Would You Pay to Do an Internship?

 

“I am willing to pay for handling fees to get valuable and desirable internships,” said a senior university student surnamed Liu who is looking for jobs, and she added that such paid internships are reasonable because there are not too many intern vacancies in a company. As Liu pointed out, her major is finance, and there are at least 800 graduates whose major is similar to hers at her university alone, and most of them also hope to enter into a field related to finance, but the job supply is far less than the demand.

 

But other students argued that it is not worth spending much money “buying” a position, since most students still rely on their own skills to get their desired jobs. A teacher at Jilin University commented that buying experience violates the principle of fair competition, and gives students the impression that money can solve any problem. Besides, without having the necessary skills, it is still uncertain whether students who buy an internship could adapt themselves to the intern jobs and improve their competitiveness.

 

Chen Ziqi, a professional consultant of a recruiting group, warned that paid internships need to be authenticated. If a dispute occurs, job seekers would struggle to defend their rights. She suggested recommendations, campus recruitment and other large formal job fairs as better choices.