Interns

[Gimpyrks]

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I was always under the impression that interns didn't get paid? Was I thinking wrong?

 

[orca2011]

For the most part, you don't. However there are some places/ companies (like Merck) that will pay interns but in my experience, they have been hard to come by and fairly competitive.

 

[StartingoverVet]

You are probably confusing the concept of an internship in the medical field with an intern at a company.

An intern who is on an internship at a hospital (or wherever) is already a doctor/vet and is getting paid a small amount while they gain experience.

An intern at a company (like Goldman Sachs or NBC or whatever) is essentially a volunteer trying to pad their resume. Theoretically they are not supposed to do "work" that someone else is paid to do.

 

[rayray13]

I am currently interning at a zoo, and am not getting paid. I'm there for the same amount of hours each week and do the same work as the actual zookeepers. The only thing I'm not technically allowed to do since I'm "not a benefitted employee" is ride in the back of the pickup truck 🙂

On the other hand, my best friend is going to school to be an accountant and she got paid VERY well for her internship, and my husband is applying for an internship at an aviary that only pays 180 bucks a week, which should pretty much just cover the gas to get there every day. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that it varies quite a bit!

 

[StartingoverVet]

I am currently interning at a zoo, and am not getting paid. I'm there for the same amount of hours each week and do the same work as the actual zookeepers. !

Just to clarify my comment, you cannot perform work unpaid as an intern that a paid employee does at a business, you can if you work for a non-profit. And this rule is violated frequently.

 

[Cypress]

My only experience with internships was as an unpaid one at the zoo.

But I'm curious about this idea that you can't have an internship at a buisness and have it be unpaid - StartingoverVet - you say its a rule? Just wondering what kind of rule? Is it a law, having something to do with taxes? Or labor laws?

 

[Trilt]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/business/03intern.html

^This covers the basics. A lot of veterinary internships very much skim the law, imo.

 

[Minnerbelle]

My only experience with internships was as an unpaid one at the zoo.

But I'm curious about this idea that you can't have an internship at a buisness and have it be unpaid - StartingoverVet - you say its a rule? Just wondering what kind of rule? Is it a law, having something to do with taxes? Or labor laws?

Yeah basically, it just means that a for-profit business can't ignore labor laws and abuse inexperienced people by not paying them with the excuse of calling it an "internship." If an intern is to perform any duties that are usually done by an employee (or pretty much directly benefits the company), they need to be paid at least minimum wage, and get paid overtime after 40 hrs/wk, etc...

If an unpaid intern is to actually practice something that a normal employee usually does, technically, they are not allowed to do that for an employee. An employee must do it, and then let them practice on something that doesn't need to be done (even if that costs the business money). So if an intern wants to practice using a forklift at costco let's say, they're not allowed to forklift to actually restock things. An employee does all the restocking, and the intern can practice moving around pallets that don't actually need to be moved around. To a point it sounds really ridiculous... but then at the same time, it is unfair for a for-profit business to be gaining anything from a non-paid person. Because at the end of the day, the free labor ends up being money in someone's pocket.

Non-profits are definitely exempt from this. That's why they can have volunteers. If you consider pre-vet internships as extensions of volunteering programs, then there's really no problem.

I'm not sure what other exemptions there are. Are small businesses exempt as well (I don't think they would be, but they tend to be exempt from a lot of things so I wonder if there's a loophole here as well)? Are for-profits allowed to have non-paid interns if they're getting school credit? I know that my boyfriend had to do a few for his engineering program, and even though he got school credit, companies he interned for had a policy that they had to pay him (they also went above an beyond and paid entry level pay, which was well over min wage). I dunno if that was just company policy, or if it was because they were just complying with the law.

 

[jemappellejane]

The veterinary association I work for includes about 12 hospitals. We take interns every year, and I believe it's quite competitive. My understanding is that while these interns make very little money during their time with us, they go on to make bigger bucks when they obtain an actual position. This is coming from one of the vets I work with, who did not do an internship before getting a job. She said vets that do an internship generally start at a higher salary.

 

[Minnerbelle]

The veterinary association I work for includes about 12 hospitals. We take interns every year, and I believe it's quite competitive. My understanding is that while these interns make very little money during their time with us, they go on to make bigger bucks when they obtain an actual position. This is coming from one of the vets I work with, who did not do an internship before getting a job. She said vets that do an internship generally start at a higher salary.

I think we have 2 different conversations going on. One is about real post-DVM internships (in the vet/med world, what it really means to be an intern), which is what you're talking about. The other is about pre-vet "internships" that are really more like volunteer positions with a special title. The for-profit labor law comments were about the latter.