Lessons from "Intern Season"
http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2010-07-12/lessons-intern-season
"Intern season" is a rite of summer in Washington. But the intern experience is evolving from a summer diversion into a prerequisite for professional development. Workplace coach and diversity consultant Howard Ross joins us to explore why the intern experience is evolving so rapidly, and who may be getting left behind in today's economic environment.
Guests
Howard Ross
Diversity consultant; Principal, Cook Ross
Comments
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I used to bring in interns however the demand of my time time to mentor them is so high that it isnt worth their free time. I'd rather hire someone to get the work done than act as teacher.
I'm ashamed of this as I benefited greatly from a mentor/mentee relationship early in my career.
Additionally the auctionng of internships is sad for the underpriviledged and continues to feed the divide between the haves and have nots.
I am grateful for my internship, right out of high school, learning the ropes as medical photographer and filmmaker at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research on the campus of Walter Reed Hospital, back in the late '70's. I worked my way through each department, film procesing, printing, copy camera, film editor, sound engineer, etc., working with long-time professionals and experts in their fields. Once I grasped the "job" in that department, I took on the actual work assignments of that staff person for about a month, totally on my own. I was able to not only learn the technical skills of that position but also the interpersonal skills of working with dozens of in-house "clients." A year later I started my own production company filming and photographing medical procedures and operations for clients around the country. A couple of years later I shared the skills I learned with the next generation of student interns. Although my internship was "unpaid," what I learned from that year was "priceless" and I would not be where I am today without that experience and opportunity.
Hello. I graduated in March of 2009 with a B.A. in International Studies and a minor in communication studies and a minor in photography. I worked hard to put myself through college, at some points working 2 jobs while taking 20 credits. Once i graduated (mind you in one of the worst economic time periods for our country/world) I spent over 9 months unemployed. In that time I applied to around 370 jobs/internships, in a number of fields, in a variety of places, paid/unpaid, basically anything that required a skill set that i had. During those 9 months i received 3 phone calls, all for unpaid internships. Although the offers were appreciated, being 9 months after graduation i was looking at over $1000/month in student loan payments. Not to mention living expenses. Plus none of the offers i received were in the town that i was living in.
I think that internships offer great opportunities to students getting their start, and i don't think that anybody argues against that. One constantly hears of how unpaid internships helped individuals succeed but what is not mentioned is that those individuals were already on the path success by having the option of an internship available to them. Earlier in the show a caller commented on how her interns did not have a very good work ethic; well if the people you are hiring are those that can afford to take a summer without a paycheck, then those are the people who probably haven't had to work very hard in their lives to begin with. I have had a job since the age of 13 and i am now 24, i have a better work ethic than most people my age because i have actually had to work. I didn't have the option for internships because i was working to pay bills, to buy food and to get to work.
When I found myself explaining my resume to potential employers i was often met with "you do not have enough work experience." Are you kidding! I've been working for 10 years and i'm not even 25! To make matters worse they add "well you should look into an internship." If i could have i would have, plain and simple.
What i am asking is what is available for people like me? Are there grants and/or scholarships available? Is there an option of having a deferment on loans if you are in an unpaid internship? What about lower costs of living if you have an unpaid internship? Or even better offering more paid internships? stipends for interns? Resources for low-income individuals to find help with internships?
I feel that this is a very important issue, especially today when most recent graduates can't find work because they are in competition with those that lost their jobs to the recession and already have the experience that employers are looking for. With this, many recent grads opted for grad school. Once more the bar is being raised for the lower socio-economic groups. Without internships, fellowships or grad school, a bachelors degree is starting to look slim. And when a bachelors degree is costing an average individual (like myself) around 85,000.00 for a four year degree, adding more onto to that debt in order to get a "good" job, makes the entire process seem like a bad joke.