The point of being an intern is to wangle a real job.  If you’ve been doing the interning for more than a few weeks and you don’t see a route, an actual, concrete, practical opportunity, quit and try something else.  If you work for nothing, remember that you’re not only starving yourself, but other people as well.

Rather well said, Thirdman. But how else, other
than by using them as slaves, can our youth
learn the value of money? Moreover, how better
might the Haves lower the heavy bar of
Ricardo’s iron law of wages hard upon the
heads of Have Nots?

And actually, of course, the New Slavery is not
really slavery at all. Slave owners must feed,
house & provide all necessary care to their
stocks in order to protect their investment in
them. That is not the case for day workers an
employer does not pay, nor for minimum wage
workers. Such workers are not slaves, but rather
are trash that employers may dispose of
whenever & however they please, with no
economic consequences to themselves. Should
we not all regard these new labor practices as
being just the most marvelous inventions! Why,
just as cancer has been capitalized, we’ve
succeeded at capitalizing the trashing of
humans by means of No Pay & Not Enough Pay.

NEVER work for free.

NEVER work for free.

NEVER work for free.

Any good “capitalist” would tell you that you’re worth exactly what the market will bear. If this is true, and if “interns” are willing to work for free, then NOTHING we do has value to any enterprise…..but of course that’s exactly the way capitalists and sociopaths want it.

This is a great topic.  I currently intern (for free) for the executive branch of my
state government.  I do the work of a paid position and have the same
expectations placed upon me as others in the office.  For some time, the
prospect of an entry level position has been dangled over my head to keep me
interested.  While I understand the competition for jobs, and the “paying of
one’s dues,” there is something that rubs me the wrong way about the free use
of my labor.

Interesting side note.  My father once traveled first class with a DC insider who
said the key to her businesses success was the use of slave labor.  When further
pressed, she revealed that she used a fleet of “hungry” young men and women
to work 70 hours a week, unpaid, for positions she would have had to pay for
ten years ago.  She knew competition was stiff and created a pool of very
talented young workers who would happily work for nothing.  The worst part
was, she had zero intention of giving any of these workers jobs when their
internships were up.  The glee she got from pulling one over on America’s
youth was pretty disturbing.