not about unpaid internship but experience which you’re getting and settling yourself in the work environment.
As a recruiter I fully agree with the article. We hire people, not experience. We hire attitudes and attributes. I’ve interviewed thousands of grads with and without unpaid internship experience. Neither group fares better than the other, its the individual that makes the difference, not what they’ve done.
I don’t really agree – having done three internships myself before getting a job, I know that without that experience on my CV and the skills I had learnt I most likely would not have got the job – perhaps another internship but not a paid job. I now look after my company internship scheme and have got to say someone with relevant experience, or even just someone who is clearly doing everything they can to gain experience is much more likely to get somewhere.
As they weren’t in the job offering seat, none of these grad responses has credibility. Only those offering the job know the criteria upon which it was awarded.
It would be nice to believe some employers hire on the basis of attitudes and attributes, though having work experience can show you have a good work ethic. Imo employers shouldn’t be allowed to demand experience for entry level positions.
internships in my opinion are bad if unpaid, especially in London.
if anyone read the metro (metro business section) this morning “brits aim for Ferrari roles”
the article was talking about for 5 roles that they had they had,96 people that Ferrari had picked and there were 18 British students in that 96.
is it just me or is it now a competition to get an internship, and you have to compete like “xfactor” just to get even whittled down to be even looked at.
@graduate
You are not alone! That’s exactly how I am feeling. I am not diagnosed with depression but I know that I am probably suffering from it. I have lost touch with the few friends that I had aswell. To be honest I feel like my life stopped when I graduated. Do you mind me asking when did you graduate?
With regards to the discussion here, Tanya you have no idea the high expectations recruiters have from their candidates- apart from us having to maintain the ridiculously high standards of appearance and grooming of today’s society (which is so expensive) so that we at least look the part, they also demand years of previous experience for the most basic, simple entry level jobs that in theory, anyone who finished A-Levels should be able to do. I just got turned down for a 14K job involving mainly call centre type work, because I did not have experience ( I did a little bit, but it was not good enough). And of course if they don’t like you in the interview, it doesn’t matter how many unpaid internships you have done, they won’t hire someone that they can’t imagine being able to get on with their team! It is very competitive out there.