I'm a Sr manufacturer engineer. I hire 2-3 interns every summer. We pay them $15-17 an hour. They are each assigned projects that need to be done but require minimal engineering experience. They require 4-6 hours a week of mentoring and training. The company gets minimal work output, but the interns get a huge amount hands-on experience.
We usually extend offers to 60-80% of the interns upon graduation.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Thank you.
I've never seen an intern ever perform at the level of a salaried employee. At best, they are productive at low level tasks and end up with a job offer. At worst, they are useless and still get experience in their resume.
by Anonymous1 year ago
100%, as doing internships during school from a long time ago to being an engineer who helps hires and trains/teaches interns now the experience you get is invaluable at least in that field. I will say from a hiring perspective for fresh out of college hires internships and portfolio projects mean more \[to me\] on a resume than your graduating GPA and university (since HR will pretty much filter super low GPAs already).
It might be different in other fields though.
But yeah also OP's idea of paying interns the same as an entry level is absurd. Interns are almost always net-negatives on the company and on the senior guys helping them but I enjoy it because I've never met an intern who wasn't super excited about learning the industry (I work in Satellite and space vehicle development) and it's cool seeing them get so jazzed up about it and even ask some questions you don't normally think of.
by Anonymous1 year ago
If they were a net negative they wouldnt hire them.
by Anonymous1 year ago
$15 an hour is laughable. Engineering departments always pay terrible wages. After I graduated I joined the plumbing union and got offered 170k. Started at like 45k with a 5 year pay progression. School was free.
by Anonymous1 year ago
170k base pay for a plumber? There's gotta be something you not mentioning
by Anonymous1 year ago
It's called lying. The median annual salary for all plumbers is $55,160. Or maybe they accidentally added a 1 to the start of this.
by Anonymous1 year ago
I build chemical plants as a pipefitter for the union. $93/hr package. Comes out to 170k after dues (including the benefits such as company paid medical, 100% company paid 401k, and pension). The plumbing union (UA) covers 4 trades.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Including all benefits.
That isn't how you calculate income.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Unpaid internship needs to go. Paid internship ( hourly rate at least minimum wage) should be expanded vastly to help people get some experience.
by Anonymous1 year ago
This is already how it works for engineers. It works pretty well. Interns are usually paid well ($16-$30 an hour) and they learn a lot.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Business as well. Only unpaid internships I have heard of are in radio. I could see it in design or fashion as well. Interns tend to get paid for the value they deliver. If you are getting lunches and doing menial tasks don't expect to get paid. If you are doing good work that other people don't have time for you will get paid well.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Some earn far more. I know some trading firms pay 120$ per hour to interns, and yes you read that correctly. You can potentially make about 60k just doing a summer internship. But of course those internships are definitely harder to get.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Oh also the unpaid internships required by colleges in order to graduate. And the restriction that students cannot use a paid internship as their "required internship." I had to do two different internships (personal and for college work) while maintaining another part time job and my last semester of college classes smh.
by Anonymous1 year ago
You agreed to those terms lmao
by Anonymous1 year ago
? I was aware of that. I'm just saying that colleges should allow paid internships to be accepted as an internship to graduate from college.
by Anonymous1 year ago
No. Entry level jobs need to be expanded vastly.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Lol while interns need to be paid more, no way should they be paid as much as an entry level person in the industry. That's insane.
Think about the bigger picture - you're paying a student who usually has no / minimal experience the same as someone who has finished their schooling / typically already has experience under their belt.
Why would a entry level employee stay at a company that doesn't value their previous experiences? Moreover, the goal of an internship is to provide students experience + create a talent pipeline into the organization. Eliminating a pay bump for interns -> entry level removes some motivation for an intern to start with the company.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Recently interned in corporate tax…no way in hell did I deserve the same salary as entry level associates. Also, my internship made my path to securing a FT job 10x easier
by Anonymous1 year ago
I wouldn't say 35 per hour is underpaid, that's how much I made in internships for engineering. Also they really aren't supposed to be jobs it's kinda just giving you experience for other jobs with a small chance of them hiring you if they like you enough and generally if they hire you fully then you get paid more as you can negotiate your salary a bit.
by Anonymous1 year ago
35 an hour is more than the majority of Americans make. I'll take that any day.
by Anonymous1 year ago
No kidding. I made about that until reaching senior levels. Still not *that much* more. It's a pretty good wage.
by Anonymous1 year ago
You're getting 35 for an engineering internship? Bruh I need to move
by Anonymous1 year ago
Jesus you got 35 an hour interning as an engineer? That's what I'm getting right now as a liscensed professional engineer
by Anonymous1 year ago
As a current engineering intern, I should absolutely not be paid the same as an entry level employee. I'm not ready for the kind of responsibility that goes along with that pay. But should I be paid more than minimum wage? A living wage, even? Of course. And I am, thankfully. There's a happy middle ground here that you're completely blowing past lol. A student who has not even complemented their degree program should not be paid the same as an entry level employee, since they don't have the same qualifications, knowledge, and experience.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Idk about America, but in Australia, internships have to be paid if the intern is doing actual work.
If the internship is purely observational and they're just taking notes on how to perform once they get a real job, to go with your example, an accounting internship, if they just sit next to an accountant and watch them do someone's taxes or something, and also if they're not legally required to go if they can't/don't want to, they don't have to be paid.
But it's a totally different story if they ARE doing actual work, say they're putting someone's income from the five jobs they've had this year through Excel, then yes they will need to be paid in line with the award under which they are doing actual work for. And given that just about every industry has its own award, they probably will be paid the same as an entry-level accountant. That would be my guess anyway.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Internships are about getting professional experience and getting your foot through the door. If they're time limited and value added, I feel that it's OK that they're slightly underpaid.
Unpaid internships are deeply problematic. They have gotten better and there are fewer of them, except in media and the arts. Unpaid internships typically attract people who can afford to not get paid for extended periods of time (e.g. people with rich parents). This means certain industries are essentially closed to large portions of the population.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Only well off kids can afford to do them. It's just another thing that disadvantages kids with poor parents.
by Anonymous1 year ago
me, an intern reading this
by Anonymous1 year ago
Unpaid internships have to go. Why? Because most college students need money.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Strongly disagree. For the most part, interns are a net negative during their summer. They are paid for their potential. I agree unpaid internships are terrible though.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Unpaid is crap.
by Anonymous1 year ago
*Un(der)paid and exploitative internships need to die
by Anonymous1 year ago
My sister's internship is over $100K. She's in visual design.
by Anonymous1 year ago
I interned for free for a fortune 500 company... and then they hired me for $100hr and flew me to India. Sometimes it does pay off.
by Anonymous1 year ago
*Me laughing with my $30/hr software engineering internship*
by Anonymous1 year ago
By the same logic, dating should also just die. We should marry people straight off of Tinder, then just divorce if it doesn't work out.
by Anonymous1 year ago
You are living in the US, right?
by Anonymous1 year ago
Is it used anywhere but America?
by Anonymous1 year ago
Unpaid internships need to go. _Paid_ internships... Are fairly priced. Pay is less, but so are the standards in my experience.
by Anonymous1 year ago
*Unpaid* internships need to go. At a minimum they should make minimum wage. Minimum. They don't need to get paid a full amount since they have a lack of experience but I completely agree that unpaid is simply exploiting desperate kids for free labor. They need some type of compensation.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Supporting unpaid labor *ever* is a sign to me that the person I'm talking to is evil. Like straight up, no hyperbole.
by Anonymous1 year ago
If you want to be paid the same as a professional, you have to go through the same hiring process as one. Do you have 3 years experience in the field?
by Anonymous1 year ago
You know that in some countries they just have entry level jobs right? Like you aren't required to volunteer for the honor of eventually working
by Anonymous1 year ago
Entry level is just better paid "intern" for those with a degree already for their credential and full commitment. Internship is for students that have no previous experience and unable prove their qualifications with a degree. The world doesn't revolve around you, you have to prove yourself either with a degree or work experience to get better pay.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Do you know what interns do? Basically nothing valuable. And someone getting paid a full salary has to babysit them.
by Anonymous1 year ago
When you're young I think internships can be great, especially as a young student, and even more especially if there is something guarenteed from completing the internship. In the ones I've taken it is basically paid training which has been quite nice.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Interning helps people gain experience they can put on a resume to help find a job when they enter the job market. Companies benefit by increasing output slightly without increasing costs very much. It's a win-win in most circumstances
by Anonymous1 year ago
It's amazing they've tricked people in to seeing this as a win/win. The employer gets free labor. The intern... gets experience that they used to just get in an entry level job but now all the employers require it to be achieved through internships.
by Anonymous1 year ago
In no world is an intern equal to an entry level employee
by Anonymous1 year ago
> If you intern for this job you should be paid at the same exact rate as a first year accountant
Why should someone who hasn't completed their education in accounting be paid the same as someone that has?
> about half of internships are unpaid and the other half are very underpaid
Then take the situation for what it is: A giant red flag that the industry you're pursuing is saturated and you should set your sights elsewhere. If companies don't even have to pay people, that's indicative of a massive oversupply of labor. And when there's a huge supply of labor, wages go down and employers can treat people poorly because if you don't like it, they'll just replace you.
Personally, I worked a few internships in college - all paid. They were incredibly important in setting myself up for a full-time career. It's how I found out which company I wanted to work for. It's how you beat the problem of "entry level jobs requiring experience". I effectively had a year's worth of experience when I graduated because I had been interning.
Definitely wouldn't support getting rid of internships wholesale just because people look at an industry with unpaid internships and think, "yep, that's where I want to go work".
by Anonymous1 year ago
If done correctly, I think internships are possibly much better than a college degree depending on the industry. For business I would absolutely say yes. A blended mic of work and some course material. Of course it wouldn't work across the board but for a lot of industries it would. Also, anyone in their 20's until to late 20's doesn't deserve huge wages unless they make them themselves. You are not as experienced as you think.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Ah yes the unpopular opinion of "unpaid internships are a bad and immoral practice", really pushing the boat out with his one my god
by Anonymous1 year ago
Unpaid internships shouldn't exist, but an intern isn't even close to being a first year full time employee. Managing and teaching interns is straight up more work than just doing the work yourself, so while they're "cheap", they end up costing the company more.
Interns **should** be paid less because they do way less work.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Interns are worthless. If you want to hire them and pay them, go ahead genius!
by Anonymous1 year ago
If you get paid the same as someone that performs the job, why would they ever not just hire someone that can do it full time? It depends on a lot on whether the internship is actually run like an internship or as unpaid entry level labor. An internship is about learning and experiencing all the different roles, but often you're just doing errands for almost nothing.
by Anonymous1 year ago
"Badabam ba badaaah"
by Anonymous1 year ago
My unpaid internship was the best experience I have ever had and it set up my future for the better.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Internships are a great part of education. They aren't really meant to replace workers. Frankly, having an intern can be more work for the manager / person stuck training that intern.
by Anonymous1 year ago
The problem is that the government doesn't regulate internships. Even if there were laws, employers would violate them with impunity.
by Anonymous1 year ago
If you're an unpaid intern you're a sucker or in a fake degree.
by Anonymous1 year ago
It's also a really good way for a college student to get experience before trying to get a intro job with nothing on their resume (me). - Accounting btw
by Anonymous1 year ago
My internship led me to a full time job my senior year of college. Gave me one year of work experience before even graduating and put me one year ahead of my peers. It's a grind but 10000% worth it.
by Anonymous1 year ago
unpaid internships should be illegal
by Anonymous1 year ago
It also only takes 2-6 weeks to start getting the hang of things, and becoming autonomous in your role. Once you're shown what you're responsible for, that's pretty much it. Unpaid internships shouldn't exist. And if they absolutely must exist, they shouldn't go on any longer than 2-4 weeks to see if the potential hire is fit for the role.
by Anonymous1 year ago
I have to tell you something, interns don't bring much to the table. You think you do, but it is always a struggle to find something you can do in a short amount of time with your limited skills.
by Anonymous1 year ago
I didn't know anything about the business when I took my internship. I was still offered $20 an hour. Now I make much, much more than that. Best decision I ever made.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Unpaid internship needs to die
by Anonymous1 year ago
I have a friend that did her internship at a company that only hires students/interns because they can pay little to nothing. She's about to grqduate from her degree and they already told her that she is no longer needed, even though her co-workers said she did a great job and would speak good thing about her if she wants references.
I also had a few places that reached out to me saying that I could intern at their company with a condition that I PAY THEM. The audacity!!!
The way I see it is that internship MUST be paid job. You have someone to do the job, it doesn't matter if they are experienced or not, they still contribute their time, their labour, and they should be compensated fairly for it.
by Anonymous1 year ago
lol it's just old age "Apprenticeship" for a Civilized and Corporate society.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Disagree. Interns never have the same responsibility nor the requirments as a real job. Them getting not paid equally makes total sense.
by Anonymous1 year ago
I'm an engineering student, so literally every internship available to me is paid. Its not quite on the level of a starting engineer, but the hourly is better than a ton of actual jobs. Plus, the internships usually get you an offer once you complete school.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Hard disagree. I've learned more in a 3 months internship than in the 3 years of university before that. Yes, the salary sucked, but the lack of salary sucked in university too.
I agree free internships need to die, though.
by Anonymous1 year ago
Unpaid internships should not be allowed. I do think it's fair to allows them to receive a reduced rate.
Internships are a great way for a young worker to get real world experience without the pressures of being a full-time employee. In general interns need a lot of extra training and mentorship and they're more of a convenience than a major contributor.
I feel like the big draw for those seeking an internship is to get real experience prior to completing school and to hopefully make connections to help them land a job upon graduating.
by Anonymous1 year ago
You generally don't require an intern to be as good at the job as someone you hire as a full timers. So, expectation should be much lower. I do agree though that internships should at least pay some money and not be unpaid.
by Anonymous1 year ago
What you're describing is a job. And if interns want that, they will have to wait until they are qualified.
by Anonymous1 year ago
To be clear, I hope you're not intending this to applied to the medical field.
by Anonymous1 year ago
If only employers benefitted students wouldnt take internship positions.
by Anonymous1 year ago
No one is forcing people to enter into these situations it will not end until people start saying no
by Anonymous1 year ago
Internships are fine. Your problem is with the unpaid part, and I agree.
My company just hired 19 interns for the summer at a reasonable hourly pay. It's fantastic experience for a short term gig between school semesters.
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