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Want a job? Work for free and send your resume in a box

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by TheSportsPredictor, Jan 27, 2017.

Page 2 of 8
  1. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    Rovell isn't entirely wrong about it. But there's a big difference between interning and "working for free."
     
    Inky_Wretch, Jan 27, 2017
    #13
  2. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

    I don't disagree with Rovell at all.

    When I was 21, I decided, after staring at a billboard for a minor-league baseball team at 3 am, that I wanted to be a writer.

    I was delivering pizzas that night.

    I showed up for the team's first 17 home games. Wrote gamers and gave myself a deadline of 11:30 to interview players, get to the library and print out a gamer.

    Six weeks after opening day, the daily newspaper hired me for $75 a story. Their editor saw me doing the work for free. Once their stringer joined the staff full-time, I became a stringer.

    Similar story on getting into TV. Build a rep that you're reliable and doors open.
     
    exmediahack, Jan 27, 2017
    #14
  3. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    That is the way I see it. Internships 25 or 30 years ago when I was that age, were meant to be learning experiences. A short-term opportunity that allowed you to get a taste of (and observe) the work environment, so you could explore a possible career. They could be very meaningful, not just in terms of what you learned, but in getting your foot in the door somewhere for a first job.

    I think part of why many internships (not just in journalism) have become meaningless or "free worker" experiences is a simple demand-side dynamic. We have put a generation of kids in debt with Federally-subsidized loans on the faulty reasoning that they needed college degrees. That subsidization has had a lot of negative effects. First, it has created a ton of debt -- for many that means virtually worthless degrees, and that doesn't including the drop outs who still have their debt and NO degree.

    Second, the subsidization creates demand that wouldn't exist, and that allows colleges to keep raising prices which has created a spiraling problem and just exacerbates the debt problem "policy" has created in the first place.

    In terms of internships. ... It has effectively (or practically) turned a college degree into what a high school degree was in the job market 2 generations ago. We have way more college kids than we did relative to the size of our economy, than we did a generation ago. Those college kids create demand for internships -- and on the margin, some are willing to take crappier and crappier opportunities as there aren't enough "good" internships for all of them. Businesses that do the "free worker" thing are just responding to all of that demand out there from college kids.

    I hate laws that try to regulate this stuff. Not only in terms of the way we have created the problems in higher education in the first place, but also in terms of deciding who needs to be paid for what and how much. As long as there is no coercion involved, why can't people decide for themselves whether an unpaid internship is worthwhile (for whatever THEIR reasons are)?
     
    The Big Ragu, Jan 27, 2017
    #15
  4. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Please. More stories about how great it was to work for free.

    We've been over this.

    A. Interns deserve to be paid.

    2. People that ask others to work for free, and those who accept, are asshoholes, who cheapen the value of what is produced, and undermine everyone working in the field.

    C. Unpaid interns and free work mean that only those with the financial means to take suck assignments will find work in a particular field. If you value a diverse workforce, you pay interns and entry level employees.
     
    YankeeFan, Jan 27, 2017
    #16
    OscarMadison, tapintoamerica, Big Circus and 3 others like this.
  5. JC

    JC Well-Known Member

    A university degree and mounds of debt to write for free. Sounds great.
     
    JC, Jan 27, 2017
    #17
  6. JC

    JC Well-Known Member

    Sounds very left wing of you.
     
    JC, Jan 27, 2017
    #18
  7. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    I agree 100 percent with everything YF says here.
     
    cranberry, Jan 27, 2017
    #19
    OscarMadison and YankeeFan like this.
  8. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Eh. I'm not sure it should be mandated by law. But even if it's not, self respecting industries and employers shouldn't need it to be law.

    That newspapers would do it is disgusting. Same goes for any free government internship.
     
    YankeeFan, Jan 27, 2017
    #20
    OscarMadison likes this.
  9. JC

    JC Well-Known Member

    Unionize!
     
    JC, Jan 27, 2017
    #21
  10. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    I don't understand why everyone doesn't see this. It's the biggest differentiator out there when it comes to privilege. Colleges are going out of their way to look at other criteria and get more diverse. But then the summer job search becomes a matter of who has a way to live for free and doesn't need money for next semester.

    My favorite was the LeanIn listing for an unpaid internship in Manhattan. Yeah, that's breaking down those barriers.
     
    LongTimeListener, Jan 27, 2017
    #22
    OscarMadison and lcjjdnh like this.
  11. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

    Think about a newsroom - whether print, online or TV. How many interns actually pan out and move into the business?

    We pay ours. $12 an hour and keep four a semester averaging 25-30 hours a week and three each summer. I would say that 30% moved into the industry after they graduated college. Two were truly great interns -- each is now in a Top 30 market on-air.

    Most of the rest was just lighting money on fire.
     
    exmediahack, Jan 27, 2017
    #23
  12. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    And, look, the minute you've priced your work at $0, you've told the world what your work is worth.

    Look at Groupon. Businesses loved it at first. But then they learned that it didn't grow business. Customers came in once, and either never came back, or only came back when they had a Groupon.

    When I opened my business, I was determined to not compete on price.

    If my argument was that folks should use me because I was cheaper than the competition, then the rational to use me evaporated the minute someone was willing to charge less than me.

    I'm not a commodity and you shouldn't be either.
     
    YankeeFan, Jan 27, 2017
    #24
    OscarMadison likes this.
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