unpaid internship?

[imported_vr6]

What is the general consensus on unpaid internships?

I am having trouble finding a internship. I am a Junior going for a BS is IS. I have a pretty good gpa(3.9), academic experience in a few programming languages, Bascally complete all the IS coursework other then the general requirements, but after sumbitting around 10 resumes in the past 3 weeks, i have not even gotten one phone call.

should i start applying for unpaid internship? i don't want to come across as desperate when farther down the road a potential employer ask me what i made in the pass, i told them it was all volunteer work....

 

[beer]

Are you going through company's web sites or a college career center of sorts?

 

[imported_vr6]

going throught the schools shriver center, a internship program.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Well, an intership is real-world work for college/school credit. You aren't supposed to get paid. If a place is offering pay that's just a "bonus" if you will. If you can support yourself during the internship I'd take it. Especially if it's some place you'd like to work it. I started out as an intern at my current job and was hired when it was over. It's an employer's market and any foot in the door, paid or not, could lead to being hired on full time. And at the very least you should be able to pick up some contacts and real world experience.


Lethal

 

[DougK62]

Take the best opportunity. Forget about the money at this stage.

 

[axelfox]

Networking baby.

 

[Feldenak]

If I could afford to take an unpaid internship I would. Don't ignore some of the ones available just because they don't pay their interns.

 

[CrazyDe1]

Unpaid internship is better than no internship.

Also, make sure there's at least an opportunity for hire and that you're at least doing somethign worthwhile.

 

[Lager]

Does strip club offer internship? I want to know what goes on in the VIP room.

 

[ultimatebob]

Bah. Companies that don't pay for an internship are ripping you off. If you're doing work for them, you should get rewarded with more than just a good refrence for doing it.

Now, if someone like ID Software offered me an internship, I might think differently. Odds are that these companies are just looking for free labor to do their boring stuff and paperwork.

 

[y00ycdz]

I want an internship or co-op badly, ... I interviewed for McNeil last week and have an interview for GE on friday, hopefully one of these will turn out to be good news in a few weeks ... I'm doing electrical engineering by the way and an unpaid internship would still interest me because of the experience you gain. It can be costly to relocate if you need to without compensation, but if you can do it, somehow, just do it, getting a job w/ internship or co-op on your resume is gold!

 

[ggavinmoss]

Well definitely don't rely only on your college career center -- do some research on your own and start knocking on some doors (not literally, but e-mail and call places you want to intern at).

-geoff

 

[fs5]

Originally posted by: CrazyDe1
Unpaid internship is better than no internship.

Also, make sure there's at least an opportunity for hire and that you're at least doing somethign worthwhile.

 

[rh71]

Bottom line - do as many internships as possible, paid or not. They help immensely during real-job interviews, as they provide you a ton of things to reflect on. That's the key.

I did 3 unpaid internships while in school. Only 1 was paid ($10/hr for a large bank, not bad). I can't say enough for related job experience while in school.

 

[JEDI]

it's all about networking. go for the unpaid over any McJob. you have better chances of getting a job when u graduate.

remember, in today's climate, it's not what you know (unless you have a CCIE or have a Top Secret clearance), but who you know.

when u work at your unpaid internship, network OUTSIDE of your dept. know as many people as possible, especially managers. go out to happy hour with your dept. odds are other people in the company will be there. people in your dept can introduce u to their friends in other depts.

recommendations from people already working in the company you're applying for goes a looooooong way.

good luck.

 

[imported_vr6]

guess i'll give it a try, better then not workin at alli guess.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
Bah. Companies that don't pay for an internship are ripping you off. If you're doing work for them, you should get rewarded with more than just a good refrence for doing it.

Not really, for many positions a company doesn't really make anything off of your "free" work since they have to train and supervise you, and you're still a n00b not an experienced worker.

For shorter programming / development internships a company is lucky to break even with the "free" work.

At least for programming / development, many internships aren't really intended to get work out of you, they're to give something back to the community, for PR, and to scope you out as a potential hire. Hiring experienced contract workers would almost always make more economic sense than using interns for a project if the project itself was the only goal.

 

[datalink7]

Originally posted by: Kwan1
I have a pretty good gpa(3.9),

Pretty good? You're one of those people who go "My SAT score of 1550 is ok, I guess" aren't you?