Are Unpaid Internships Worth It?

“Don’t let temporary pleasures like a small pay-check at the end of an internship be a very big factor in deciding whether to intern or not. Rather look for opportunities that can help you in sustainable planning” - Ritika Aggarwal, Ex-Intern at Emami Ltd.

Unpaid internships are a general trend that is found in undergraduate and postgraduate colleges worldwide. Companies usually prefer to hire professionals with some prior work experience who have a working knowledge of products and client dealing. But where does it leave the people who are not employed and have not worked in any organization earlier?

Why do companies offer unpaid internships?

It is no wonder that organizations are offering unpaid internships because of the obvious advantages of:

• Saving themselves from the hassles of the recruitment process
• Saving company’s revenues from hiring entry-level employees
• Interns are in general more dedicated towards work as compared to full-time employees

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Rising trend of unpaid internships

With a large number of startups coming up in India with initiatives like “Vocal for Local” and “Make in India”, there is a huge demand for interns in the market. These start-ups do not have the financial capacity to pay interns. But the interns can gain valuable insight to work on multiple tasks that are executed in any organization. So, unpaid internships in the long run may provide some value to the interns.

Students choose to work for free?

Is the reason for doing an unpaid internship a societal and peer pressure or the golden opportunity to gain a worthwhile experience from a reputed organization?

The educational curriculum of India is archaic. Students generally go through 3 or 4 years of graduation without gaining any insight into the technical know-how that is required in the industry. It is this gap of practical skills that gives birth to the need of going through an unpaid internship on the part of the students.

Advantages of Unpaid Internships

The situation may sound grim to many and many of you may even sympathize with the people who have to undergo unpaid internships. But the scenario is not so gloomy as it appears from the outside.

Interns stand to gain valuable experience from these internships.

Talking about her internship experience at Emami Limited, Ritika said, “Internship at Emami Limited was my first ever corporate exposure of any kind. I learned a great deal about marketing strategies. Being a part of an extremely diverse team, I tried mirroring myself in each one of my team members and learned a great deal about different kinds of people, their idiosyncrasies and their thought-processes”.

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Many large organizations are no bystanders to the tradition of offering unpaid internships. The main incentive of these internships is the experience that interns stand to gain.

Unpaid Internships getting under fire

While there have been many admirers for unpaid internships, the criticism has been equally given to these opportunities.

Talking about his internship experience, Hardik said, “I had one day’s worth of notes and I relied on them the entire summer. Every day, I was handed new assignments with directions like “We need this one by 2 PM so please prioritize!” My manager gave me the impression I would be fired any day. I stressed my way through that summer, to learn the job. I tried every shortcut or trick that I learned by accident. They did nothing else in the way of training. I had one task and I did it daily under the threat of deadlines. It was clear that I was hired as cheap labour to make up for an understaffed unit hit by high turnover”.

Multiple students have faced situations like Hardik in their companies during their internships. The high-pressure environment, lack of financial incentives, disinterest, and disillusion with the work over time can impact the overall learning of the students. So, it becomes imperative to take cognizance of this situation on the part of the companies.

Changing Landscape of Internships

Many organizations in India and worldwide, conduct internships for the sole purpose of giving interns a taste of operations that take place in their companies. With the changing landscape of Human Resource Management and senior management recognizing the importance of interns for the future of organizations, many market gurus are of the opinion to provide a handsome stipend to the interns for their stint at the organization. Some of these organizations are HUL, ITC, Deloitte, Pidilite, Reliance, etc.

Each year in India many people like Ritika and Hardik try to enter the corporate industry with little or no prior work experience. Some have to work hard to gain that initial experience to bring a change in their career while others grab the opportunity to intern in the best of organizations gaining valuable experiences and incentives too.

The Way Forward

People supporting both camps of unpaid and paid internships provide their own justification when it comes to awarding interns. So, it is up to people to decide whether internships should be paid or not. But interns, as well as organizations, are of a common consensus that companies should come up with an incentive that motivates the interns during the entire internship stint and provide them with valuable experience and, at the same time, does not strain the financial arm of the company.

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