Students say they feel betrayed during internship

One former intern, Mike Meijer, spoke to Khaleej Times about his tragic experience during an internship in Dubai. The Dutch expat said he was given the “opportunity” to intern for a radio station, where he would get to learn about the broadcasting industry. Little did he know that the firm was looking for people who could do secretarial work with absolutely no pay.

“Getting to the location, being handed surveys, and being told we would be manning the radio boot — purely for promotional purposes with no actual radio equipment present — felt like blatant betrayal, especially because we were told the idea (and the brand) that we would get to see the inner workings of a radio station,” he said.

“We were a group of six and we just kind of laughed it off and got to work since we figured it still counted towards our grades. It was a pretty bad experience, which left a

We were a group of six and we just kind of laughed it off and got to work since we figured it still counted towards our grades, but it was a pretty bad experience.” Mike Meijer, former intern

lasting negative impression on us.”

Another student, Ahmad ElRashid, was offered an internship at a marketing firm. As a marketing major, he thought the apprentice- ship would stand out on his resume after graduation. However, like Meijer, he was tricked by the firm into doing free work.

“I was mostly doing customer service at the company and wasn’t learning anything about marketing. They were short staffed, so maybe they were looking for affordable, or in my case, free labour. Companies need to stop using interns to do work that someone else should be getting paid to do as a full-time employee,” he said. “I was working from 9am to 5pm and it was starting to effect my grades, which is when I decided to quit.”