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If that is the feeling I got as a paid intern, being an unpaid intern has got to be at least ten billion times worse. How do unpaid interns survive in the city? Why would anyone work for free in such an expensive city?
Well the ones I've known lived with their parents or commuted.
Do you live alone? If you don't have parents that can pay your rent or someone you can stay with that is going to be rough.
I'm going to ignore the NY-bashing because it's not useful. Some people hate NY for plenty of good reasons, and simply shouldn't live here. And that's fine.
Here are the answers to your questions:
1. They often survive by having parents foot the bill.
2. They would work for free in such an expensive city because they have high ambition. I'm sure there could be other answers as well, but NYC tends to draw ambitious people who want to have a good start on a great career, and they may see an opportunity in NYC as a way to begin.
It's easy to have "ambition" and dwyl when your parents are footing the bill.
It's easy to have "ambition" and dwyl when your parents are footing the bill.
Is it? I have heard of more dead-beat kids and adult kids that I can count who have rich parents and end up being good-for-nothings their entire life because they always had everything handed to them.
It's easy to have ambition when you're not rich, too. You sound bitter.
I've been able to pursue unpaid internships in my field (currently in my second one) mostly because I still live at home, and because my parent is understanding of my soul-crushing struggle to "make it" in my career. Apart from food and shelter, I've fended for myself through part-time work, and full-time work when I'm not interning. Seeing as my family and I are decidedly working-class and living paycheck to paycheck, there's no way in hell I would've been able to intern otherwise.
It's frustrating having the double whammy of being unpaid and just over broke. Interning cuts into the hours I could otherwise spend working to keep my head above water. Many of the interns I've worked alongside with are from well-off families, and have their parents pay most, if not all of their expenses. While they've been hard-working, ambitious and humble, I can't help but feel pangs of envy and bitterness at times, as their support system puts them ahead of me as far as networking and opportunities go. On the other hand, I've found myself struggling just to hold on to my internship, and not give it up altogether because of the bills that need to be paid.
If you ask around all those good looking women that work in the fashion or advertising industry, they all look like model material but they are paid like crap. They're all there because they're looking to hook-up or arrangement with a rich investment banker or lawyer. Just having a daytime job to pay for their clothes and makeup is enough for them.
Unpaid internships should be illegal--they get around the labor laws because in theory it's "education" for the intern, but in practice it's just free labor for the company.
Is it? I have heard of more dead-beat kids and adult kids that I can count who have rich parents and end up being good-for-nothings their entire life because they always had everything handed to them.
It's easy to have ambition when you're not rich, too. You sound bitter.
The next time you decide you want to jump to anecdotes and psychoanalyzing my post, go look at the information pertaining to the rise of the unpaid internship and how those little microeconomies are sustained(spoiler alert: rich parents).
The next time you decide you want to jump to anecdotes and psychoanalyzing my post, go look at the information pertaining to the rise of the unpaid internship and how those little microeconomies are sustained(spoiler alert: rich parents).
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