Paying for Internships

Not paying interns to work is not a new idea. But many of us in the workforce development field are shocked by the latest trend: Interns paying to get an internship. Time magazine profiled this trend last summer. A website called CharityBuzz.com sells all kinds of things online and the money raised goes to a non-profit charity. Most of the items sold props used in TV shows and movies that are then signed by the celebrity actors in those shows or movies. People bid online at the CharityBuzz.com website and the money from the winning bid goes to a specified charity. But CharityBuzz.com has expanded and is now auctioning off internships. Time magazine auctioned off a 1-day internship to a 39-year-old man in Florida. The man did some of the basic reporting on what was the record price paid for a 1-day internship – that was a 1-day internship for the singer Beyonce, which sold for $22,750. The woman who bought that internship didn’t actually work with Beyonce but with Beyonce’s mom, Tina, who also happens to be Beyonce’s tour manager. The woman who paid the $22,750 got to design and make Beyonce’s dress, which the singer wore that night to a sold out concert in Los Angeles. The woman also had her $22,750 go to Miss A Meal, which is a charity that Beyonce and her mom support and that helps feed poor children and homeless people. But that is not the record paid for a short-term internship. One person successfully won a 6-week internship working for Virgin Airlines CEO Richard Branson in England – and all the intern had to pay was a mere $85,000. But Americans were not to be outdone. Def Jam CEO Russell Simmons sold a 6-week internship working for him also for $85,000. This trend of paying for internships is confusing. And some of us in the workforce development field hope that this trend settles down.

I was recently invited to an "education workforce summit." When I asked one of the organizers what is an "education workforce summit" I was told that it's an event where business people from the chamber of commerce get into the same room with the local school superintendent and a principal then the business people complain at the educators for an hour. I was warned that I would find the event frustrating and unproductive. I appreciated the warning. This seems to be an issue of people living and working in their "silos." For the business people, their focus is on the current operations of their firm. And they might give a little thought to future worker needs but they expect the school system to train future workers. For the teachers and counselors, their focus is on the current operations of their school, where their priorities are keeping the kids safe and teaching them how to learn. When I listen to business leaders (often members of the local chamber of commerce and sometimes even school board members), they express the opinion that the teachers control students career interests and whether or not those students choose to stay in the community after high school. Meanwhile, the educators get frustrated that these business people who refuse to even allow a field trip suddenly complain that their worker needs are not being met by the local high school and that their training concerns are not being heard by the teachers and counselors. I've had to hear both sides yell about the lack of communication and vision from the other side (yes, in presenting to chamber executives they have yelled at me during my presentation that the biggest problem in their community is the teachers don't care about the needs of the employers AND I've had teachers yell at me during my presentations that businesses don't get involved with the local schools at all except to complain about a lack of qualified workers who aren't meeting an ever-changing criteria of training needs). In other words, the educators seem to be upset that the business people focused on their current business operations rather than on future workers. Meanwhile the business people are shocked the educators are focused on keeping the students safe and educated rather than training for jobs far into the future. It seems that each side seems to be saying: “Why aren’t you catering to my future needs that I cannot entirely define?” This framework where both sides are in their own silos (or on their own campus) without interacting cannot work in the long run. I'm looking forward to attending this upcoming "education workforce summit" now that I've been properly warned by the organizer.

Pursuing the Purple Squirrel

A human resources director presented me with what has become a strange but common hiring problem. This happened last year after I gave a speech to the Society of Human Resources Management chapter in Bryan, Texas. After my speech on the most in-demand occupations and changing elements of the Texas labor economy, a woman from the audience stopped me. She said she wanted me to hear about a particularly difficult job she was trying to fill. The job was an entry-level computer programmer. She proceeded to spend the next 10 minutes explaining a lengthy grocery list of requirements she needed for this position and how it was impossible to find somebody who met these requirements. When she was done, I responded by saying: "Ma'am, let see if I heard you correctly. You're essentially looking for a 25-year-old who has 15 years of specific work experience, 1 bachelor's degree, 2 industry certifications and is willing to work for less than $30,000 a year. Is that what you're saying?" She paused then said: "Yes." "Well, ma'am have you found anybody who meets those expectations?" "No." "Well, ma'am do really think those are realistic expectations for that job?" "My company president thinks so." And this is one core issue of slow labor market recovery that we are experiencing in America. Many employers are chasinng the what is called the "purple squirrel." Since 2007, the United States has been an extreme "buyers market." We've been living in a country (and in a world) where there are more available workers than there are openings. Then as the labor market has been sluggish in its recovery the employers have also been having to deal with hundreds and hundreds of applicants for every job opening. In the workforce world we have witnessed that employers have responded by writing longer and longer job descriptions whenever they have a job opening. But the response is going even further. Now we have employers who have raised their expectations so high for job applicants that they want a more than perfect job candidate who can hit the ground running and they want that job candidate cheap. And they seem to think that if they just wait they will happen across this elusive and perfect job candidate. Peter Capelli, professor of human resources at the Wharton School of Business at Penn, calls this "chasing the purple squirrel." And this is just one aspect of our labor market.