Based on the article, parents who are concerned about the job outlook for their kids are now paying for-profit companies to place them in unpaid internships. Other parents are buying internships at charity auctions.
One girl paid $8,000 for a sports marketing internship in NYC after unsuccessfully applying to 25 other internships. CharityBuzz.com, a fundraising website, sold a music-industry internship for $12,000.
Is this seriously happening?
What happened to working hard in school, paying your dues (NOT literally), and earning an internship based on your own merits? When I said students should be prepared to do anything to set themselves apart to future employers, this is pretty much the opposite of what I meant.
Aside from how ridiculous the concept itself is, has anyone stopped to think that behavior like this is exactly why we're in a recession? Spending the last bit of your savings (or taking out a loan? I really hope that's not happening) to place them in an unpaid position is just making things worse in the long run, not better.
