There鈥檚 an old joke about an employment ad seeking someone between the ages of 25 and 30 with 40 years of experience. It鈥檚 no joke, though, for college and university students trying to enter the workforce and encountering an employment Catch-22: You need experience to get a job; you need a job to get experience.
That鈥檚 why internships are attractive, giving young people an opportunity to add real-life experience to their resum茅s and to get started on a career path.
But interning has its pitfalls, a significant one being that some employers expect interns to work for free. That鈥檚 generally against labour law across sa国际传媒, although regulations in some provinces tend to be a bit murky. sa国际传媒鈥檚 labour code, though, is clear on the subject: It prohibits non-academic unpaid internships and insists interns be paid at least the minimum wage.
sa国际传媒 law distinguishes between internships and practicums. A practicum is hands-on training deemed to be part of the formal education process. If it is done for school credit and results in a certificate or diploma, it is not considered work and is not subject to minimum-wage regulations.
Nevertheless, some employers might bend the rules or be unaware of them. Vancouver-based social-media company HootSuite was in the habit of using unpaid interns, but ended that policy last April after a barrage of online criticism. A spokesman said the company did not intend to violate provincial law, and offered full payment to unpaid interns who had worked there in the previous six months.
Some interns desperate for job experience might be willing to work for free, regardless of the law, believing that doing so will give them a leg up when it comes to finding full-time employment. They might be advised to consult a U.S. study conducted last spring that showed that working for free doesn鈥檛 always pay off.
A survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers showed that paid internships significantly increase a student鈥檚 chances of getting a job by graduation, but unpaid internships show little or no advantage over not interning at all.
Sixty-three per cent of students with paid internships had landed jobs by graduation time, while only 37 per cent of unpaid interns were successful in finding jobs, faring little better than students who had no internships.
Furthermore, those students who had paid internships received starting salaries averaging $51,900 US, compared to an average of $35,700 US for students who were not paid while interning. Those who take on unpaid internships might be sending a message to future employers about how much they are worth.
Information about how many interns are paid or unpaid in sa国际传媒 is spotty 鈥� Statistics sa国际传媒 doesn鈥檛 keep track of internships 鈥� but one estimate suggests half a million unpaid interns are working in sa国际传媒, some of them illegally.
University of Victoria graduate researchers James Attfield and Isabelle Couture are filling some of the information gaps 鈥� they have conducted a nationwide survey on internships and will release their results soon. They hope their work will prompt policy changes, encourage better enforcement of existing regulations and result in whistleblower protection for interns who think they are being exploited. The researchers鈥� efforts should help move the issue forward.
On-the-job experience is an important component of training and education. It鈥檚 an opportunity for employers and interns alike to see what each has to offer the other. Modest pay under the circumstances is understandable.
But workers embarking on new careers are in a vulnerable position. Regulators should ensure they are not being exploited by employers who see internships as a source of free labour.
