Paid internships vs. non-paid internships

By Wissam Omar
February 9, 2017

Graphic By: Vanessa Charlot

Getting an internship is an unwritten rule for most ambitious college students. The fact of the matter is that some internships are paid while others are unpaid. These two options can make or break the decision for a current student looking for an internship. Indeed it is worth the experience regardless of what decision a student makes on what will they will be getting in return for their time.

The bigger picture is an internship is a sample of how the work field of your choice is and you can get a good understanding on how the pace goes on a daily basis. As a junior I have had a paid and non-paid internship. From someone’s perspective that has done both I would say that paid internships should be the only option given out. The motivation that you are getting paid to learn something you are interested in makes you want to work even harder, which results in success within the company. The non-paid internship was at a sport facility called Competitive Edge Sports.

It was an amazing experience but compared to the paid internship I did shortly after that with a company called Coredial it seemed as though the paid internship had an effect on me. Working and knowing that I will be rewarded for my hard work made me work even harder, which landed me a part-time position with Coredial.

Money motivates people to put in more effort and having paid internships across the board will help society. College students building a good work ethic before they even graduate will have them ahead of the game to say the least. In fact, this will bring up the success rate after college. Landing an internship and doing a job at times may result in a permanent position at the company. With that being an option, there can be some students graduating college and the next day have their first day at the job as a full time employee.

All of this comes back to paying the interns. The result in that can only be a positive return for college students. In conclusion paying these college students for an internship will only motivate them and help them obtain big corporate jobs.

1 thought on “Paid internships vs. non-paid internships”

  1. Liked the post. Paid versus unpaid often comes down to the industry of interest. Mechanical Engineers paid. Broadcast media not so much. One thing to note is if all internships are paid, there will be a drastic reduction on the amount of internships students have an opportunity to get. I’m in the business and the best bet is there is a 50% to 75% reduction in opportunities at a firm when they go from unpaid to paid. Fewer opportunities is not good for students who need real life experience. Not everyone is IVY league with connections. Thanks for the post.

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Wissam Omar

1 thought on “Paid internships vs. non-paid internships”

  1. Liked the post. Paid versus unpaid often comes down to the industry of interest. Mechanical Engineers paid. Broadcast media not so much. One thing to note is if all internships are paid, there will be a drastic reduction on the amount of internships students have an opportunity to get. I’m in the business and the best bet is there is a 50% to 75% reduction in opportunities at a firm when they go from unpaid to paid. Fewer opportunities is not good for students who need real life experience. Not everyone is IVY league with connections. Thanks for the post.

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Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

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