Why buy the Cow

when you get the Milk for free?

The impact of unpaid internships on professional

development in the heritage sector.

Background

Museum Galleries Scotland receives 3200 applicants for 20 paid internships.

9% of B.A. graduates in the U.S. take on unpaid internships.

1992

2011

2008 80% of B.A. graduates in the U.S. take on unpaid internships.

2009 The Milburn Report warns of unpaid internships creating a “glass ceiling” blocking disadvantaged applicants.

ResearchObjectives

- Determine whether or not the poor economic climate has influenced the amount of unpaid internships offered by heritage institutions, and moreover the level experience expected of a qualified applicant when seeking their first professional job.- Explore whether advantage in the job market (being able to accept unpaid internships) is becoming equated with personal traits (commitment, perseverance, hard work) and thus reshaping employers concepts of professional value and expectations of young professionals. - Establish whether there are hierarchies of value attributed to specific placement opportunities (i.e. the Imperial War Museum vs. your local records office), and assess whether this perceived value incentivises unpaid working schemes and/or influences future employers.

methodology

- Develop two separate questionnaires, one of which will be sent to recent graduates of selected Archival programmes, the other circulated to a number of organizations offering internships in the sector.

- Explore whether internship & volunteer programmes are displacing and/or replacing formerly entry-level positions.

- Create a body of data specific to the effects of internships in Archives, including information on:

· Whether the amount of qualified applicants willing to accept unpaid positions has increased under recent circumstances. · Whether internship programmes have evolved to incorporate more applicants or have merely become more selective. · The average gap between graduating with a professional qualification and entering the professional workforce. · The average qualifications expected of volunteers in contrast to interns, and finally in contrast to entry level employees.· How the organizational contributions of interns, volunteers, and entry level employees are defined, supervised and assessed.

- Determine to what extent young professionals are self-directing, or self-selecting, their options when starting their professional careers, and how this behaviour corresponds with possible shifting definitions of professional value from an employer’s perspective.