A Problem with Internships
For years it has been common practice for companies to offer internships for people fresh out of school to get work experience. For some industries it worked well for the intern, for others, interns did not get the experience they were promised.
In April of 2014, Ontario, Canada took a bold step to shut down all internships to make sure no worker was taken advantage of in their internship. I like many others was part of this shut down. At the time I was upset, but saw this to be a good thing. Internships should only be for students, and that is what they have become. It has been set up so unpaid internships are for students that require it in order to graduate.
I thought to myself "great, with internships now restricted to students there will be more paid entry-level opportunities for people that have graduated." Well eight months, and over 400 job applications later, I have noticed a problem that bothers me. Companies are only offering internships, and those jobs that are classified as "entry-level" (according to the LinkedIn postings) are asking for upwards of three years of prior experience.
Is this a big issue? I say it is.
I and I'm sure many others who have finished school and looking for careers, have been placed in experience limbo. Essentially over qualified to be hired as interns and under qualified to land an entry-level job. This forces people to take jobs that would typically be taken by high school students. How many people with university degrees and college diplomas are making your Venti Latte, or helping you pick out a new pair of shoes?
A few ways to diminish an underutilized work force are:
1. Realize that if someone has more than 1 to 3 years of work experience, they have passed entry-level.
2. Rethink whether the task list you are thinking to post for an intern is more realistically the job for someone that has finished school.
3. Instead of defaulting to an internship, consider opening a part-time position for people to gain your mythical 3 year requirement for entry-level jobs.
It would be nice to see a real change in the working world, where free labour is the go to source of hiring. It can only be hoped that young professionals have the feeling of being desired in the working world.
Originally posted by Eric Westcott at www.onemansideas.com
Educator and Copywriter
4yHi Eric, I know it's been 4 years since you've written this article, but I have only just read it now :)) I have a question for you: how did you manage to escape the pit of "do you want cinnamon with your latte"? How/where were you able to finally break through the "3 years of experience required" wall? Hope you're well! Mary
Angular Web Developer | Full-Stack Expertise
6yThank you for sharing your idea. As a current student of a Web Dev in Humber College, ON, I'm concerned by your negative experience in jobsearch and being in a loop of under/over qualified person for an entry-level position. And I'm thinking of facing the same issue later in my career. Is it actually an issue with 3 years of experience? When I see such requirement (3 years of experience), I tend to think that employer is focusing not on coding experience itself, but in any relevant experience (communication, meeting deadlines, handling emails, working under pressure). I mean, by this 3-years experience, company is trying to convey, that they do not hire a recent graduate, but they need a person with a work experience.