Ever the optimist and always the liberal arts major, I am as of late obliged to come to terms with the fact that I will be working this summer sans pay.
No matter how fabulous the internship, the story is always the same: If it pertains directly to my interests, an internship is almost never able to sweeten the pot with the customary $9 an hour that constitutes the low-end but nevertheless acceptable wage for a summer job in Texas.
Alas, it seems that everything that interests me is under-funded or non-profit, leaving me a summertime pauper. I know I am not alone; many of my friends who do not call the Cox or Lyle schools home are also finding that paying jobs that are not in a restaurant or at the mall are few and far between. However, we the few, the proud, the bookish must not despair in the face of adversity. We must instead seize the day and take advantage of the perks that slave labor provides, the first among them being flexibility.
Almost everything about an unpaid internship is flexible, schedule being the most important. You see, when no one is paying you, you can set your own hours. Want to visit the Cape for the Fourth of July? By all means, take the week. Need to leave early for that dentist’s appointment? No problem. Working in such an environment allows underlings such as yours truly to avoid the horrible sensation of asking an intimidating boss for such time off. Believe me, it’s not easy.
Further, because employers of unpaid internships are already walking a fine line between slave driver and generous benefactor, they generally only require your presence for a maximum of 20 hours per week, leaving you plenty of time to enjoy the summer or, if you must, pursue that watering job. Indeed, perhaps the most dynamic summer-job duo would be an impressive yet unpaid internship combined with a lucrative yet un-resume-able job such as a nannying position; ask anyone who’s been there—babysitting is a great get-rich-quick scheme.
Perhaps I only point out the positives of working without pay because I am sadly subject to such treatment—a fair point. But there is one final and powerful point to my argument: working for free unequivocally proves that you really want the job. Sure, you could be making $20 an hour carting kids to ballet class or organizing files in an office, but you, proud fool, chose instead to archive old photos or counsel refugees or help in a museum.
After all, is not the pride of a good summer’s work worth more than a few dollars an hour?
Rebecca Quinn is a junior art history, Spanish and French triple major. She can be reached for comment at [email protected].
