Volunteering for experience
Jeff Rybak takes aim at the "extremely negative trend" of unpaid internships
Legitimacy of the Experience
The worst thing about unpaid positions is that you’re never quite sure how legitimate the experience really is. As I’ve said already, it’s often the case that unpaid positions remove real jobs from the workforce – which means that the experience must be valid. But how about all the expectations that accompany a real position? New entrants in the workforce need to prove they have some essential skills such as the ability to show up five days a week on time, dress and act professionally, navigate the work environment, and so on. Volunteers often escape from these requirements, and in any case the rules apply differently to them. It may be that any particular person treats the position exactly like a real job and deserves to be acknowledged for this. But there’s no way to be sure from outside the environment. All that’s certain is that the company was getting free labour from this person, and probably wasn’t motivated to be as strict with them as they might normally be.
In the best of worlds unpaid internships reflect an opportunity to engage with all the most interesting work in the field as a sort of sidekick. But more often than not the fact that there’s no overhead results in a lot of boring or repetitive work going to the volunteer. Unless there’s a lot of direct contact with a supervisor in the field there isn’t a lot that an untrained volunteer can do alone. In fact, I’ve heard of more than one unpaid position that doesn’t come with a real supervisor at all. Some company needs IT work done, for example, and figures they can get a free “intern” to do it rather than hire someone. But if there’s no primary IT person to learn from then there’s no experience to be gained – or at least nothing that couldn’t be learned from simply applying what the student already knows on his or her own.
Free work will always come with many questions attached. It might represent good experience. That’s certainly possible. But if you’re trying to leverage that experience in the future you’d better be prepared to prove the substance of what you learned. It won’t look good on its own, because the very people you are trying to impress understand all the unresolved questions.
Conclusion
My advice regarding unpaid work comes down to a basic truism. People won’t buy a product if you give it away for free. If you ever intend to work professionally in a field then get used to the idea of charging for your labour and insist on it as early as possible. You may not be able to command much at the beginning – especially if you’re freelancing. If you’re a photographer and people keep asking you to do their weddings then ask for something, even if it’s only $50. If you do web design then charge for it. I paid a student $100 to put together my website and I’m glad I did. He’s doing it professionally now and it was his first paid job. He deserved more, really, but I was a broke ass student myself at the time. Get people used to the idea that you’re a professional and they’ll respect that. If they can’t afford the full value of your work you can still cut a deal, but be clear on why you’re doing it.
Final bit of advice here. It isn’t only businesses that exploit people desperate to find work. This whole culture where we imagine people should be glad to work “for experience” is shot through many segments of society. I see it all the time, where even folks who have the money to pay look for people who are “just starting out” (read: one or more post-secondary qualifications) to do all kinds of things for cheap or for free. Build me a sundeck. Sell me some art. Do my taxes. It’s scummy. If you really want to give people a leg up then treat them like professionals and pay them as well as you reasonably can. What goes around does come around. These people will be your network in the future.
If you want to do something as a hobby, that’s one thing. Be clear you’re doing it for kicks and if you ever happen to earn some cash at it that’s a bonus. But if you view it as your profession then act accordingly. Sadly, not everyone will support this view, and still expect you should be grateful for the chance to work for free. But if you stick to your guns, you’ll find people who respect your choice.
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Questions are welcome at jeff.rybak@utoronto.ca. Even the ones I don’t post will still receive answers, and where I do use them here I’ll remove identifying information.
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I really enjoyed this article. Part of my degree involves seeking out a six-week internship, usually unpaid, as a requirement for graduation.
I think, however, that unpaid interns in media jobs are a different ball-game than in many other places. One supporting argument of that is that in a media company, an unpaid worker isn’t as likely to be taking over a job that would otherwise be a paid position: the media is bleeding jobs, and already many outlets are operating while short-staffed because they simply can’t afford another person on their balance sheet. In this scenario, the intern isn’t doing boring work: they are doing vital work, in close contact with a supervisor, because the organization is short on hands.
Journalism is learnt hand-on, as well: so a university-trained, but practically inexperienced reporter, IS at a disadvantage during a job hunt.
It is, unfortunately, completely true that unpaid interns are replaced with unpaid interns, at least until journalism figures out how to make money again. Or until the unpaid interns figure it out, that is.
Volunteering in commercial sector is a travesty. Completely agree with the author.
But volunteering is a must for any of the CUPE covered positions. There is no other way to get into sweet public sector jobs unless your relative/friend is already there.
My friend’s daughter had to start volunteering during last year of highschool in order to be accepted into registered nurse program. Another friend of mine had to pull strings to get his son volunteering for Vancouver park board first year, next year he was paid sweet $20/hour for driving around in a truck picking up litter. Nice summer job for a student.
[...] Volunteering for experience: Jeff Rybak takes aim at the “extremely negative trend” of u… [...]
[...] Volunteering for experience: Jeff Rybak takes aim at the “extremely negative trend” of u… [...]
This article is bang-on. Unlike the US, Canada has a real problem transitioning students into the work world…because Canadian employers want experience from the inexperienced. This also affects immigrants caught in the ‘Canadian experience’ problem.
Newsflash: Hiring newbies is not supposed to be about accessing their experience but instead about banking on their potential. That involves employers taking a risk – a very small risk. Some of the time employers will get a bad apple but much of the time they’ll get a loyal and improving worker who appreciates the leg up and sees a future with that company. And, better yet, society will get 25 year olds who will have the money to put down roots, have kids and contribute their talents before they are 45.
Come on Nation – let’s see employers take that teeny tiny risk!