Interns Anonymous

Why did you set up the blog?

I set up Interns Anonymous around March 2009 with my boyfriend Alex [Try]. We were both doing internships and we had a lot of friends doing internships as well. I don’t think anyone was being paid and a lot of people were having quite bad experiences. We hadn’t really questioned the reasons why we were doing an internship; we just assumed it was a good thing to do. We set up the site because we were interested to know what other people were doing and what kind of experiences they were having.

What sort of things did people email in?

When people wrote in saying they were having a bad time, that was usually one of two things. Some were being mistreated – anyone can be mistreated, whether they’re paid or not, but it seems especially likely if you’re not being paid. And then there were people who were doing a good internship but had no money and were working all the time after hours just to pay for it. There’s an inequality there in that people living outside London or without family money can’t do internships that other people can.

What are the best and worst internships you’ve heard about through the site?

One extreme example was an intern who had to squeeze loads of fruit for juices for a cocktail party – it wasn’t a launch or something, it was a personal party – or an intern at a marketing company who was just doing things like taking down wallpaper in the office. But someone wrote in saying they had a great time at Shortlist – they were only there for a few weeks, did a lot of stuff and everyone was friendly – and there are some good placements in the public sector, like a guy who did a research project for the council and got paid about £10 an hour.

What was your own experience of interning like?

My internship was in a small charity, which was amazingly free from outside knowledge, so they could advertise and people would turn up, but there was no sense that anyone would care that you weren’t doing anything worthwhile or that you weren’t being paid. People had been working there for free for six months thinking they were going to get a job, but hadn’t. I should have quit straight away. What I tell people who email the site is that if they’re having a bad experience – if they’re not learning and they’re not earning any money – it’s not worth it.

What should you bear in mind when deciding whether to do an internship?

Look at the process of selection and what the people who interviewed you were like; if you ask “Can I email another intern who’s done this before?” are they open and up for that or are they a bit cagey? Talk to people to see if they know anyone who has worked for that company; look at the job description and if it isn’t paid, really think about what you’re trying to get out of it and whether you could get the same thing out of working and volunteering at the same time or doing things on your own. I have Interns Anonymous on my CV, not my internship.

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