Like many of my peers, the past few weeks and months have been spent editing r?(c)sum?(c)s, writing endless cover letters, eagerly awaiting responses and doing phone interviews. March and April is internship season, when many of us search for working opportunities and experience in fields we are interested in.

Of the three government internships I applied for this summer, all of them are unpaid. Of the internships during the school year I have had, they too have been unpaid. As an intern, I did secretarial and research work, made copies, wrote letters, found background for upcoming legislation and I enjoyed my experience and found it incredibly worthwhile, regardless of pay.

 However, unpaid internships are unethical, and not because high school and college students work between 20 to 40 hours a week, doing work that an adult secretary or staffer would get paid to do. Unpaid internships give students and young people the experience they would otherwise not be able to get and also can help students get ahead faster. They are unethical for social class reasons.

I am lucky enough to be from a family that can support me so that I can come home for summer break and take an internship for no pay. Not everyone is that lucky. Many young people who might want to intern at a law firm or a science lab or for a professor, cannot do so for financial reasons and must get a job in the service industry or retail instead.

There is nothing wrong with holding a part- or full-time job during the summer. Summer and school year jobs provide students with work experience and money. However, there is a big difference between being able to put down on your r?(c)sum?(c) that you served an elected official or an esteemed scientist versus waiting tables or babysitting.

In no way am I trying to say that one is superior to the other. Unpaid internships and paid work experience are equally beneficial and important, and I wish I had more of the latter.
However, not every employer or graduate school will necessarily think so. Like it or not, some schools and employers will be impressed by work experience and work ethic, while others would rather see internships at big-name firms. I'm not saying that every single employer or grad school will feel this way, and many do look at work experience, but that cannot always be guaranteed.

There are a few solutions I've come up with for fixing this problem with unpaid internships, and the inherent ethics issues that come with them. The easiest, and best, option for students, obviously, would be to pay students minimum wage or above for the time they spend working. Not only would young people get the necessary work experience that they need to get ahead in their fields, but everyone, regardless of socioeconomic class, would have the opportunity to pursue their passions without worrying about the financial cost. Students wouldn't have to give up on an internship because it is not financially feasible. Obviously, this is not the best solution for firms and employers, and therefore is very unrealistic. Companies have no legal reason to offer any sort of compensation for those who would be working for free. However, given that some of the best and brightest students cannot afford to work for free, companies should try to figure out some balance between profits and attracting young minds who otherwise could not work an internship over a paying job.

A more realistic idea would be to provide unpaid interns with some sort of stipend for areas like transportation, food or other common necessities.

For example, if a student wanted to intern at a bank, the bank could provide them with some money to buy work appropriate clothing, or if an internship requires public transportation, the intern would get a Charlie Card for free from the company.

Alternatively, internships could only be part-time jobs. That way, students could work a paid job and still have the opportunity to try out something they are passionate about. It does not cost a business or the government or a hospital any extra to have two unpaid interns splitting a full work load than it would to have one unpaid intern doing the work by themselves. If anything, part-time internships could increase productivity.

Unpaid internships are great, and I've enjoyed all the ones I've done. Employers and groups that offer unpaid internships can and should consider how to make the socioeconomic factors that restrict smart young people from pursuing such opportunities less of an issue.

Anyone who can intern, should be able to take an unpaid internship and not worry about the financial burden.
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