Last week I was quoted in TIME Magazine’s article, “Working For Free” by Eve Tahmincioglu and I wanted to share some thoughts on this new intern/free labor drama. Here’s a snippet:
Will labor activists in the U.S. ever get the intern genie back in the bottle? Not if enough people keep volunteering to work for free. Marian Schembari quit her unpaid internship at a Web-based publisher in New York City after three months of living with her parents. The 22-year-old, who graduated from college last year, reached the point where she felt that working 40-hour weeks for no pay was “degrading.” But Schembari, who is now freelancing, still thinks she got something valuable out of the internship. “I was able to write for a website with a decent readership, and I built up my clips,” she says. “My bosses were nice. They just couldn’t afford to pay. But in hindsight, that really shouldn’t be my problem.”
I’m definitely not a fan of the internship, mostly because unless your bosses are superbly awesome and let you do cool things other than getting coffee, internships are essentially assistant positions masquerading as “learning experiences”. The real difference is that assistants get paid.
Along with being quoted in TIME (which was SWEET), I wrote an Internship Series a few months ago about why you shouldn’t take one, why people take them anyway and what you can do instead of taking one. I can reiterate all the reasons why I hate internships, but I want to make an important point and distinction: sometimes, when we’re just starting out , doing work for free helps us get noticed, get that foot in the door and ultimately get more business.
Care for some elaboration? No problem.
Five important reasons you should work for free:
1. Exposure. It’s like building up writing clips. In order to snag that awesome article/story/book/whatever, you
This isn't me. But it's still funny.
usually need to already have something published. Which is that lovely Catch-22 of the Freelance Writer. To get those clips, most people start off writing for some ridiculously small amount of money. I don’t agree with this because talent is talent, but I understand that writing a few things for free now can make it easier to write what you want later.
2. Contacts. My dear friend and mentor, Michael Ellsberg, is an author, consultant, business guru and all around nice guy. He contacted me months ago and told me I should forget about getting a “real” job and start working for myself. Michael sends me long emails with 100% fabulous advice, meets with me and spoon feeds me freelance tips and hooks me up with Important People. All out of the goodness of his heart. Or not. You see, Michael knows that I know people that he doesn’t know. Michael knows I’m ridiculously awesome. And because Michael’s smart, he knows that by helping me – for free – he will get an insane return on his investment. Read his most recent blog post here – he talks about building a tribe and articulates it way better than I ever could.
3. Experience. Just starting out? Don’t have referrals or a thick portfolio? Picking a project or two can help build that portfolio (see #1) and give you the experience that will make you feel more comfortable with certain tasks. The learning process is also a great thing to look back on and use later. Half of my blog posts (which can be considered a form of free labor) come from questions people email me or some form of “wisdom” I learn along the way.
4. Making decisions. Working for free can help you decide whether or not a certain career path is right for you. Rather than just taking a job and hoping for the best, a temporarily free project can steer you in the right direction.
5. Spreading the word. “Free” may usually refer to the actual cost of something, but money doesn’t necessarily have to be a factor. In this economy a lot of people are simply unable to pay for services, which is why interns are exploited now more than ever. But if you “charge” someone by getting them to pass on your name to potential – and paying – clients or simply asking for a glowing recommendation, it might be easier to snag that job since your employer feels they can given something back. Some people – good people – usually hesitate to take someone’s work for nothing. It’s uncomfortable. Take a contest. Say you run a Twitter contest where you have to enter by retweeting something or another. This brings priceless visibility to the company/brand and they’re paying for that visibility (via the giveaway).
NOTE: I don’t think you should do a job for free – meaning, going into an office every day and putting in that amount of time without getting paid is insane (and questionably illegal). But a project here and there, volunteering your time for a person or cause worth that time and helping out someone who may some day return the favor? Totally worth it.
Related posts:
- Internship Series part 1: Why you shouldn’t take an internship
- Internship Series part 2: The Cool Factor
