In response to the city's call for businesses to hire teens this summer, I had suggested hiring unpaid interns. Someone had contacted me offlist, questioning the value of an unpaid job. Since then I have found out more about internships and would like to elaborate.
An unpaid intern is not totally out in the cold. If the school has an internship program, the student will get class credits and in some cases an hourly wage paid by the school. If the school doesn't have such a program, the intern doesn't get a paycheck but perks are still possible. At my workplace in particular, interns get free meals and free access to corporate health faciilties. Also, an internship might only involve two days a week, leaving the student time to pursue paying jobs. Even more importantly, though, the intern gets a foot in the door to the "old boy" or "old girl" network. We all have friends who we inform about job openings before jobs are available. If a young person is privy to that information, and logs actual work experience at a big-name company on his or her resume, that experience will make the intern stand out among a crowded field of job candidates. I still remember the first employer who took a chance on me, and said I was hired because mine was the only letter without spelling errors. We all have the ability to give a young person that step up. Susan Maricle formerly of Folwell Bruno MN __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM). http://calendar.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
