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Internships are a necessary, but hectic part of anybody’s resume. Students at any level have to take internships to show that they are prepared to work in a full-time job. Internship experience is something most applicants need at this point, showing their abilities even if they have not worked a full-time job before.
With this rise in internships, we have seen various companies, and platforms work exclusively to showcase internships to students, whether they are in school or in university. These can be stellar programs that pay a lot of money for interns who work in technical fields, who will also be hired full-time after the internship. Other oness are unpaid, where you train, and understand the role you want to work at full-time.
While we already have conversations about the merits of paid, and unpaid internships, there is a dark undercurrent of internships going below the radar. It isn’t easy to find, but some companies are now hiring interns who have to pay them to be an intern.
It sounds insane, and it is. Nobody in their right mind would pay a company to let them work there. And yet, it exists. Deep in any job or internship platform’s internship listings, you can find internships that you have to pay to take part in. They are never in the first page of these pages, but they exist, and they are only growing in number.
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Moving in the Shadows
The important question is: Who is posting these internships?
And why are people applying for these fake opportunities?
We found a lot of information about these kinds of internships from platforms like Linkedin, Reddit, and Quora. While none of these threads ever directly mentioned any company by name, the sheer number of these threads has shown that this is a growing issue. This issue was raised by users of many fields, including computer science and marketing, to name a few.
But what was more surprising for us to find was that in India at least, most of these companies were either ghost companies, or were complete start-ups. It can be understood why start-ups would only hire unpaid interns, or in the worst case have interns pay them to work in the start-up, and have a guaranteed job by the end of the internship.
But the ghost companies operated on a different basis. Responses on platforms like Linkedin and Quora noted how unprofessional their time was, noting that these companies only provided them with a Letter of Recommendation, and a proof of internship. These internships operated more like mills, that offered these paying interns with some small tasks, and some coursework.
The Never-ending Rat Race
The responses highlighted some very important points. It as noted that despite the criticism, people were still willing to pay for these internships.
The first main point we noted was:
That these internships provided an edge to students who couldn’t find any jobs or opportunities.
By paying for these, students got something they found more than job experience—a notch on their resume. They got to put these internships on their resume, and use the LoRs they got to apply for actual jobs. They assumed nobody would actually check what kind of internship they worked, and what experience they got from that. The companies would only be happy to hire someone with experience, instead of another candidate who simply didn’t have this experience.
In an intensely competitive job market, students who can pay for additional internship experience have an advantage over those who aren’t willing to. This is why these internships still exist, and why people still apply to them.
Deep Costs
The other point, which we found very important to highlight, was that this only benefited students with money. Unpaid internships already come under criticism sometimes because students from lower-income backgrounds were at a disadvantage when taking these.
Now imagine being asked to pay for an internship. Even in desperation, only someone that can bear the costs of paying for an internship can actually work there. You can’t pay to work, when you barely have enough money to live.
The students that are fine with unpaid internships are more likely to be students who don’t have to worry about any expenses, while poorer students cannot ignore the money it takes just to travel and eat at an internship that only offers experience to them.
Coming Into the Light
It isn’t easy to find exactly who posts these false opportunities, but it necessary to shine a light on this. Internships with fees only help one group: the internship providers.
None of the students gain any real benefits from this. The students that pay, are having their desperation being taken advantage of. And this is for a subpar experience with no real skills being developed. The students who can’t pay, are having to look at their peers paying their way to employment, while they have to continue struggling.
How can we deal with this? Can we ensure students can find the experience they deserve. And can students not have to pay to find work in any way? How can we make sure these companies have no reason to exist?
