Free Work.

It all started when I began moving. I thought, 'oh this is a great opportunity to intern at a few places, get a feel for some career fields and see where I wan to settle.' I had this image for the next few years of my life but let me tell you, that image has yet to really come true.

Intern:

       a. A student or a recent graduate undergoing supervised practical training.

Now if only it were that easy. 

When I went into college, I was under the impression that once college was done, I would intern somewhere and that would either lead to a job or help me nail down another job. Little did I know, the modern day "intern" is just an excuse for employers to lock out entry level workers while getting some free labour. 

Am I the only one who thinks this is down right shitty?

I have interned at three different places, each for about 3-4 months each time. None led to a real job (granted, I did get a freelance small gig from my most recent internship at Post City magazine that I al totally thankful for). I keep telling myself that the harder I work, the more internships I work, the more experience I tuck under my belt, the easier it would be to get a job. I keep telling myself 'this is normal.'

But my question is: why is it normal? Why is this okay? 

Internships are logical. It's actually a great way to work and get experience. I know a lot more after my three internships then I knew before. And, in all reality, I'm looking for more internships. But what are we really gaining? It doesn't stimulate the economy, it's not helping freshly graduated students or young adults, it's not helping young people be successful (not always but I'm sure there are cases). For the employer, it's probably great. Free work from someone you don't truly have to be nice to or respect and who is absolutely without a doubt replaceable and this work can continue on for as long as there are universities and people.

I've been reading a lot of articles from all over the country about interns, internships and people who are fed up with not getting paid. I want to join that bandwagon. While I love my current job for the people, let's be honest. I'm not earning as much money as I could be. I'm not using any of my real talents, I'm just being me (professional, respectful, efficient and just damn good at my job). I would love a job where I feel I'm using my college degree or my brain. I would love a job that is challenging and pays me for my talents. 

I feel like it's mostly career fields that fall into a creative career: writing, art or fashion. But I could be wrong. Have you worked internships that led to nothing? Or have you worked internships that led to a great opportunity?

I hope to get there someday.  

Things I Now Know About Myself

For someone who is usually semi reluctant to change, I find myself at a cross roads more often then not these days. Something in my life is always a-changin’.

Next week, my internship at Post City Magazines is over. I’m having a lot of mixed feelings on the topic. As my first real experience with a publication, I think it was a pretty successful one. Not only have I been able to grow my portfolio like I wanted, but I’ve learned a lot about writing, working at a publication and myself.

Writing: When I left college, I was convinced that news writing wasn’t for me, that I wanted to write long, witty, flowery stories and spend weeks and week working on one piece. While I think a part of me still feels this way, I think I want to try out news writing again. After spending a few months of food writing and writing reviews and trying to be witty everyday, I think I need to try straight forward news. While I enjoy painting a picture and developing a story, like in creative writing, I’m no good at it when I have to talk about a subject.

Working at a publication: Jake and I have almost always butt heads about working environments. When we lived in Toronto, he created this really cool desk/office area so us in our bedroom. He spent more time there then I did, honestly, so I didn’t make any fuss over how it would be, but I learned something crazy about myself. I need creative clutter. I have to have a space that is comfy, with pictures and color and noise (both audible and visual). Jake needs to have everything in order, clean, organized and quiet. This was just reaffirmed with me when I started at the magazine. Nothing against the office, but it was too quite for me. I felt like I couldn’t work right in that environment. Eventually, I did get used to it, actually. But I still had to at least listen to music all day.

Myself: I think I learned the most about myself during the process. I learned that I hate mornings without coffee even more when I actually have work to do. I learned that I like coming up with story ideas, even though I rarely shared any, it was fun to see what I came up with compared to what other writers came up with. I learned that I work best while chewing gum and multitasking (meaning I usually have 4 or more tabs open on the Internet browser and am constantly reading, reading,reading). I learned that every hour or so, I need to take a short break, get some water and have a quick chat with either someone around me or someone online.

 

You learn a lot about yourself when you’re put into a situation that you’re usually not familiar with. I’ve never worked in an office environment before, so it was interesting realizing the different things I’m okay with and what I’m not okay with. I def wouldn’t trade this experience for anything in the book, for a first internship it went really well. I’m excited to move forward, to try out new things and to see where else I can go.

 

But in all honesty, I’m excited to sleep the F in from now on!