Monday, May 30, 2011

Intern, Inter, Interrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, indeterminate

http://www.salon.com/books/int/2011/05/29/intern_nation_interview

Thing is it's happening here too.  Let's 'employ', selectively, a load of young people for no wage giving them the hope of a job or career: sometimes it does lead to paid work and sometimes it doesn't (they can presumably only do it if they have parents or a patron who will fund their living expenses through it, unless they have their own savings but if they've studied it is likely they haven't  - so it becomes exclusive).  How has this idea come about?   What about those people who have no-one that can fund them?  It doesn't feel right.   It feels wrong, wrong, wrong and it feels like exploitation.  Minimum wage (which is bad enough) flies out the window - no wage is the new hip thing.  And what message does this send to these young people?  What will they expect from younger people, for free?  They'll be the future employers and what will they say: 'well I did it and now you can but times have changed and you will need to do it for longer (your whole life even) to prove you are worth my trust (investment) in you'? 

4 comments:

Kopy Pig said...

These things tend to balance themselves in a cyclical kind of way - if the internships become too tough it will force people to make other work choices, and then some employer will relent and grab the best people.
The question is what kind of employee is at risk? The one's brought up to expect things on a plate, the ones with hard elbows, the dynamic but quiet thinkers, or who? Personality type is worth considering, especially since our present systems are crap at selecting innovative thinkers who haven't merely memorised the knowledge parrot fashion. Internships probably won't select them any better, and so the UK's economy gets increasingly far behind.

Lucinda Wells said...

Hi GeePig, thank you for your comment. Valuable as always, you have a great mind and I appreciate it. Long time no hear - hope all is well with you and yours.

Bern O'Donoghue said...

You have a very good eye, Miss Wells

Lucinda Wells said...

Thank you Bern, much appreciated and a timely boost to my confidence.