Unpaid Internships: Should College Students Choose Their Degree?

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Many individuals struggle to find jobs after finishing their degree. With many job only considering applicants with prior experience, students are faced with a difficult situation. The solution for many is to complete an internship. Completing an internship is a task that some college students have completed or will encounter while completing credits towards their degree. Internships are a great experience for students because it can “help show them that the careers they were leaning toward were not what they wanted.” (Burkey 497). With the poor economy there aren’t many job openings for new graduates just entering the workforce. For this reason many students choose to do an internship in hopes of gaining some experience before entering the workforce. Job openings are become more and more competitive; employers seek out the best candidates for the opening position. Recruiters start with finding ways to shorten their list of potential employees. Many applicants without any prior form of experience are set into a denied pile. For this reason …show more content…

For one thing, unpaid internships are treacherous for students. Many students are enrolled in other college courses while completing an internship so they need time for themselves and time to complete their class work. Many businesses that offer unpaid internships to students aren’t concerned with the requirements of their intern and force the intern to work all of the assigned hours or risk losing the internship position to someone else. For this reason, many students agree to work and as a result fall behind on class work or complete the work poorly, which can potentially jeopardizes their grade point average. Unpaid internships negatively affect an individual’s work life, school life, and personal

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