Editor’s letter – “The truth about unpaid internships”

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]econd year summer seems to be the time that everyone frantically begins scrambling for various internships and work experience placements in the hope that it will land them that sacred graduate job.
Unfortunately for me, as someone who wants to pursue a career in the creative sector, many of these opportunities are unpaid.
As a widely discussed topic I was told by my friends and relatives not to undertake the two unpaid placements I had secured, as they felt I was being exploited by the companies involved as free labour.
I can’t express how wrong this was in both cases.
The sad truth is that unpaid internships are something that, in my opinion, will always exist. What are your legal rights?

there are 200+ other applicants waiting in line for your job who won’t ask questions

Do they even matter at this point and are you actually going to walk up to the individual your trying to get a job out of and start reciting their legal requirements.
I didn’t have the guts to. I did what most interns do, worked hard and tried to impress.
There is the option, of course, to say to them you are legally obliged to pay, or form some sort of formality around the term ‘intern’.
However as soon as you start to pipe up there’s a likely hood that there are 200+ other applicants waiting in line for your job who won’t ask questions and will hop happily straight into your shoes as the hard working willing intern.
Someone might argue this is exploitation, I disagree. This is exploitation perhaps if you’re on your fourth internship and have graduated from a respectable university with a decent result. Although if you’re on your 4th internship – why are you still applying for these roles?
It’s important to be confident enough to make the decision that, yes, now am I am employable in my field and at that point you should expect to be paid, but not before.

Personally I would not exceed 3 months, some people might be happy to do 6 but I think a year, unpaid, is excessive.

The experience an internship gives you holds monetary value beyond £6.50 an hour – it holds the key to a much higher wage for your future self.
One thing I would say you should always make sure is covered is travel expenses as this is something you can’t be expected to pay.
You are gaining valuable experience and skills from them but you also are not earning and many people don’t have the funds stacked away to spend on expensive train fares into central London.
You should also consider the amount of time you are interning. Personally I would not exceed 3 months, some people might be happy to do 6 but I think a year, unpaid, is excessive.
As I said before, it is important to notice when you are skilled enough to be paid.
The decision is ultimately yours and each person varies, but anyone telling you to avoid unpaid internships, especially in a lot of creative industries, is in a dream world.