Don't Feed the Interns: An Interview with Jackie Whiting

Today's blog post is an interview with Jackie Whiting, a documentarian and Ryerson University student, who was a co-producer of the film Don't Feed The Interns. This  documentary explores some of the issues arising out of the rapid ascendency of intern culture in Ontario and the various problems emanating from this type of employment. My conversation with Jackie appears below and the actual documentary can be viewed at the bottom of the page. I should note that MPP Laura Albanese is interviewed in the documentary (the then the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour) and her comments expose the complete lack of understanding about precarious employment targeting youths within the Ministry of Labour.

Q: What were your motivations in producing a documentary on unpaid internships?

A: A huge part of the industry I work in utilizes internships as a form of "testing the waters" with promising students and recent graduates. I have no problem with the concept of internships, but rather the obvious flaws in how they are managed. Grads are being told by employers that they need internships to get hired but most of these "jobs" are unpaid. When you do a little digging, the justifications for the lack of wage are more based on an attitude of "they need to prove themselves" than anything else. 

Employment regulations and trends effect everyone, and unpaid internships aren't just apart of the media job circuit anymore, they're extending into other industries. Refusing to offer someone even minimum wage (when most of these companies are more than capable of doing so), but then expecting the effort that's required of a full-time job, devalues a person's professional identity. I hate to see my colleagues and fellow job seekers taken advantage of in such a capacity and I thought who better to open the discussion than an intern.

Q: Did you know much about unpaid internships going into production? What did you learn about this issue while you were filming?

A: Most of my experiences with internships have been fairly positive, I've never felt particularly "wronged" by my employers so I hope to make it clear that this project wasn't motivated by "revenge." Any information I had about internships came directly from stories told by friends and colleagues, and my personal experiences. Of course the media also paints a particular picture but it's one that combines glamour and loveable self-deprecation and I didn't find this to be accurate to the truth of interns and their experience. 

What surprised me the most was how wide-spread the use of unpaid internships were (they're in almost every industry), how poorly educated workers were on their rights, and how ignorant employers were to the impact their practices hold for both the students they "employ" and the economy they aren't contributing to.

Q: You're currently a student. Do you find that you and your classmates are pressured by your professors and the university into engaging in unpaid internships as a means to get experience?

A: Through my own experience, I wouldn't say that post-secondary institutions necessarily pressure students into taking on unpaid internships with sinister motivations. The issue is that internships are often the easiest way to gain valuable work experience, but they're almost all unpaid. Professors aren't concerned with the legality of these positions, or the morality asking vulnerable demographics of people to work free. Instead, colleges and universities simply identify this trend and then structure their courses around it as a means of making students as employable as possible upon graduation. The motivations are arguably noble at surface level, but after doing basic research anyone can conclude that these unpaid internships are breaking the law and we should be asking more of our academic institutions and their responsibility to the new generations of young workers (both in educating and advocating for them).

Q: Did you opinion on unpaid internships change over the course of filming? How do you feel about this type of employment now?

A: My opinion on unpaid internships only evolved throughout the course of production. The only time I can remember being excited at the prospect of working for free was in high school, when my only perspective came from MTV's slew of "glamour intern" programming (i.e. The Hills, The City, etc.) When the realities of student debt and paying my way through school set in, I realized working for free was just not a realistic option for me. It's not a matter of being "hungry enough" for the job, or being an entitled Generation Y-er, asking someone to work for free to prove themselves is simply unfeasible and unnecessary. 

What upset me the most during filming was hearing this ignorant opinion, that this generation of youth isn't willing to work hard enough. I hope that the people who hold this opinion will watch "Please Don't Feed the Interns" and gain some valuable perspective on the reality of this situation. Laws are being broken, that's enough of a reason to start the dialogue.