Students weigh benefits of unpaid internships

As the saying goes, there are some things money can’t buy.

For UNC senior Sydney Harris, that thing was covering the 2013 NBA Finals.

“Even if I get a job in the NBA post-graduation, there’s a chance I’ll never be media for the NBA Finals again,” she said. “You can’t put a price on that experience.”

Harris, who interned for both the NBA’s Miami Heat and the NFL’s Miami Dolphins during the summer of 2013, was not paid for her services — a common experience for many interns.

“Just because an internship isn’t paid in money doesn’t mean you’re not going to get some sort of benefit out of it,” Harris said.

In order to complete her internships, Harris said she received a scholarship from the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication to help pay for rent in Miami. She said she also had to save money to pay for her living expenses.

According to a study conducted by the National Association of Universities and Employers (NACE), 30 percent of internships at for-profit companies, which are required to follow U.S. Department of Labor standards, are unpaid.

The study showed that on average, paid internships are more likely to result in a job and starting salaries for students with paid internships were about 25 percent more than unpaid ones.

According to The Fair Labor Standards Act, unpaid internships must be consensual and similar to training in an educational environment. They cannot displace existing employees and the employer providing the training cannot derive an advantage from activities of the intern.

“The law is fairly clear on what should be a paid versus an unpaid internship and what kind of employers are covered — the problem has always been enforcing the law,” said Edwin Koc, director of Strategic and Foundation Research at NACE.

Koc said several former interns filed lawsuits in 2012 that claimed their employers violated labor laws. Conde Nast, a media company sued by former interns, decided to discontinue its internship program entirely in fall 2013.

In response to the controversy surrounding unpaid internships, New York University implemented measures to screen internships. Employers must indicate that they meet federal labor guidelines. NYU’s career center also features a guide to help students recognize illegal unpaid internships and a directory of internship coordinators for the University’s different departments.

“I’m hopeful that more colleges will educate and defend their students against illegal and unethical employment practices while at the same time doing things that actually help students,” said Ross Perlin, author of “Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy.”

While UNC has not made any recent changes, University Career Services, as well as different academic departments, has measures in place in that monitor the quality of the internships it promotes.

“UCS attempts to vet employers who post positions in Careerolina and always questions employers whose positions appear to be preying on students for their talents and skills without paying them,” said Ray Angle, director of University Career Services.

The Kenan-Flagler Business School works closely with University Career Services, as well as employers, in order to ensure it only promotes responsible employers, said Lawrence Mur’ray, director of the undergraduate business program.

“We do work directly with some of our corporate partners to build those relationships,” he said. “And by partnering with UCS, any company would have to agree to our expectations of what a student’s experience should be like.”

While the number of unpaid interns in the business school is low — around 9 percent had unpaid internships — Angle stated unpaid internships would have to be entirely illegal for UCS to stop promoting them.

“Many industries rely heavily on unpaid internships and therefore are valid,” he said. “The cases currently being questioned — especially in the entertainment industry — are concerned that profit-producing industries are using unpaid internships to widen their profit margins when, in reality, they could pay their interns.”

North Carolina employers, such as The (Raleigh) News & Observer, agree — internships are almost essential in the hiring process, said Director of Newsroom Operations Susan Spring.

“If two candidates have the same identical resume and one has done internships and one hasn’t, it’s more likely that the one who’s done some internships would get the job,” she said. “The other thing is for interns to really see how the workplace really is and maybe that this is not the career path they want to follow.”

For UNC junior Jessica Feldman, a 2013 unpaid summer internship with the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh confirmed that she wanted to work at a museum.

“I think the experience is the most valuable thing for me because there are certain skills you aren’t going to learn from school and you’re only going to learn from the work environment of an internship.”

Despite her positive experience with her unpaid internship, Feldman said she thinks the University could do more to educate students on what to expect from internships.

“I feel like (the University) doesn’t address what goes into applying and the work that should be put in,” she said. “This summer wasn’t a particularly strenuous experience for me, but I understand people work their tails off and then get no compensation.”

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