>I think unpaid internships being socially acceptable is one of the roots of this insidious habit.
When I worked with interns they were all paid... but every one was more time and expense to work with than any value they provided. In weeks they accomplished what I could do in an afternoon, and we spent WAY more than an afternoon of work with them. Amazingly many seemed to have a very high opinion of their productivity.
Now that's fine because when I did work with them the intent was to give these folks an opportunity / experience.
But I don't know about this idea that interns are somehow a gateway to getting value out of people for free. Interns in my experience (outside of maybe a unicorn out there) are not something you can expect to get much of anything out of.
I can't imagine coming out of the intern experiences I've had thinking that I'm going to get anything like worthwhile free labor from them.
When I worked with interns they were all paid... but every one was more time and expense to work with than any value they provided. In weeks they accomplished what I could do in an afternoon, and we spent WAY more than an afternoon of work with them. Amazingly many seemed to have a very high opinion of their productivity.
Now that's fine because when I did work with them the intent was to give these folks an opportunity / experience.
But I don't know about this idea that interns are somehow a gateway to getting value out of people for free. Interns in my experience (outside of maybe a unicorn out there) are not something you can expect to get much of anything out of.
I can't imagine coming out of the intern experiences I've had thinking that I'm going to get anything like worthwhile free labor from them.