Internships vary vastly from grunt duties to real-world experience, but one of the most important aspects for students is the size of the paycheck. More often than not, students living the non-financed dream might find themselves with more trouble than they bargained for.
In the summer of 2008, University of Tennessee-Knoxville senior Zachary Losher found himself taking out a $5,000 loan and working three internships in New York City.
"I went up there because I was working as the music director at the UT college radio station WTK. While I was there, I was in contact with promoters and label, and one of the promoters that I talked to had formed a good relationship with Domino Records," Losher, who is currently a journalism grad-student at the University of Memphis, said. "When summer came around, she asked me if I wanted to work at Domino as a college-radio promotion intern."
Losher left for NYC the day after classes ended for his fourth year of college to work at the prestigious London-based label, which also has a wing located in Brooklyn where Losher worked. Domino Records is the label for many of the world's most notable indie-alternative artists, including Animal Collective, The Arctic Monkeys and The Kills.
"I sent out mailers to all the radio stations, I called the stations and talked to them and ask how the station liked them, how the records were doing, etc.," Losher said. "I also did other intern things: get coffee, answer phones, things like that."
After budgeting more than $3,000 out of the initial loan for rent alone, Losher found himself answering Craigslist ads in an attempt to find a part-time job to help support himself while working as an unpaid intern at Domino.
"I found an internship at insound.com on Craigslist, which didn't pay either, but they give all of their interns store credit, and I collect records, so I though that was good enough," Losher said.
Instead of getting another job that might have paid, Losher took on a third unpaid internship with his roommate's new promotion company that she was in the midst of starting after she had gotten laid off from her previous promotion company.
"I interned for her doing mailing, sending records to stations. I didn't get paid for that either, but it pretty much consisted of hanging out with roommates, drinking beers, going to shows and helping them decide whether or not they should represent certain artist," Losher said.
Although money was tight, Losher said that by being an intern he was able to attend concerts and events throughout his summer in New York that he would of otherwise never had been able to afford.
"Even though the internships were unpaid they had their perks. I got to go to concerts for free all summer," Losher said. "If I hadn't gotten to do that so often, I wouldn't have done nearly as much social stuff since the city is so expensive."
Halfway through his stay in the city, Losher, who had known prior to arrival, found himself in a predicament. His roommates were moving to a new apartment and he had nowhere within his budget to live.
According to him, his roommates took pity on him and allowed him to live on their couch for the remaining time he had in the city, which was about a month and half. While living on the couch Losher still paid a quarter of the three-bedroom apartment's rent, totaling close to a $1,000 a month.
"At the time it was all great," Losher said. "Sure it was stressful not having any money, but again I was young. Being in NYC and promoting records with these socialites who party and go out every night had this mystique of like, 'Oh, I'm sleeping on a couch.' A lot of the people you meet are all working for magazines and labels and radio stations and you get caught up in this whirlwind of hanging out with these musicians you admire, drinking every night and just being wild. Just having fun all the time."
As the summer neared an end, Losher said he found himself reconsidering his career goals, as well as his self-conceptions which he said is one of the most impacting things about the whole experience although it didn't directly relate to the internships themselves.
"Towards the end of my internship, although I was having fun, I realized that this wasn't necessarily what I wanted to do as a career," Losher said. "By the end of the summer, I knew I was going to leave that lifestyle behind and not further pursue it. It was a great life experience, but going $5,000 in debt to have fun for a summer at the end of the day was not worth the time and effort."
Losher left New York City behind after three months and headed back to UTK the day before his last semester's classes started. After graduating mid-year, Losher worked several jobs not related to his internship experience for a few years before registering for Memphis's journalism graduate program.
"At the end of the day, you see how much of a scam unpaid internships are," Losher said. "You get caught up in the allure of 'Oh, its on my résumé,' you get this experience, which is kind of cool, but in retrospect, I feel like it just made my résumé a little 'cooler' not necessarily better."
Currently, Losher said he is still paying off debt and attending the U of M. He also noted that he would consider working for a similar company if the opportunity arose, however, it is no longer his ideal career goal. He hopes student's weigh out the pros and cons of unpaid internships before jumping into one headfirst.
"I would really recommend to people who are looking at unpaid internships to first see if it's actually going to be beneficial," Losher said. "Really look into it and see if it pays to be unpaid, which sometimes it will. Ask previous interns for the company how their experience was. Try and get paid for the experience you're earning rather than just trying to intern somewhere with a flashier name."
