The Value in Not Getting Paid

With the Obama administration’s crackdown on unpaid internships, in states such as California, Oregon and New York, finding unpaid internships will be nearly impossible.

A student’s only hope for obtaining the elusive unpaid internship is to gain academic credit from his or her university. Most universities only offer a certain amount of credits for internships, however, and some do not offer internship-credit programs at all.

What’s an overachiever to do?!

Internships have become the Holy Grail. Every college—and now high school—student wants an internship to beef up his or her resume, whether the job includes pay or not. They provide experience, and in this job market, experience makes all the difference to employers.

“Internships have become the gateway into the white-collar work force,” said Ross Perlin, who, according to The New York Times, is a Stanford graduate and onetime unpaid intern who is writing a book on the subject. “Employers increasingly want experience for entry-level jobs, and many students see the only way to get that is through unpaid internships.”

Though companies mainly hire free interns to save money on their end, if the intern is willing and able—and wants the position badly—what’s the harm?

There is the risk that unpaid interns will be exploited. Many are. According to The New York Times, Dana John, an N.Y.U. senior, spent an unpaid summer photocopying, filing and responding to routine e-mail messages for her boss at a company that books musical talent, which certainly was not what she expected to be doing.

Still, unpaid internships like Dana’s possess value. Today, students have more freedom to try out different industries, and find the one that suits them. Both a positive internship experience and a negative one shape which field a student might choose. If Student A enjoys working for a magazine more than a TV station, that’s the field Student A will probably try for. Plus, of course, an unpaid internship, no matter what one’s daily tasks are, can still look shiny on a resume.

In addition, the intrinsic value of observation is no longer at play. If I simply wanted to observe the daily tasks of a journalist, for example, without a salary in order to better understand the business, that would be out of the question.

Why should that be out of the question? If it's the experience--not the money--that makes a job appealing, why should pay or academic credit, if obtainable, be mandatory?

Though the purpose of unpaid internships is to gain useful experience—and hopefully that experience is a good one—not all actual paid jobs are guaranteed to be meaningful experiences, and the possibility of being exploited remains. Wasn’t Andy from The Devil Wears Prada exploited on some level?