the problem with internships...

ASID has a daily email that is sent out with news clippings related to the industry. Today, the subject line article was about internships. I suggest reading, or at least skimming, the article. You'll find it here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/business/03intern.html?emc=eta1


did that say... illegal??
Why yes, yes it did.

I'll put a disclaimer out there - I'm not actually complaining about MY internship. I actually believe that my unpaid internship is, if not completely, for the most part, legal.

Here's the problem I see...
If you are going to have a legal unpaid internship, it is too easy for it to become mind-blowingly boring. If you are not to do anything that employer "derives an immediate advantage" from, you quickly become dead weight. The article, and the law, mention that an unpaid internship should be a "benevolent contribution to the intern", but let's be honest... that rarely happens. At least in the design world. Which then means that most unpaid internships are in violation of labor laws, or they are not actually very beneficial to the intern because the intern finds him or herself doing nothing for hours, waiting for someone to have the time (or just take pity on the thumb-twiddling-intern) to teach them something... ANYTHING...

So I think it becomes clear that paid internships are without a doubt the preferable route for the intern. The problem here is that they are rare. When I was searching for an internship, pay was non-negotiable. People didn't even want to talk about it. Not even a partial gas reimbursement ((for driving 240 miles A WEEK to commute to the office))


Again, I'm not really complaining about my experience. I feel blessed to be where I am, and since I was looking before I knew all of this, I had no way of knowing to look for anything different. I simply write this in hopes that someday the norm will change and maybe actually comply with the law.

wouldn't that be nice...

xoxo
k.c.