My company, Intern Bridge, recently did a nationwide survey of 42,000 college students, and 66% of them said they would work for less pay if it got them greater job experience. Meanwhile the vast majority of employers tell us that they can't hire interns, because they can't afford it. They seem to think students want internships for big money. That is a myth. Interns should always be paid, at least a little. Organizations that fail to do so ultimately hurt their own recruiting efforts.

An extremely large percentage of the student population cannot afford unpaid internships. These are students who struggle to balance the rigors of college with the need to earn enough to cover living expenses. Employers use internship programs to increase awareness on college campuses of their recruiting needs and to identify potential full-time hires. They therefore seek the best and brightest students they can find. But how can they hire the best and brightest when having unpaid internship programs cuts them off from perhaps 40% of the potential applicant pool? Not only that, but also unpaid internships give an unfair advantage to wealthier students as they deny workplace experience to those with no disposable income.

Intern Bridge has done significant research into the legalities of unpaid internships, in particular as they relate to the Fair Labor Standards Act. Legally, students taken on as interns must either earn the minimum wage or be receiving academic credit in an official university program overseen by a faculty member (or both). Unpaid internships can leave employers open to increased liability by financially binding them to students' universities if liabilities arise, such as workers compensation obligations. At present, one of every five internships in the U.S. has an illegal compensation structure.

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