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
