ASK HR: Why is this company asking me to pay for internship?
I am a third year student studying mass communication. I have applied for internship in several media houses.. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- For a meaningful internship programme to be set up, resources require to be mobilised, including a mentor who would be expected to hold the hand of the apprentice during their internship.
- The time invested in such a relationship is an investment which an organisation could alternatively deploy.
Q. I am a third year student studying mass communication. I have applied for internship in several media houses. Finally, one of them recently offered me the chance to learn on the job, however, I will have to pay the media house Sh1,000 every month. Why should students pay to intern yet we are offering our skills and services and not receiving any money in return?
Internships could indeed add value to organisations. As additional manpower, interns may help to mitigate seasonal spikes in the demand for labour in organisations. It is also common for internship to be a catchment area for an organisation’s future talent and long-term succession considerations. Organisations also include internship programmes as part of their efforts to enhance their brands, while others consider internships part of their corporate social responsibility.
Although organisations benefit from interns’ contributions, the greatest dividends of the internship relationship tilt towards the interns. Internships are often the means through which many professionals get exposed to, and learn about the world of work. This could include understanding how a business works and how colleagues are expected to interact at work as they pursue their objectives. Internships usually provide experience that comes in handy when seeking work after school. It is common to find professionals citing internships as the launch pads for their careers.
For a meaningful internship programme to be set up, resources require to be mobilised, including a mentor who would be expected to hold the hand of the apprentice during their internship. The time invested in such a relationship is an investment which an organisation could alternatively deploy. Office amenities also require to be set up, including work space and utilities such as power and water to have a tenable working environment. Some internships could also require the use of special equipment.
While it might be a little uncommon for organisations to charge for internship, the amount you have been asked to pay pales against the benefit you are likely to draw from the experience. Consider a statement commonly attributed to Warren Buffet: “Price is what you pay and value is what you get”.
Fred Gituku -
HR Practitioner
