$22,000 Bid for the Right to a 6-Week Unpaid Internship Lays Bare What It Takes to Get Ahead

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/education/22000-bid-right-6-week-unpaid-internship-lays-bare-what-it-takes-get-ahead-america

$22,000 Bid for the Right to a 6-Week Unpaid Internship Lays Bare What It Takes to Get Ahead in America


On April 24, 2013, the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights announced it was having an auction to raise money to “carry forward Robert Kennedy's dream of a more just and peaceful world”. Through the auction website CharityBuzz, bidders could compete for a variety of prizes: a visit to the set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a personal meeting with Ryan Seacrest, a tour of Jay Leno’s car collection. Or a six-week unpaid internship at the United Nations, where the recipient will “gain inside knowledge of just how the UN really operates.” Current bid? $22,000.

“This truly is the ultimate internship opportunity for any college or graduate student looking to get their foot in the door,” the ad proclaimed. For more than what many colleges cost in annual tuition, the highest bidder receives “tremendous opportunities to make invaluable connections.”

One would suspect that a college student who can pay $22,000 to work 25 hours a week for free in one of the most expensive cities in the world needs little help making connections. But that misconstrues the goal of unpaid internships: transforming personal wealth into professional credentials. For students seeking jobs at certain policy organizations, the way to get one’s foot in the door is to walk the streets paved in gold. In the post-employment economy, jobs are privileges, and the privileged have jobs.

Unpaid and ”pay to play” internships have long dominated policy fields, but the $22,000 asking price signified a barrier to entry so galling the UN issued a statement in response. “Internships at the United Nations are not for sale and cannot be put up for auction. We are trying to find out the details of how this came about and have contacted charitybuzz.com,” a UN representative wrote to Inner City Press, who reported on the case.

[LeftofObama]

1. Damn!

[MADem]

2. It's to raise money for CHARITY, though. It's not a "regular" internship.

And it's not an "asking price," it's a "charity auction bid." Maybe some rich sheikh wants his kid to have an opportunity, and he pumped the price up to be sure to get it.

It's fine to discuss the rise in unpaid internships, but to put this outlier in there and represent it as "typical" -- well, I just can't buy that.

Here is a discussion about the subject that has its feet on the ground and in reality:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/03/unpaid-internships-hmrc

Over recent weeks a new chapter has been written in the internship story, and I for one am hoping for a happy ending. HMRC is currently investigating a list of 100 employers who advertise for unpaid interns, compiled by campaign group Intern Aware. If these companies are found to be breaking national minimum wage legislation (that states all workers are entitled to a wage), they could end up in an employment tribunal or with fines and a criminal record. On Friday 2 May, it was announced [paywalled link] that universities are coming out in support of their students by refusing to advertise for unpaid internships.

As a journalism student and ex-intern this strikes me as good news. Throughout my course I have been encouraged to work for free. Most placements have been useful, but in the name of gaining experience I have done jobs that a paid employee would otherwise be asked to do. Be it researching for an article or delivering an editor's dry cleaning, the work interns do is real work, and in most cases legally warrants a wage.

I have just managed to support myself with my student loan and a part-time job, but I know many are not so fortunate. This locking out of talent is the real tragedy of the unpaid internship system. In an increasingly competitive job market we are desperate for experience and an internship can be the passport into the land of the employed. But so many are left behind.

Unpaid internship adverts create a culture of acceptance that we need to break if things are ever going to change. Change can start in small ways. A fellow student recently hired an intern to help with a project during London Fashion Week. Paid, because she felt it was important and because, "Libby wouldn't let me get away with not paying her." .....

[Laelth]

3. I am glad to see that the U.N. objects to the auction. n/t

-Laelth