Internships are a means to enable students who are about graduate from their respective fields to get a taste of their future in the professional industry of their choice. In many cases, it helps you make that final decision with the direction you should take to launch your career with. Thus internships allow the students to try and practise their education in real-world business arenas, experience the profession they dream of acquiring in the future. Many companies in Melbourne are out there looking to captivate the working spirits of these bright-minded students, but with a less than appealing offer – unpaid internships. More and more, we are finding internships play a key role in resumes in Melbourne, students are forced to take up unpaid internships and sometimes feel demotivated and discouraged during the course of the internship. Even if it seems like applying for Melbourne’s paid internships gives fruitless results, here are the biggest reasons why you should never, ever, take up unpaid internships!
Taking you for granted: Companies which offer an unpaid internship, showoff the experience they are offering to you. However, when you actually step in your role as an unpaid intern, you would actually be doing menial jobs which gives you no work-related or educational experience. If the company is not paying you, they are taking you for granted and expect you to work for anything and everything that would never make nay complete sense to you. However when a company pays you for their internship, then you would be doing the exact work you were called for, and there is a learning process in that, which could impact your professional life as well. For example, getting into the NAB internship in Melbourne, means they have already accepted you as a candidate for becoming their future employee, all that’s left is finding a role that fits you. They definitely do not take their interns for granted.
Never an option for school credit: School Credits require you to pay a certain amount, as it is a class you need to attend and participate. An unpaid internship can never be a substitute for school credit. If you opt for that, then you would be paying for the work you are doing for another company. So not only do you not get paid, but you have to work tirelessly, and then pay the company for the work they gave you to get your school credit. Some schools and universities offer internships options which are far better than the unpaid internships that come with a measly school credit in exchange. Especially if your expertise is in high demand and has a greater impact on people, for example, taking on electrical engineer internships, there are many safety concerns, and up-skilling time spent on company-specific equipment to be addressed and compensated for. Do not fall prey to these.
Know your worth, you deserve more: As students are yet to apply for jobs and lack the experience of a paid professional, many students do not realise their worth and what they deserve to be paid for the work they do. So many companies offer unpaid internships and utilise the potential of students without paying them and exploit their insecurities as a student much that they feel that they have wasted their precious time. Only when the company pays, they take the effort to give you quality work to perform and give you the learning experience and paid motivation that you need to be invested in your work. So make sure you understand and realise your potential before you decide to go for an internship and say no to unpaid internships.
Your personal projects give you a better experience than an unpaid internship: If you do not find the right internship that pays you, then plan on working on your own project. This personal project would give you a better experience than an unpaid one because you are planning on the project and time to work on it. If you plan well and complete the project, you would be able to share the experience working with your class. You also have an option to sell this project to someone for real money and feel satisfied with the time and efforts spent on it.
There are so opportunities in this world, don’t stop exploring: Many students opt to work for an unpaid internship, the reason being they are too scared or feel insecure that they would land an internship in the future. They are scared to explore and face Nos. However, if students try and explore a bit, there are so many genuine companies who are ready to pay students for what they work. Look for an internship that not just makes look good on internships but also the ones that make you feel good and satisfied with it.