Why You Shouldn’t Take an Unpaid Internship

Internships can offer college students valuable work experience that compliments their resume. But often internship opportunities can also be unpaid.

US News recently explained the differences between unpaid vs. paid internships and what college students should be aware of when it comes to unpaid internships.

RACIAL DISPARITIES

While some companies simply don’t have the resources to pay interns, experts say unpaid internships tend to hurt underrepresented students.

Jon Schlesinger, director of the Hiatt Career Center at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, says unpaid internships exist because of “institutional inertia.”

The idea “‘that ‘we’ve always been able to get interns and we’ve never had to pay them, so why should we start paying them?’ – I wonder if that’s part of it,” he says. “The other part might be not realizing that it is really an equity issue. That’s what it comes down to. You’re limiting your talent pool by only focusing on those that could afford to take an unpaid internship.”

According to research by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), Black and Hispanic students, as well as women, tend to be underrepresented among paid interns.

“Internships aren’t just about access to opportunity for careers. It’s also about access to social mobility,” RJ Holmes-Leopold, director of the career center at Carleton College in Minnesota, says.

PAID INTERNSHIPS LEAD TO HIGHER STARTING SALARIES

Why should you seek out a paid internship over an unpaid one? Well, for one, paid interns are more likely to get post-graduation employment offers and higher starting salaries. According to

the 2022 survey conducted by NACE, paid interns on average received nearly double the number of job offers compared to unpaid interns. The survey also found that the median starting salary for paid interns was $62,500 compared to $42,500 for unpaid interns.

Additionally, experts say paid internships tend to offer more structure for students.

“Since they are having to pay, they are going to be more thoughtful about creating a mentorship program, what that looks like and the work you are given,” Mark Vera, cofounder and executive director of Pay Our Interns, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, says. “Meanwhile, when it’s unpaid, there’s not a lot of incentive for employers to structure (it) and so on.”

Sources: US News, National Association of Colleges and Employers

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