Internships are a vital part of college and an even more important aspect of the communications realm. Every summer, eager students apply for a select few positions in order to learn tricks of the trade and, perhaps more importantly, network with people in their prospective fields.
It's a popular move and a vital one to getting an early foot in the door of the real world. But there's a catch. Many if not most of these jobs are unpaid. Kevin Goldberg wrote a piece last year in the Comm Law Blog discussing several recent court cases that are challenging this long-used method of employing students without pay.
In 2010, the U.S. Department of Labor released a statement called Fact Sheet #71: Internship Programs Under the FLSA. This set of rules said many things but in short, basically stated that a worker who is provided aid or instruction is not an employee if the work he or she does serves his or her own interest.
This begs the question: Is this fair?
As a sophomore in college and someone who is currently in the process of finding an internship for the upcoming summer, this is especially interesting to me and, to be honest, I'm 100% behind the Department of Labor's stance. By receiving and fulfilling these highly coveted jobs, students can gain experience that far outweighs any paycheck at the end of the summer. The work you do may not be vital to a company's operation but you learn incredibly valuable skills in a real world environment and get to meet people you would not otherwise. Clichés are fun and thus, I ask, a fisherman would surely rather fish for a lifetime than a day, right?
This is not a time of life to be accumulating a pile of cash. That will come later. Obviously, you may need a job to bring in some income but, as much as it might pain you, that should come in another environment. Summer internships should be about experience and a focus on your future, not some artificial imbursement for the present.
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