Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Tom Sawyer and the Original Internship

The internship as zeitgeist of modern job hunting.


To be clear, as an economist, I understand how the internship is just a natural product of our times and not some evil, unnatural scourge on our country.  I know a lot of people benefit from internships.  Internships allow curious, uncertain people [like me] to try jobs before committing themselves to careers.  They prepare people for the real world.  And on the whole, internships occupy a legitimate space in the employment ecosystem.

However, I think the term "internship" has lost a lot of its meaning and credibility.  There is a lot of abuse.   This abuse that doesn't look or feel like abuse since people are desperate.  Many highly-qualified college graduates are doing career-level work without pay.   They know their stuff, aren't learning anything new or useful, and still aren't getting paid.  When employers re-label standard job positions as internships, they are really just exploiting people.  It's bad.  And the Supreme court knows this.

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