AiB Panel: Arts Labor & Workers’ Rights in Today’s Job Market

The excuse that a firm "doesn't have the money" rings hollow: in the scheme of things, internships are never particularly expensive, and the question is simply whether they are valued enough to make it into the budgetn

Consider the widespread use of interns to manage web content and social media initiatives. Despite the perceived generational fit, it delays the hour when full-time employees have to learn the new tools of their trade, and puts people who know and care least about a company's brand on the front lines of communicating it.

I've heard this many times from former interns: a moment comes when the scales fall from your eyes. It might be nothing more than a boss's turn of phrase or a shift in tone. You realize that you've been had--that you're cheap labor and nothing more, a schnook, a kid entitled to favors but not rights.

Through high school and college, everything is made to seem possible, and internships extend the fantasy, until it comes time to land a stable, comfortable, decently paid job.

Intern Nation by Ross Perlin - Book Review