Unpaid internships: The views of a survivor!

• Author: Mitchell, Grady

Last week a Craigslist post made the rounds of my social circle in Vancouver. It advertised an exciting opportunity for a peppy, earnest young person to become a "Barista Intern", to learn to handle, and I quote, "thirst and hunger requirements." Needless to say, it was torn apart and taken down not long after.

It may or may not have been a joke (please let it be a joke). If the ad was sincere, it's concerning for obvious reasons. If it was a joke, it's concerning because it's not that far off. A few months before barista-gate, an ad floated around for a bussing internship at a restaurant, a great chance to "learn the fast-paced world of cuisine." Unpaid, of course.

I've done, and thoroughly enjoyed, two internships in publishing. Although both were unpaid, they delivered on everything they promised. Sure, I had to take out garbage and copy and paste mailing lists, but I also learned the inner workings of a magazine and I got to see my work in print. I interviewed interesting people, attended exclusive events, and collected a surprising amount of free alcohol. In both cases it was clear pretty much from day one that neither magazine was going to hire me. Not because I wasn't fit for the job, simply because they didn't have the money (or at least that's what I tell myself). While I was never hired on as staff, I did receive freelance assignments from both publications post-internship.

I was able to accept two internships because I'm exceptionally lucky; I have two supportive parents who helped me through the unpaid days. That's rare, and it's where the question of internships becomes particularly troubling. It pushes success from an issue of merit to one of privilege as well.

Many people simply can't afford an internship. They can't cover rent in the large, expensive cities where internships are typically offered, while working full-time without pay. It seems unreasonable that it has become the expectation that graduates, after four years of intensive education in their craft, must work another year or two for free to prove themselves. It adds to the already staggering financial burden of freshly-graduated students wrestling with heavy debt. It skews the odds towards upper middle class, and probably white, applicants.

Financials aside, there's also the mental aspect. When you're trudging home in the dark and cold of a mid-winter evening, picking up a box of KD or ramen for dinner, it's tough to feel like success is right around the corner...