And this means that they have little option but to spend months working for next to nothing, raising fears of exploitation. Interns gamble that their sacrifice will help them find the job of their dreams – or establish whether a career in a certain industry is really for them. The study, Access to and Returns from Unpaid Graduate Internships, finds that most graduates would be substantially better off by not doing an internship. They also struggled when it came to obtaining a professional position or high career satisfaction compared with those who went into further study before entering employment. When compared with those graduates doing something else six months after leaving university – such as travelling or remaining unemployed – interns were more likely to be “very satisfied” with their career later in life.

Source: The Guardian July 29, 2017 21:00 UTC