Students who want to make lots of money may have a problem.

Forty-four percent of college graduates are in low-wage jobs without opportunity for advancement, according to research conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Because this may be due to the steady increase in the number of kids going to college, it is important that students intern to remain competitive.

With college costs on the rise and internship application season beginning, the complex debate over what differentiates an intern from an employee, and if interns should be paid, only intensifies. But while there are many gray areas in the far-from-perfect internship process, there are steps that can be taken to make internships more beneficial.

In today’s uber-competitive economy, there’s more pressure than ever to get an internship. Despite a lack of significant federal protections for interns, students can work to secure opportunities with companies that already offer paid internships to support ethical internship guidelines.

“The goal should be to obtain a paid internship, because statistically, paid internships tend to convert more often to full-time employment,” said Marissa Smith, Career Development Coordinator in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. “That’s assuming it’s an internship you enjoyed doing and could see yourself doing in the future.”

Companies that do not provide any monetary compensation for interns should start by providing them a minimum wage rate. In France, there are essentially two minimum wages: one for employees and one for temporary interns.

The French have an exemplary internship process. Interns cannot work more hours than employees and are entitled to transportation stipends, meal vouchers and paid vacation time. Firms in France must also limit the number of interns to make up 10 percent of their workforce to avoid the exploitation of interns.

“The way the system works is that some companies start using interns in disguise for actual employees,” said Alfonso Flores-Lagunes, a professor of economics in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. “That’s where problems come into play.”

The United States government should emulate France’s system. Like those in France, U.S. companies should invest in their interns to create an incentive for more motivated contributors. There’s a solid bet that these protections would make interns more productive, and benefit the firm in the long haul.

Taking these efforts a step further, companies should be held to a higher standard in valuing transparency when it comes to what will be expected of interns. Last October, NBC was sued for $6.4 million because interns felt the work they were doing was not aligned with the original expectations of the internship.

To avoid a lack of clarity, and potential lawsuits, companies should have to explicitly disclose what is expected of interns. These firms should be required to provide a thorough training session before the internship begins and an outline stating exactly what the student will be doing during their time with the company.

Some argue that if all firms were required to pay their interns, they would likely drop their internship programs altogether in what they would perceive as an effort to save costs.

While this would be the worst possible scenario for students, it would also not be in the best interest of companies either. In letting go of interns, firms lose out on a pool of prospective employees who have already been trained and have an established relationship with the company. For these reasons, all companies should embrace the change of providing compensation for interns.

It’s entirely up to companies and the U.S. government as to how internships are defined and whether firms provide compensation. But students have the powerful ability to seek out ethical opportunities and make the most of them.

Matthew Gutierrez is a freshman journalism and entrepreneurial management dual major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at mguti100@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @MatthewGut21.

Published on October 18, 2015 at 11:50 pm