Melissa Reyes, a Marist College graduate, got an unpaid internship at the fashion house Diane von Furstenberg. She quit after doing little more than cleaning closets and fetching lunches.
Posted on 05/07/2012 6:19:43 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Confronting the worst job market in decades, many college graduates who expected to land paid jobs are turning to unpaid internships to try to get a foot in an employer’s door.
While unpaid postcollege internships have long existed in the film and nonprofit worlds, they have recently spread to fashion houses, book and magazine publishers, marketing companies, public relations firms, art galleries, talent agencies — even to some law firms.
Melissa Reyes, who graduated from Marist College with a degree in fashion merchandising last May, applied for a dozen jobs to no avail. She was thrilled, however, to land an internship with the Diane von Furstenberg fashion house in Manhattan. “They talked about what an excellent, educational internship program this would be,” she said.
But Ms. Reyes soon soured on the experience. She often worked 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., five days a week. “They had me running out to buy them lunch,” she said. “They had me cleaning out the closets, emptying out the past season’s items.” Asked about her complaints, the fashion firm said, “We are very proud of our internship program, and we take all concerns of this kind very seriously.”
Although many internships provide valuable experience, some unpaid interns complain that they do menial work and learn little, raising questions about whether these positions violate federal rules governing such programs.
Yet interns say they often have no good alternatives. As Friday’s jobs report showed, job growth is weak, and the unemployment rate for 20- to 24-year-olds was 13.2 percent in April.
The Labor Department says that if employers do not want to pay their interns, the internships must resemble vocational education, the interns must work under close supervision, their work cannot be used as a substitute for regular employees
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I think I’ll change my major to Fashion Merchandising...
Oh,the humanity /s). It sends a clear message to your next employer: “I’m willing to work hard and start at the bottom.”
But...But....the messiah sez we need to pay so all students get a college education????
a degree in fashion ‘moichendizing’ (Mel Brooks...Yogurt)??
thats a degree???
good luck.
Unpaid, no contract of performance, long hours - this is nothing more than slavery using an extortion scheme, all done by a parasitic company. Companies who prey upon those looking for work, and thereby removing time their “intern” could be spending looking for a real job, need to have the Labor Department reaming them a new one.
My industry uses “interns”, these are low-paid jobs, where new-hires in engineering are brought in during their Junior or Senior year, and are teamed up with engineering teams of more experienced engineers. This gives the student a good idea of what to expect when they enter the workforce as an engineer, and gives the company an idea of what the “intern’s” skill sets, aptitude and teamwork capabilities are. Usually, at the end of 3 months (Summer Break, typically) the student returns to school with a job offer in hand for when he graduates.
This crap in the article, is inexcusable. It’s modern day slavery.
A degree in fashion merchandising - and she’s too good to sort out last season’s merchandise? That is hardly cleaning a closet. So why doesn’t she sue them for racism.
These kids think they’re too good to do anything but what they want to do. Remember when Monica Lewinsky said she wanted a job at the UN where she would make policy. LOL
Check out this article: You're an Engineer? You're Hired - The unemployment rate in the field these days is a super-low 2 percent
Kids don’t work summer jobs anymore when they are in high school. So they graduate college without ever having a job, or developing a work ethic.
Yup, it’s a degree. Companies like Target, Kohls, Macy’s, Dillards, Foley’s and even Walmart hire these people to create a store “look” in their fashion departments. Typically, these graduates wind up on a team of “Buyers” who have the job of procuring the style, sizes and whatnot that you see in these stores.
They had a really great show on Costco recently, where the teams of “Buyers” researched fashion, electronics, toys, fine wines, and power tools.
Those things do not just happen by themselves.
For free, though? The theory is that the internships are trading free labor for an on-the-job education in a chosen field. Cleaning out closets isn’t exactly vocational training.
Yeah, she’s probably overly entitled. But you can make a fair point that these students shouldn’t be fetching coffee and cleaning closets for free.
}:-)4
Yeah. People are way too quick to poo-poo things they don’t understand. I know a buyer for Neiman-Marcus. She buys men’s socks. It’s a good job and gives her an opportunity to move into a position some day in which she is more interested.
As you said, things don’t appear on the shelves as if by magic.
Good article. Something the article fails to mention is the extreme competition to acquire even these internships.
Graduating with a B.S. at least gives you somewhat of a chance at landing a job. I can’t imagine graduating with a B.A. in this current economy.
Foward to get get gumberment benefits
It's been a while since I looked for a job, but doesn't applying for 12 jobs seem a fairly small number? There must be thousands of businesses in the fashion industry, just in New York.
She is an idiot. A non paid internship in order to get her foot in the door and she ruined even that. Suck it up, do the best job ever and other doors will open. Instead she complains, makes the news, and proves why no one should ever hire her. Entitlement attitude!
If someone hires her, in 5 years she will be suing them for discrimination. I didn’t have a staff or interns to do my job for me or I wasn’t VP of diversity entitlement office ......
What an idiot!
Absolutely.
Internships are supposed to work somewhat like the old trade apprentice program. Sure, you'd do some (maybe a lot) of menial labor along the way, but most of the time is supposed to be spent LEARNING A SKILL.
Spending most of the time cleaning out closets, going for lunch runs, etc is not learning a skill. It's not seeing how the company works.
It's simply taking advantage of a desperate person. The company involved should be seriously sued for not paying the minimum wage.
Two things
first of an in most places an internship can be what you make it. As she was cleaing out last years styles ( OH the Humanity) she could have tried to learn how trends develop and you could have asked what was successful in last year’s line and what was not and why
as she is giving coffee out she could pick the brains of all those who take coffee
she could ask to sit quietly in on planning projection and trend meetings
Instead she thought she would instantly be a fashionista.
secondly did you read the requirements the Labor Dept sets up for an unpaid intern? that they be under close supervision of someone and that they not do anything that a paid employee should do.
WTF?
Whe would any company pay one of theor employees to babysite/ ‘superivise” an unpaid person? That is a waste of money
This was common during and just after the Carter administration. Pay the people.
This young lady probably voted for Obama, and.....got exactly what she voted for. Zero job opportunities!!! Any young person that supports Obama for re-election is either, insane, high on drugs, drinking too much Kool-Aid or just plain dumb and stupid. Young folks, wise up, Anybody But Obama, ABO.
It is another way of enforcing economic gentrification - only the children of the upper middle class and wealthy can afford to take the long term unpaid internships that are often the only way to a career in some fields.
which is why the unions have set their crosshairs on unpaid internships.
It is extortion. My sister worked in a field where this was expected (advertising). My Dad told her to get a job at a small newspaper and make some money while learning the ropes.
Unpaid internships taking advantage of the students.
Oh, I agree! The "Diane von Furstenberg" brand has name recognition even to me. And I'm about as oblivious to fashion as anyone. Yes, "I did an internship for Diane von Furstenberg but I quit because the work was too hard and they kept telling me to do things I didn't want to do" is going to land her a good job. Well, maybe if she wants to go to work for the government it will land her a good job.
"She often worked 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., five days a week. “They had me running out to buy them lunch,” she said. “They had me cleaning out the closets, emptying out the past season’s items.”"
Seriously? She was running errands and cleaning closets for 12 hours every day? I doubt it. (If she did, she has the skills and stamina to make a small fortune with a housekeeping service, they sure don't come cheap.)
Didn’t Obama make unpaid internships (if you’re not a non-profit) illegal? Somebody help me here—that was part of his early innovation-killers and a sop to the union bosses.
In theory, for two reasons. One, to take a closer look at a novice who might be a god fit for the company later on in a paid position.
And two, as a service (good deed, if you will) to the profession.
And the second reason is quite important. I spent a good number of years as an urban school teacher. Most of us took student teachers for that second reason.
She is an idiot. A non paid internship in order to get her foot in the door and she ruined even that. Suck it up, do the best job ever and other doors will open. Instead she complains, makes the news, and proves why no one should ever hire her. Entitlement attitude!
Yeah. How dare someone get upset for working and not being paid for it! If she would just keep her mouth shut, doors will open to other non-paying jobs.
I had never heard of this “intern” idea until my daughter graduated from college. It worked for her as she got an intern job with a major publishing house in her last semester. They did pay her at a minimum wage. They liked her work so much they hired her after a few months of “intern” work. She graduated from an “Ivy” as an English Literature major-which does not seem to be a favored major on this site!
excellent point
did the student teachers actually get to teach?
Yes, absolutely. A student teacher's experience was divided into three phases.
For the first couple of weeks, the student teacher would just sit in the back of the classroom and observe. During study halls, he/she would help individual students with problems.
Then for the next couple of weeks, the student teacher would teach one, then two classes while the regular teacher sat in the back of the classroom and observed. At the end of the day the student teacher and regular teacher would meet and discuss how the lesson went.
Finally, the student teacher would teach two classes on his/her own. The regular teacher would be out of the classroom (giving the student teacher an opportunity to "own" the schedule). But the regular teacher would be close by in case of trouble.
Now, I must say this. As I mentioned before, I taught in an urban school. It was a high school. So "teaching" also meant breaking up major, violent fights. What a mess that was. It was a real eye-opener for the student teachers from the suburbs!
“She graduated from an “Ivy” as an English Literature major-which does not seem to be a favored major on this site!”
LOL - to say the least.
Yes, I see your point, she probably is being exploited unfairly. A different story had she been paid.
I agree with you. Her name would be on my list of people who would create trouble if ever hired or even interviewed.
If I was a manager thinking of hiring, I would subject interns to exactly this. Find out which interns have a "prima donna" attitude and which are eager to work and make a good impression. After a few weeks, I would let the prima donnas go, and move the workers to doing more interesting things.
The professions mentioned are all dominated by leftists. Now the heads full of mush know the rest of the story without having to work in North Korea or China.
Apprenticeships bad. Internships good. Stupid college degrees good.
You figure it out. I sure as hell can’t.
-—as she is giving coffee out she could pick the brains of all those who take coffee
she could ask to sit quietly in on planning projection and trend meetings——
I graduated from engineering school in 1984, but wanted to go into graphic design. My first job was with a graphics supply company which sold giant stat cameras.
I quickly learned more about the cameras than the lazy salesmen. When the salesmen screwed up an installation, I would often get sent out to clean up the mess.
I brought along my portfolio of dummy ads, and after putting out the fire, asked the owner to take a look at my portfolio. I was hired 6 months later by a guy who was impressed by the neatness of my portfolio.
I have since won international graphic design awards.
I have spent the last few years starting up a side apparel business, simply by reinvesting meager initial profits. The industry is brutal. Margins are slim. But it is possible to succeed.
She should be delighted with her crappy internship. All you need is a foot in the door.
if your ‘ interns’ were teaching classes then that school were violating lABOR DEPT LABOR LAWS
which state that unpaid interns CANNOT be used as a substitute for a regular employee and can NOT do work which is of immediate benefit to the employer.
I guess your school was lucky not to get caught and fined.
Stupid rules?
I am willing to bet she knew the pay level when she took the internship. Its a service industry and they were testing the service capability. She failed. There are many careers and employers where you have to put up with crap early on to prove yourself or to pay your dues.
Don’t take my statements as an endorsement or agreement with this or any such system like that.
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