Internships

Do the internship for free with set guidelines so they don't take advantage of her. Doing work/internship for -0- dollars may not make a lot of sense right now but it will pay off later.

And they may like her work so much that they just might decide TO pay her.

Tell her to go for it....put the companies in order as to whom she'd like to work for, and then revisit the companies with her offer. Times are tuff out there but there's not to many companies who will turn down this type of offer.

Your daughter worth/education is not what's in question here. This is about her employment. And if she decides to do this.... have her go for it and prove that she's the best! And do it with a smile.

Donna in WA

Frank -

When my son was in college, he was selected to do an internship and both of them that he did was a non-paying one. There was no offer of money to begin with. The good news was that the second internship that he did, turned into a full-time paying position.

Good luck to your daughter.

Frank,

Has she looked at an internship with Disney? They have a wide variety of interships. My daughter did 2 in the Wild Animal Kingdom (used her communications degree and her love of environmental science). Here is a link--

Frank Reid wrote:

Something that would concern me about an unpaid internship is that the company might think "hey, let's take her on as an unpaid intern, and we can lay off one more person." Even if a position did come open, they might continue using your daughter as unpaid labor rather than hiring someone for the work (your daughter or someone else). Can her job at the quilt store be made into an internship?

Brian Christiansen

You can't live on what-ifs or maybe's. That just appears to others that one is not serious looking for whatever is needed in their life. Sorry, but the maybe's and what if's sounds like an excuse not to even try.

People get fired and hired all the time. How many do you blame on yourself? You can't control what a COE/Owner will do. This line of thinking will get you nowhere.

But hey, if your daughter is that good that you're thinking someone else might lose their job because of her employment...well, what are you waiting for?! If your daughter, from the start, plans on working the entire internship for zero dollars, she won't be disappointed when that's exactly what happens; anything else would be icing. During the internship is her time to shine and show the company what she can do as part of their team. What a great resume she could build and the recommendations from people in superior positions! That, is what she should be working for as down the line, that's whats going to get her into other door's.

None of us here can control the world let alone what a company may or may not do. Find the companies she would like to work for and go for it. They can only say no. But one never even knows that unless they try.

Been there done that....just do it!

Donna in WA

I thought internships were usually unpaid anyway. The trick with that is that they are also usually (to my understanding) of a limited duration (like the length of a semester), with limited hours, all of which is stated up front, and possibly drawn up into a contract. This hypothetical seems unlikely in that case.

//Mary/MGL

I'm sorry - I think that in today's econony, offering to give a company free labor not only means that someone might be laid off or someone might not be hired , infact, I think it is very likely in today's economy, even if the company does not conciously think something like "we are taking on an unpaid intern, so we can lay off someone else". As far as I am concerned, how it very likely to affect someone else, is a real consideration.

Ceasing the search at for-profit companies, because they have no paid positions (or even unpaid), does not mean "giving up" either, or that the only choice is to offer them free labor, it just means she has to look elsewhere. I have no idea the exact requirements of the internship. Can her job at the LQS (I assume it is an LQS) be made into an internship? Can she volunteer with the cash-strapped government in a position that can be made into an internship? Can she volunteer with a charitable organization, such as:

I thought internships were usually unpaid anyway. The trick with that is that they are also usually (to my understanding) of a limited duration (like the length of a semester), with limited hours, all of which is stated up front, and possibly drawn up into a contract. This hypothetical seems unlikely in that case.

I think that it is more than hypothetical that in today's economy that someone might be laid off, but if indeed the internships are unpaid anyway and the companies are not even providing them in that case, she has to start looking elsewhere, such as volunteer organizations, etc.

Brian Christiansen

I don't know of any specific opportunities unfortunately, but after a little bit of googling, I found this site:

Howdy!

Frank, is your daughter going to this Career Day in Dallas? Thinking about it? Going to similar events? Looks like a networking opportunity to get in touch w/ other parts of the textile world. Does the American Quilt Study Group in Lincoln offer anything along this line? Internship, referral, suggestions, hope? What are the parameters of her internship program? What areas of study/work (internship) will qualify as part of her degree requirement? Persistence, talking to real people, checking back w/ the rejection letter-writers, can offer information on other leads to follow. If she's coming to Dallas & wants a quilt contact, I'm not far away. This FGI program looks interesting, even to a professional handquilter who is not looking for an internship, job or degree. ;-)

Good luck! And to your daughter, as well.

R/Sandy

This 'internship' element astounds me. We have a granddaughter who is almost graduated from the university but FIRST she must 'practice' teach. For the privilege (?), she was expected to 'pay' the school where she would do her practicing. Really? When we know that they also hire substitute teachers with no qualifications at all. GRRR. And teachers cannot be released because none of their students pass. Our system is in a real mess. Polly

There was a teacher doing her in class stint in my dd's 5th grade class years ago. There happened to be an earthquake while she was 'teaching' in the portable classroom. It seems she went kind of nuts, cursing and sort of scrambled. She actually failed, thankfully. She was awful. I expect more of your grand daughter Polly, lots more. : )

Both the kid here did internships. Both got paid. DD found hers through the college. She turned that internship into a real job that has worked out pretty well for her. Because she was familiar with the situation she was able to go in and make some fairly big demands that were met. She still says she had no back up plan if they didn't hire her but since she lived at home she could be pretty flexible about a job hunt. Things were different a few years ago though.

Does the degree issuing school give any help with this stuff? I know not much about this stuff but seems if they offer a degree they should be some support? Taria

It is status quo. They have been operating like this for years. Some companies offer interns with specific qualifications a stipend. Some organizations offer interns in specific fields a stipend. In courses where an internship is required though you will be lucky if they don't make you pay for the privilege of working for them, and run your legs to stumps with all they heap on to boot.

I doubt that it will affect anybody's job. Companies have been taking advantage of students like this for a while now. They are very familiar with all the ins and outs of getting free labor via internships and such things. We have had better than 10% unemployment in my area for more than two decades, I have seen a lot of the ways that companies get free labor. I have even been taken advantage of in such ways.

Making an internship where none exists is something that students have been doing since they became required in certain fields. I don't think there are many government or non-profit opportunities in fashion or fabric design. Her best bet along those lines would probably be an ethnic or folklore center, or a fashion or textile museum. Still iffy but depending on her major it might be doable.

You know, alt.gothic has a big do every year, and part of that do is a fashion show. If Frank would like I can dig out the names of the participating designers in the past and send them along. There might be one or two that are established enough as houses to take on an intern. In fact, searching the fashion groups in general might be an idea. An internship with a small or niche house might well be more educational than with a large one. Less gofer stuff and more involvement in the actual work perhaps.

NightMist

When I did my computer science internship in 1983, I was not paid; in fact I paid tuition for the credits I received. I was married with kids, so was limited geographically in my search for an internship; otherwise, I could have probably had a paying one. In my experience, student teachers are not paid -- and that is pretty much the same thing.

Julia >> You can't live on what-ifs or maybe's. That just appears to others that >> one

My son did an internship in risk management at a resort, he didn't get paid, it lasted a semester @ 40 hr/wk, and he got to pay full tuition to Penn State for arranging it!

Luckily it was near home so he didn't have to pay room and board too. Bonnie, in Middletown, VA

This is totally out of the box, but what about spending a little time at a professional dance company (a classical ballet costume shop would be a really great place) or theater company as an internship? While the construction methods might sometimes be different, there is still a need for design and ingenuity. It could give some experience with working under pressure and with a wide variety of fabrics...and people. My DD's ballet company (where I'm now the head seamstress...and it took me 7 years to get there) is in process of making all new tutus for Nutcracker, and we decided we wanted more community involvement, so we offered two internships to the local technical college's fashion industry class. In exchange, they receive free tickets to shows, and a wider experience base. It is VERY difficult to get into the fashion world, and any foot in the door is one to grab! Just my two cents.

And may I add, that this internship isn't taking jobs away from anyone, because it's a special project, but likely to be an ongoing one now that we have set up a relationship with the technical school.

My students do one or two internships in the course of their program. They pay tuition for those opportunites and are rarely paid (and when there are problems with a placement, it is almost always with a paid one).

It is part of my job to assist the students in securing an appropriate placement. Hopefully, Frank's daughter has a similar faculty resource offering guidance and suggestions within the program's field and with knowledge of the educational expectations for the student.

Mary