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article may not be reproduced or distributed, in part or in whole, without the permission of the author April 23, 2012

Chasing Rainbows: A New Reality For The Disenchanted Intern

by Sarah Westerfield Allison* Green, 22, crumpled a Cheez-Its bag in her fist and added it to a small graveyard of food wrappers that hadnt quite made it to the trashcan across her bedroom. The glow of the open laptop on her knees exaggerated the shadows already present under her eyes from a personal record of 34 hours without sleep. An hour had passed since Green checked her e-mail for a response from the BCBG representative that interviewed her two days ago about a potential paid internship in New York City. She dog-eared a page in the textbook on her futon and refreshed her inbox. Nothing. I think Im going to go certifiably insane if I have to settle for another internship this summer that wont pay me, Green said. A number of undergraduate seniors at Florida State University share Greens frustration towards the dismal job market. Out of 28 randomly surveyed students waiting in line for their caps and gowns, 16 admitted they will receive their diplomas this weekend without any solid job prospects in their field. This outlook is troubling enough for students feeling the weight of mountains of loan debt. The fact that graduates must now try to succeed in an economy barely held above water by floundering businesses that lack the means to absorb them is simply icing on the unemployment cake. And like Green, most of them will become part of a trend that has gained momentum in recent years: they will find themselves pressured to take unpaid positions in order to pad their rsums and get their foot in the door with potential employers. The National Association of Colleges and Employers reported that half of all graduating students held internships in 2008, a significant jump from 17 percent in 1992. It seems that more college graduates unable to find work in the midst of the Great Recession feel they have no choice but to turn to internships in the meantime, Ross Perlin says, author of The Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy.

This article may not be reproduced or distributed, in part or in whole, without the permission of the author April 23, 2012

The mad pursuit of internships is justified as precious insurance against a bewildering and demoralizing job market, Perlin writes. Green said she sees internships as an invaluable way to bridge the gap between graduation and entry into the workforce, listing experience and networking opportunities as two of the biggest advantages they provide. And the numbers show that interns must be doing something right: The NACE 2011 Student Survey revealed that 61 percent of all students with a paid internship and 38 percent of students with an unpaid one are eventually offered full-time employment from the company who gave them that internship. But thanks to the economy, the paid internship is quickly becoming an endangered species, Perlin says. For seniors like Green who receive financial support from their parents and dont depend on income generated from a job to pay their bills, this doesnt present a problem, but what happens to those students who cant afford to work for free? Im so lucky that these opportunities are even a financial possibility for me, Green said. So many of my friends are working their butts off just to pay rent when theyre not in class racking up student loan debt. Where does that leave them? This question hasnt fallen on deaf ears; in fact, the crowding-out of the internship market by the upper middle class is not an issue unique to the United States. Its becoming a global phenomenon. Former United Kingdom cabinet minister Alan Milburn summed it up in a 2009 report on social mobility entitled Unleashing Aspirations: The Final Report of the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions. In it, he said that internships are accessible only to some when they should be open to anyone who has the skills to be successful. Currently employers are missing out on talented peopleand talented people are missing opportunities to progress. Is the necessity of the unpaid internship creating a new hierarchy of haves and have-nots? Some organizations, like the Economic Policy Institute, say yes; it basically institutionalizes socioeconomic disparities.

This article may not be reproduced or distributed, in part or in whole, without the permission of the author April 23, 2012

And yet, despite the concerns of Milburn and the EPI, Yanela Gordon, Director of the Office of Internship Placement at Florida A&M University, understands that some of the negative aspects of interning are simply unavoidable. This generation of students must realize the world does not owe them anything and they are not entitled. They must be willing to make sacrifices to develop their skills and earn their livelihood, Gordon said. But as holding an internship has become a necessary rung on the ladder to career success, a twist of irony has also given interns the power to outcompete the paid positions they are one day hoping to fill, according to the EPI. In fact, the FSU Career Centers annual report of on-campus job recruitment showed that the percentage of students who received full-time job offers decreased from 23 percent in 2007 to 15 percent in 2011, and the number of internship offers extended has steadily increased since 2008. The data begs the question of whether employers are starting to see interns as a source of free labor and a more appealing alternative to salaried employees. The legal ambiguity of this predicament caught the eye of the EPI, which cited the rising cost of health care and other employee benefits as incentive for employers to replace full-time workers with students, according to a 2010 memorandum. Another one of the EPIs concerns is that interns are unprotected by workplace discrimination and harassment statutes such as the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disability Act, essentially leaving them in a legal void. This is news to Green, who said she just assumed she had the right to the same respect and fair treatment as anyone else in the workplace. So what youre telling me is that I can be sexually harassed as an intern and there are no consequences? Green asked. Is that a joke? It isnt.

This article may not be reproduced or distributed, in part or in whole, without the permission of the author April 23, 2012

But her outrage echoes throughout student newspapers at Cornell University, Ohio State University, and FSU. It has drawn the attention of The Economist, The New York Times, and USA Today. The EPI, Milburn, and Perlin represent just a fraction of those who call for the reform of regulations governing internships and the transparency of the system. Still, the plight of the intern has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. For employers, the ability to deploy personal contacts blamelessly and save labor costs either directly or through entry-level hiring, and for young people, the chance to sample a range of professions, distinguish yourself from your peers, and enjoy a semblance of social mobility are what feed the free labor market, Perlin says. As long as these motivations exist, loopholes in legislation will continue to be found, and desperate students with little to lose will continue to see interning as a lifeline in a discouraging economy. Nose-deep in her textbook, Green twirled her hair around one finger, then the other. Her legs crossed and uncrossed. Her foot jiggled periodically. Her eyes flitted between the pages of her book and the screen of her PC, and her eyebrows knitted together as she reached over to refresh her e-mail inbox once more. Nothing. She clicked it again, paused, and clicked it a third time before she began to laugh. This is pathetic, Green said with a shake of her head. I am holding on to some crazy idea that Im somehow different or more qualified than the rest of the world out there after this job. But I guess Im really not. I mean when it comes down to it, all were doing is just chasing the same rainbow. *Name has been changed

This article may not be reproduced or distributed, in part or in whole, without the permission of the author April 23, 2012

REFERENCES 1. Economic Policy Institute Memorandum: Not-So-Equal Protection (http://www.epi.org/page/-/pdf/epi_pm_160.pdf) 2. FSU Career Center Salary and Hiring Data (http://www.career.fsu.edu/stats/) 3. National Association of Colleges and Employers: Paid Internships Key to Job-Search Success (http://www.naceweb.org/s09282011/paid_interships_student_survey/) 4. Unleashing Aspirations: The Final Report of the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions by Alan Milburn (http://cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/227102/fair-access.pdf) (pp. 99-112) 5. Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy by Ross Perlin