Unpaid Internships - What's the Big Idea?!

As a recent graduate from the University of Toronto, I am now standing on a precipice which looks  out over a world which extends into the vast corners of the earth: opportunity. But where do I start? With an English major and Political Science, Media Studies minors, I have acquired skills in deep thinking, critical engagement and analytical observance. I am a half-decent writer, I enjoy reading and researching. However I have had minimal contact with Microsoft Excel and other such programs which most jobs require their rookies to have mastered. Mastering these programs will not be a hindrance as I learn quickly. But what happens when the job I am aiming for requires three to five years experience in the administrative field, or in a managerial position?

Where do I get this experience??

Toronto will answer this question by suggesting the most repelling option, in my opinion, devoid of any degree of serious consideration: an unpaid internship.

You're going to tell me that I am going to come to work, to sit at my desk from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, do as I am told, produce what has been asked of me, attend the delegated meetings and make not a cent of dough.

You are wrong, economic pothole, you are wrong.

I have gathered several articles from the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail explaining what factors go into corporations' decisions to offer unpaid internships.

What it comes down to, you ask? Their own convenience.

In a quivering economy, it makes sense in the eyes of the capitalists to hire recent graduates desperate for work for free. And I quote, "The idea of unpaid intern, therefore, has never been more attractive. Free labour, light administrative obligations, and limited or no work-related liability -- money saved thus is money earned, right?"

Forgive me for scowling.

An article entitled, "Unpaid Internships: Avoiding exploitation and lawsuits" and written by Vikram Barhat for the Toronto Star, outlines, to a graduates favour, the ways businesses cannot continue to employ students at no cost due to regulations in the Employment Standards Act. He thoroughly explains the loopholes which businesses may use to their benefit to hire prospective employees and leave them unpaid. However, and I paraphrase here, for the majority of new-comers, the Employment Standards Act protects us and requires that providing training elicits at least minimum-wage pay.

This is the article: 
"Unpaid Internships" by Toronto Star's Vikram Barhat





To be continued...