Mentorship>Apprenticeship>Internship

Interns are crucial to any organization, but they aren't always treated as such. We have all been there at some point in our lives, and we know how hard it can be to be inexperienced and incapable.?

Internships are a way for companies to invest in the future workforce, connect with surrounding schools, help the industries that helped them, and provide mentorship opportunities that drive purposeful work.

People working in internship roles often bring new passion, creativity, and fresh perspective to the work they are doing. If only we, as organizations, have the ears to hear.

Mentoring people that are participating in an internship is essential to providing a meaningful experience. With someone close by to provide guidance, they gain insight into the work, the people, and the organization. As mentors, we can also help guide aspiring professionals towards their next steps in connecting with the work they are looking to do.

Meaningful and successful internship experiences can and do exist. The organizations that accomplish this, work to ensure interns feel like they are valued members of the organization.

This starts with treating interns as equals instead of inferiors. Giving equal opportunities to interns includes paying them a fair wage, giving them meaningful work, and honoring their time the same as everyone else.

According to the Harvard Business Review, “43% of internships by for-profit companies are unpaid.” The article also states that unpaid internships only emphasize the class and socioeconomic divide as paid internships typically go to white, upper-class men with parents who went to college, according to a study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Experience certainly matters, but ultimately unpaid internships are still exploitative, unfair, unethical, and an invitation to a messy situation.

In medieval times, apprentices lived with their bosses but received no pay; instead, they paid their bosses to teach them their respective trades. By pre-World War I, the term “intern” surfaced in the medical field as a term for a doctor with a medical degree but no license according to?Business Insider.

That said, the term is rooted in inequity, and unpaid internships only further re-emphasize that point.

However, one solution that alleviates some of the problems associated with unpaid internships is micro internships, which are project-based, paid experiences that are for a predetermined time. Micro internships are often a more accessible option for college students.?

Additionally, many people are opting for college alternatives that allow them to step into the workforce with already practical and specific skill sets.

There’s a stigma surrounding people who don’t go to traditional colleges. Often this is perpetuated by the narrative that going to a four-year college is the only option for success. After the?passage of the GI Bill in 1944, all government levels promoted college as an option for World War II veterans, which led to more people being college-educated.

With younger generations, there’s been an increase in the number of people opting for trade schools and joining the workforce right away over going to college.?

It makes sense, given that student debt is at?$1.75 trillion, and college tuition rises every year.

According to a survey from the ECMC Group, the number of high school students considering a four-year college dropped from?71 percent to 48 percent?since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Trade schools are significantly cheaper and require less than four years to earn a degree. According to?Forbes, the average tuition cost for trade schools to around $10,740, and can cost as low as $5,000. Better yet, the length of time it takes to learn a trade and go into an established profession takes a year and a half to two years compared to a traditional four-year degree. Plus, jobs in the trades are always in demand and pay more than entry-level jobs for recent college graduates.

Structuring internships more like trade schools, and modeling the experience after apprenticeships could be the key to attracting new talent, bridging the generational gap, and forming a skilled workforce.?

However, we need to make sure in following an apprenticeship model that we are also prepared to provide mentorship in tandem.?

We need to shift our way of thinking about internships from gaining cheap labor to providing meaningful, equity-based, skill-building experiences. To do so requires dismantling old frameworks and designing internships differently.?

Treating internships like apprenticeships and mentoring internship participants shows these individuals that they are valued and equally capable of contributing in meaningful ways. And after all, isn’t that what we all want? To feel like we are contributing to work that matters?

What was your first work experience like? How did that experience shape you? How would you design internships differently? We would love to know!?