By: Aidan Rivas
I’ve heard claims that internships take advantage of college students, the same students who famously struggle financially and are often attributed as either incredibly hardworking or unfavorably lazy. College students are likely to complete internships, either as a requirement for their majors or as a career supplement . While some internships may not pay much, they are solid opportunities to gain experience in a field of the student’s choosing.
Internships should be seen as what they are: a foot in the door and a chance for a job. When I say chance, that’s exactly what I mean. Jobs are not secured outright with internships, but they do provide a higher chance of employers asking you to return for a full-time position. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers 2015 Internship and Co-op Survey, nearly 90 percent of eligible returning interns received an offer for full-time employment, and nearly 90 percent of those accepted.
However, these 90 percent all decided to return to the companies they were interning for after their initial internship had run its course. Interns who go back for a second round of interning are the most likely to receive a job offer from a company. For comparison, only 43.5 percent of non-returning interns were offered jobs. So in order to feel like you’re not being taken advantage of, you have to keep up communication with the companies you intern with and even spend extra time at the job to get the full benefits of an internship.
Of course, there are times when students may take a paid internship as a temporary job to help pay bills. If that’s the case and you have no real interest in the company, simply turn down any job offers. While internships are great opportunities, it’s understandable that they may not be exactly what you are looking for, and that’s OK. Whether you want to work there or not, doing a swell job reflects well on you, and you may just gain a positive reference and a few lines of relevant experience for your resume or curriculum vitae.
It’s easy to assume that internships take advantage of people, especially unpaid internships, where you may feel like an indentured servant with no added benefits. However, the work pays off in the end. Every college student should accept an internship, paid or unpaid, with goal-oriented learning in mind, rather than immediate fiscal payoff.
How do they take advantage of students and how do you refute it?
Please include your opinion in the first paragraph. What do you think of internships and why? This can just be one or two more sentences.
What if you don’t wanna work there? What if you’re too young to work for them yet? Maybe talking about the experiential value would help explain your point.
