Â
You finally get it. The chance to edit, to write, to style, and work alongside professionals whose work has appeared on the glossy pages of the magazines you’ve been buying since age 13. Or perhaps you have finally landed the chance to put the advertising on the opposing pages, or (help) to do the pubic relations for the artists being featured on the covers. As college students, these highly coveted opportunities lie in internships and often the internships in media-related industries such as, journalism, editorial and marketing, are unpaid.
College students flock to New York City and Los Angeles every summer, to join the ranks of the youthful workforce in the hopes that three months without a paycheck will pave the path to a glowing job recommendation or the elusive connection to land them a position upon graduation in the industry that their parents said would never pay the bills.
News broke recently that Conde Nast Publications, the publication company of magazines such as, W, Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and a slew of other well-recognized magazines is ending its internship program. Current interns will work the duration of their already established time, but the no-intern policy will go into effect in January 2014. The news was shocking to both the editorial and business worlds, as well as unnerving for students who had participated or wished to participated in the highly sought after intern spots.
The publication company announced their split with internships four months after two former interns, Lauren Ballinger and Matthew Lieb, sued the company for being paid below minimum wage. Ballinger worked for W in 2009, and Lieb for The New Yorker in 2009 and 2010. Both lawsuits are still pending, but are not the first of their kind.
Within the past two years, twenty lawsuits have been privately brought against companies from students previously in unpaid, intern positions. Each case varied in detail, but remained constant in the overarching theme that the unpaid, or low-paid, positions were often, taken advantage of by the employer, as claimed by the plaintiff.
In the media, these cases received both support and backlash from all sides. Previous student interns publicized their experiences as unpaid interns as essential to their current career while influential leaders criticized companies for their intern practices. Hearst publications has a lawsuit brought against them from a previous Harper’s Bazaar intern as well as Warner Music Group, Atlantic Records, and Fox Searchlight Pictures.
In addition to the lawsuits filed in the last two years, publications such as Ross Perlin’s Intern Nation, which has highlighted the double edge sword of an unpaid internship, have brought increased attention to the unpaid internship. Ross Perlin’s book illustrates the necessity of an unpaid internship as a vicious cycle in which students of privileged families can participate in unethical practices such as, low or no pay and long hours of mundane tasks, while students that finance themselves must forgo these opportunities in order to pay tuition bills.
An unpaid intern is not recognized as an employee of the company, although work being done is in assistance of one, or sometimes, in place of an employee’s work. The United States Department of Labor determines work that is done in substitute of an employee’s work, “primarily beneficial” to the company. The Department of Labor states that under the Fair Labor Standards Act, work that is of an immediate benefit to a for-profit company (“primarily beneficial” work) is thus, illegal. Companies and organizations therefore, must state their internship program in secondary terms as to avoid legal pursuit.
The rules and regulations surrounding unpaid internships get even grayer. While there are rules protecting against the work being illegal, unpaid interns are not recognized as employees in the first place. This disconnect posses serious problems when students, eager for opportunities, negotiate hours and the duration of the internship. It also posses serious implications for students who may face other legality issues in the workplace such as long hours, use of creative work, and sexual harassment. Currently, unpaid interns are not protected under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act because they are not recognized formally as employees.
Unfortunately, the unpaid internship is seen in primarily media-related fields even post-graduation. It is unclear to students, employers, and the Department of Labor exactly how many unpaid internship positions exist, in which fields they exist, and for what companies because of the lack of finalized procedures across the board. Although publication powerhouse Conde Nast will cease its offered unpaid internship positions, it is unlikely that all companies will go to such an extreme level just yet. This move works against companies (who will do the Starbucks run?), and also, students, because the vital foot in the door will still be as relevant when in applying and interviewing. Conde Nast’s bold move has the potential to ignite paychecks, or a chain reaction of other companies following suit.
Senior Nicole Hoffman is currently completing her third unpaid internship. When asked about the value of her time the communications major whole-heartedly believes the sacrifice is worth it. “I think the best decision I have made during college was putting a focus on gaining internship experience. I used to be entirely GPA oriented and then junior year when it came time to craft my resume I realized I needed to step it up,” said Nicole.
Nicole’s attitude towards unpaid internships is similar to landing the “dream” job. “Each internship I have had has helped me climb one more step up the internship totem pole. Unless you tend to have a connection you don’t start at your dream internship. Two initial internships led me to work for the Flyers Charities doing event planning. The other amazing thing about doing internships are that they all have been a step closer towards finding what I really want to do come graduating,” said Nicole.
Nicole at Skai Blue Media, where they used her voice to record a childrens’ book narration.Â
So what is a college student to do? Is the risk, sacrifice and time worth the company name splashed across your resume? It might be.
The best test, is to gauge the work once the internship has commenced. “They (interns) can certainly quit if the situation is bad, if they are not getting what they thought they would be getting. That would mean sacrificing the reference or the connections that they thought they were making,” said Michael Harper, a law professor at Boston University who is familiar with his students completing both paid and unpaid internships. “People do these internships to put it on their résumés, but obviously if you bring legal action you’re not going to get a good reference.”