"So many are afraid to speak up for themselves to just earn minimum wage in
fear
of being on some "blacklist" in the wildlife biology community. I'm not one
of those people."
This took real courage. Because I know from past contact with other students
that the intimidation is real--especially in this age when "investigations"
are facilitated by computers and the Internet. Even those in the academic
(or other) workforces lacking tenure or vestment are intimidated--afraid to
leave a trail of emails or tweets or publications that might not be perfect
that would sink their careers.
I would hire this man because of his courage alone. Unfortunately I can't
because I'm retired and on a very limited (and declining income--hell, I
need a job myself) income. But I would consider helping him start his own
consulting business, were he interested. Or anyone else. I made the mistake
of selling my consulting business when I retired, and the young Ph.D. who
"bought" it ran it into the ground in five years and ran out on his contract
for a job in academia, never returning the equipment I had loaned him,
including slides of decades of projects. So I'll give what I have left to
those interested in picking up the pieces.
In a mixture of grief and disgust,
WT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Gundy" <reptil...@yahoo.com>
To: <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, August 17, 2013 11:56 AM
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Careerships and Internships - scam or real thing?
Let me preface with the fact that this is my first time posting to the
listserv after having watched for a couple months, mostly scanning for jobs.
This is not the ideal first post but it is something I feel strongly about.
To answer the question in the subject line, I think "internships" can
provide excellent, relevant experience that future employers do find
impactful. Like many have said in much more detail, you just need to look
for the right factors in each internship.
On a related side topic, I have a pet peeve with the use of 'internship'
within the biology job sector, particularly the field jobs I seek. If you
look up definitions for internship they all tend to focus around a central
idea: one party receives on the job training to gain new skills in exchange
for work utilizing these new skills. Pay is never really mentioned in any
definitions. The misuse/abuse of the word internship is a phenomenon that is
not isolated to the biology community but it is prolific here. Internships
by social and technical definitions are meant to provide training in new
skills that an intern can then use in future positions. What goes on in our
job community is often something different. The typical internship notice
asks interns to already be proficient in the skills for the job required,
have a 4-year degree, advanced degree preferred and accept one of three
commonly available pay scales:
1) get paid a wage not considered legal by any state or federal labor law
that is in fact below the national poverty line and not considered a living
wage
2) volunteer = work for free
3) abuse the word volunteer/intern and really mean "pay to work"
In less than 1% (mental estimate) of the "internships" I have seen available
in the last 3 years has there been a stated opportunity to gain employment
thereafter. Internships that lead to jobs are the industry standard in every
other industry.
Here is the reality of what happens with so many of these internships. The
intern is worked hard and in hard physical and mental conditions, not paid a
living wage/not paid/paying to work, gains no new skills because experience
was required and does not have a strong job prospect with the employer
afterward.
Even for the paid positions pay scale #1 is the highest available option.
Entry-level positions are nearly monopolized by field techs/assistants
positions for academic research. Consider how much money is really offered
to field techs and assistants. Nobody without specialized skills would sit
down in an air conditioned room and work 40-70 hours a week for pay below
the poverty line. Why should people with education, specialized skills, and
prior work experience have to work outdoors in quite literally dangerous
environments for that kind of pay in the name of biology? One poster
mentioned the semantics employed. The words "volunteer" and "intern" are
thrown around without regard to their actual meaning. Normally I would not
argue about semantics because a situation is what it is despite a given
label but, these semantics do have a negative mental effect on young
graduates looking for work. I understand many arguments to condone this
financial mistreatment will jump to blaming funding sources. Most job
sources will be funded by grants in this field. It is common knowledge in
this community that grants are limited and very finite. However, I think
most of the subscribers are privy to the abuse that goes on in the academic
community with grant money. Grant winners pay themselves huge gross sums on
top of their salaries, penny pinch through the research as much as possible
and, right before the date comes up, splurge on as much equipment as
possible with whatever money is left over. I'm not saying this with any
absolutes that everybody does this but it's no secret that each of these
things happens to some degree or another with regularity. I know I have
heard of certain professors paying themselves up to $80,0000 from a single
grant. Here comes a bit of rhetorical satire: Imagine the day when grant
money is re-prioritized and hard-working, upcoming biologists with degrees
can go stomping through the forests, deserts, jungles, marshes, tundras or
oceans of the planet while evading the dangers of venomous animals, large
carnivores and severe weather conditions and while doing overall good for
the world so they can bring home an honest paycheck that amounts to minimum
wage. That's all I'm saying should happen.
I truly hope that last sentence was a little jarring and that it provokes
some thought in how we are currently mistreating each other. It's a shame
that in a community where people are almost never motivated by greed, rather
by passion, and we ourselves are taking advantage of this by paying honest,
hard-working people a wage that can be easily surpassed by asking "would you
like fries with that" for the same number of hours.
I have spent several hours reading and revising this message. I tried to
remove any opinions or assumptions, and I know I did not succeed entirely.
As another poster said earlier, this opinion that I share is a majority
opinion within the young biologist community that is never spoken of. So
many are afraid to speak up for themselves to just earn minimum wage in fear
of being on some "blacklist" in the wildlife biology community. I'm not one
of those people.
If you took the time to read this whole thing, thank you.
Robert Gundy
