Internships - are they worth it?

I was watching a feature on BBC News this morning about the exploitation of students by using them as interns. It made me consider my own position as a graduate and how my experience has helped me to progress. I went to university as a mature student. I was 26, which is only 8 years older than most of the other students in my year, but I had a house and mortgage, a husband, and nearly a decade of work experience over pretty much every one of my peers.

http://www.internaware.org/ Intern Aware are a campaign group who want all interns to be paid the minimum wage for the work that they do. I think this is a noble idea, but whether it would work in practice is debatable. After all, there are enough unemployed people at the moment who could do what the interns do with no support, and will bring their own experience to the role. This would mean the people with experience get more experience, and those with no experience get left even further behind. The only way in to any company would be to replace someone who is retiring, and the government are even stopping the 60-somethings from jumping ship too early.

The world of work is changing all the time. When I started work at the age of 15 (in 1992 whilst still at school) and before the introduction of the minimum wage, I was paid a pittance but it kept me busy, gave me some spending money and, more importantly, meant that I had solid work experience before I'd even left school. This experience enabled me to gain an apprenticeship after I'd finished my A-Levels. Again, it was poorly paid but it provided training and experience and I soon moved on up, earning good money for a few years. Each step on the ladder helped me move up to the next one. Internships are a relatively new concept to the UK, but they are simply another step on the ladder. Yes, they may be exploitative, but what's the alternative? No-one wants to be the one who's got all the qualifications and no experience. It's a labour-buyers' market at the moment, and all experience is good experience.

At the moment, I am unable to commit to a full-time graduate position for personal reasons, which is probably just as well considering the tough competition among graduates for the few jobs there are available. I am very jealous of those foot-loose graduates with no mortgage and no children who can afford not to earn a wage for a short while. My advice to you is to get all the work experience while you are in a position to do so. This position of no job and no other commitments might not seem so advantageous to you, but trust me, there is plenty of time left. If you get the chance to do an internship in the meantime, grasp it with both hands, and enjoy it and learn from it. Onwards and upwards.