Buying a Foot in the Door

By Staff Writer Jared Trice

Amid the economic crisis, parents of young, career-bound students are managing to pay thousands of dollars for the chance to secure an internship for their children.

A recent trend has emerged where individuals may consult internship placement programs to buy themselves a foot in the door. These programs have emerged ­after many parents and students have encountered difficulty securing an internship in an overly-saturated market. Some are paying for-profit companies for unpaid internships while others are bidding for them on online charity auctions.

The concept of parents shelling out thousands of dollars so that their child will have an advantage, if not a guaranteed position, over other applicants leaves many people alarmed. In today’s dismal economy—even in a healthy one—the majority of parents cannot afford to pay the $8,000 that the internship placement program, University of Dreams, located in Los Gatos, California, charges for their services.
In their defense, parents who choose to consult with these firms argue that if it were not for these placement programs they too would be at a disadvantage as internships often are awarded to individuals who have connections with the employer.

University of Dreams is among several for-profit internship programs that help students locate internships. The University of Dreams has 11 campuses throughout the world. Depending on the destination, most of the eight-week programs cost upwards of $7,000. University of Dreams helps applicants refine their résumés, arranges interviews with employers and provides internship coaching. After the program selects applicants, the University of Dreams guarantees participants internship placement.

Other parents are purchasing internships directly from charity auctions. As a way to increase contributions in tough economic times, Charityfolks.com offers online charity auctions. Charity Folks currently offers 10 internships, which are available to the highest bidder. Opportunities such as a two-week internship with Elle’s editorial department can be purchased for $1,500. The auctioneer also offers experiences at The New York Times, GFI Inter-Dealer Brokerage and MPG North America. According to The Wall Street Journal, a one-week internship at a music production company recently sold on Charitybuzz.com for $12,000.

Some parents argue that this practice will only distort students’ perceptions of the job-seeking experience by circumventing a student’s effort. Claudia Tattanelli, CEO of Universum North America, located in Philadelphia, said, "The type of students corporate America wants are the students who can find their own internships."

Critics also argue that this new go-to placement practice may eventually lead to companies only referring to these costly programs when seeking interns, resulting in the isolation of students who do not have the connections and cannot afford to pay what these placement companies charge. Since 2003, Ruder Finn, a public relations firm based in New York, has found 29 of its 36 unpaid interns through University of Dreams.

Stephanie Davis, the mother of a college-bound high school student in Northern Virginia, finds this pay-and-receive practice unsettling.

“Programs like this worry me. Obviously this is a profit-producing market and I’m worried that eventually this will become common practice. My husband and I will hardly be able to afford to send [our son] to college. Are we expected to pay for his internship? To me, it’s equivalent to a parent sending a check along with their child’s college application.”

Linda Bayer, executive director of the Washington Internship Program, was recently quoted in The Wall Street Journal arguing that without these placement programs, Washington would be “the playground of the children of the rich, whether they were capable or not—because snaring internships would largely be based on personal connections.” Bayer says that with her program, “there’s no distinction here between the uber-rich and someone whose parents are schoolteachers.”

Though Bayer rightfully argues that these programs help individuals who have no personal connections, the practice of purchasing an internship does not suggest capability.