Internships: The good and bad

the ‘‘intern’’ agrees. Not so. The Employment Relations Act is clear that the true nature of an employment arrangement is what matters, not the agreed description. So this brings us back to parents. Should parents fund internships by providing free accommodation and living expenses, or expect only paid work from their offspring?

It’s a tricky call, but for me, if work is worth doing, it’s worth payment.

I would say if an internship does not pass a parental ‘‘sniff test’’, then discourage it, and refuse to fund it.

I’ll share a personal story to show features of a good internship.

My first hands-on journalist experience was at a local English newspaper. I was studying, and called up the editor to ask to be able to get work experience during my holidays. I called him because my sister (an insurance underwriter) had a house a mile from the paper’s office, and she’d agreed to let me stay.

The editor welcomed me over several holidays, and when my course ended, gave me my first reporting job. The paper, part of a wider group, required newbies like me to do a two-year in-work apprenticeship to properly train me, for which I did not have to pay.

But even during the six weeks spread over two holidays I did before being hired, the editor insisted on paying my expenses, which were low, but which I had not asked to be funded.

The features of this mini, selfgenerated internship were all clearly in my benefit. It was for a short time-frame. It led to a real prospect of work. It blooded me as a reporter. It did not leave me outof-pocket.