Why would anyone work for free? After the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865, unpaid labor in this country pretty much went out of vogue. However, in the past decade, it has come roaring back. This summer, thousands of America's best and brightest have fanned out across the D.C. Beltway, Manhattan and beyond to become the plankton of the office food chain -- unpaid interns.
Obviously, just because most interns do not receive monetary compensation for their work does not shackle them into chattel slavery. These young professionals willingly return to the mailroom each Monday morning. And a few interns are even lucky enough to receive a stipend from their benevolent employers. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, this hard-earned check still only places their hourly earnings somewhere between that of Wal-Mart sweatshop workers in Honduras and the federal minimum wage.
Not slaves, interns are more like indentured servants -- the young 17th and 18th century Europeans who provided years of strenuous unpaid labor in exchange for free passage to the New World and its wealth of opportunity. Unpaid internships offer enthusiastic co-eds real world experience with a similar promise of deferred rewards.
Sure, Mom or Dad might once have lived the lowly life of an intern along their steady climb up the professional ladder. But in the early 1980s, only about three percent of American college students sported internship experience on their rsums, according to the National Society for Experimental Education.
The times have changed, however. Fast forward to the 21st century and the unpaid internship has morphed into a commonplace and ultra-competitive rite of passage for college students. In 2000, a whopping 86 percent of co-eds had internship experience under their belts, the Society found. These days, aspiring Starbucks-fetchers must mail out piles of internship applications in the hope that Corporation X or Senator Joe Blow will accept their offer to work for them for free.
Where did this internship insanity come from?
Perhaps Corporate America and Uncle Sam are simply colluding with each other OPEC-style, stressing in unison the importance of internship experience in the job-hiring process. The National Association of Colleges and Employers claims that 70 percent of employers require new workers to don internship credentials. In doing this, these clever bosses have generated their own endless supply of cheap labor -- us. Adam Smith, eat your heart out.
However, college students themselves share the responsibility (or the blame) for the crazed internship culture. Starting with the anxiety-laden college search, it seems that everything that involves getting ahead in the world has become more and more competitive -- graduate school admissions and entry-level jobs included. We all want a leg up on the competition. Per Game Theory 101, if our competition is obtaining a glitzy internship to brandish on their rsums, we need one to match it to remain a strong contender in the professional horserace. Contrary to the teachings of DARE in 5th grade, peer pressure works both ways. It can push kids to overdose -- and overachieve.
The result: Summers that would have been spent in a previous era as camp counselors in the sunny outdoors or traveling with family are now devoted to stuffy cubicles and copy machines as interns. In a way, our generation has been forced to grow up faster than our parents did. The pressure is immense. As Dartmouth students can definitely understand, high schoolers with Ivy League aspirations must boldly distinguish themselves in the applicant pool and for many, a high-powered summer internship provides that crucial "in."
Without a doubt, internships present worthwhile opportunities for prospective careerists to network, temporarily dabble in a line of work and pad the almighty rsum. There is nothing wrong with looking out for your future. At the same time, high school and college-aged students have the rest of their lives to work nine to five clad in business casual. All too often, unpaid internships turn into Faustian deals that sacrifice fleeting youth for the sake of getting ahead of the faceless competition.
When you are applying for your next internship, just step back and ask: Who are you doing it for?
