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In North America, an intern is one who works in a temporary position with an emphasis on education rather than merely employment, making it similar in some respects to an apprenticeship. Interns are usually college or university students or other young adults. They can also be adults later in life seeking skills for a new career. An internship may be either paid, unpaid or partially paid (in the form of a stipend). Paid internships are most common in the medical, science, engineering, business (especially accounting and finance), technology and advertising fields. Internship positions are available from businesses, government departments, nonprofit groups and organizations. Internships may be part-time or full-time; typically they are part-time during the University year and full-time in the summer, and they typically last 6-12 weeks, but can be shorter or longer.
Benefits and Hiring Process Internships offer benefits that may include instruction and mentorship; work experience; networking opportunities; and a verbal or written letter of reference. The National Association of Colleges and Employers has found that students who perform internships have a higher starting salary . Ideally, the employer has thought carefully about the benefits they can offer and described them in the posting. It is also up to the applicant to research or ask about the details of the situation. To find a suitable match, the hiring process is just as important as with permanent work. The job description should clearly describe the position, background information, expectations, benefits and how to apply. It should either ask for a cover letter and resume or provide an application form. The interview and reference check are equally important. To avoid surprises for either party, it is important to maintain clear and honest communication of both the employer's needs and expectations — and the potential intern's. Some colleges ask students and employers to fill out a "learning contract", which specifies what the students will learn in the internship, to avoid any misunderstanding. In the context of medical education, an intern (a "houseman" in the U.K.) is a physician who is in his or her first year of postgraduate training (PGY1). Issues Relating to Unpaid Internships Unpaid internships have often been criticised for contributing to class divides by increasing career opportunities for those who come from families that can support them while they work for free. They have also been criticised for bringing down salaries There are some arguments in favor of unpaid internships, however. Employers may state that the level of training provided to interns is at such a level that the employer actually loses value from interns; some employers consider internships mainly as a way of educating students and giving back to the community rather than as a way of exploiting free labor. And in some labor markets, such as those in "glamorous" industries like fashion, sports, or entertainment, the employers' demand for interns is outstripped by the huge supply of students willing to intern in such companies, so their effective market wage is reduced to zero (i.e. so many students are willing to work for free to break into these markets that the wage becomes zero). There are also certain protections afforded to students performing internships that are provided both by U.S. labor laws and by college faculty: Because of the US minimum wage law (i.e. Fair Labor Standards Act), for-profit companies must show that students will be "trainees" rather than simply unpaid workers. If students are providing a humanitarian service as volunteers for nonprofit or charitable organizations, they may be defined as volunteers rather than interns, and thus not affected by the minimum wage laws. However, there is no such thing as a "volunteer" who works for a for-profit corporation. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has developed six criteria for differentiating between an employee entitled to minimum wage and a "learner"/"trainee" who, while an employee, may be unpaid. The criteria are: Academic Credit for Internships Many corporations request students who have internships to obtain academic credit from their college or university in conjunction with their unpaid internship as another way of "proving" that the internship is a "traineeship" or learning experience rather than just unpaid labor. For students to obtain credit for the internship, they typically must have the internship approved by a professor at their college, and typically, professors will not give college credit for an internship if it is more than 50% administrative work or telemarketing/"cold calling." This is another protection students have against being exploited as pure "free labor." Colleges vary widely in regard to how they structure the granting of academic credit for internships, however. Some colleges do not allow students to obtain credit for internships at all; some provide a "transcript notation" but no credit; some have centralized guidelines about what kinds of internships are "worthy" of credit; and still others allow each academic department or professor to determine whether internships are "worthy" of credit. Some professors are very laissez-faire regarding internships and simply ask students to write a report about their experience; others will perform site visits to an employer, ask for ongoing reports or journals, ask for evaluations of students and for students to evaluate their site, and have ongoing discussions and meetings with the students. Colleges are also quite varied in where their internship programs are housed; some locate internships as part of their career services offices, some in student life or student development offices, and some have an independent internship or cooperative education office. Stages of an Internship H. Frederick Sweitzer, Mary A. King developed theory of the stages students typically go through in an internship in their book, The Successful Internship. The word "intern" can also be used as a verb, e.g. "Hendrik interned at Pinnacle Systems this summer." Diversity Internship Programs There are several organizations that provide extremely competitive internship programs for minorities. Some of the best-known are Inroads, which places over 5,100 minority college students in paid corporate internships each year; and Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, which places students in internships in fields such as management consulting and investment banking. Other organizations, such as the United Negro College Fund, organized corporate-sponsored internships that also provide a scholarship. See also | ||||||||
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