The first three months at my current internship at the National Institutes of Health, I was useless. I couldn’t pipette or open a bottle with my left hand, and I didn’t even know how to do serial dilutions. I contaminated solutions, wasted valuable tissue and on one occasion almost broke a microscope lens worth more than $8,000. In all fairness, I probably ended up detracting from my workplace with all of the time and effort people spent fixing my screwups.
If I was to give an honest evaluation of myself during those first few months, I would without a doubt say that I didn’t deserve to be paid based on the work I had done. Money is usually given in exchange for quality work being produced, and by all measurable standards, I sucked. This is probably true for most entry-level internships in which applicants have little to no experience in the field coming in. There is a learning curve to everything, and until someone stops sucking at their job, they don’t deserve to be paid.
BUT WAIT. Does this mean corporations and government agencies and nonprofits now have an excuse not to pay their interns, straight from the mouth of an entitled Generation Y millennial? Absolutely not. Just because interns don’t deserve to be paid, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be. By making internships unpaid, employers are inherently disadvantaging poor applicants.
Take Joe and Jack, for example. Joe and Jack are applying for the same internship in San Francisco. They have the same GPA and the same resume, and they are both offered the position, which is unpaid. The only difference is, Joe comes from a family who can’t afford to support his travel and living expenses to go to across the country for the internship, but Jack’s family can. Or maybe Joe’s family can cover his living and travel expenses, but Joe can’t afford to take an unpaid job in the summer because he has to pay for his college tuition in
the fall.
In today’s world, internships and connections make up the currency in the job market much more than GPAs and test scores. Even though Jack and Joe have the same qualifications and were provided the same job opportunity, the fact that the internship is unpaid inherently disadvantages Joe because of his financial situation and puts him at even more of a disadvantage for future jobs because of the missed opportunity. If the internship was paid, Joe could use the money to cover his living and travel expenses or his college tuition, leveling the playing field.
This isn’t about entitlement. It’s not about the millennial generation whining or the “everyone gets a trophy” mentality we were raised with. It’s about equality. By making internships paid, employers allow all applicants to have the same opportunity to accept the internship, regardless of financial status.
After four years at the NIH and a lot of mistakes, I don’t suck (as much) anymore. Interns are worth the investment. But the next time you hire an intern, make sure you’re investing in a future in which everyone has an equal chance.
Isobel Hawes is a sophomore biology and English major. She can be reached at ihawesdbk@gmail.com.
