internsI’ve been reading a lot about using unpaid internships in the very early stages of your startup - it’s free labour and, if you do it right, you provide the intern with significant mentoring and skills building. I current work in education, so mentoring students is sort of my thing to do, but even so I feel uncomfortable about asking someone to work for me for free. At the same time, I have no capital at the moment but need a lot of business development done.
How do I ensure that, if I offer an unpaid internship, both myself and the intern get as much out of it as possible? And importantly, how do I ensure that I don’t exploit free labour?
Since you work in education (I assume you work on a campus?), you may have some connection to students already. This makes the whole thing a bit easier. The main point is to give the students which are usually low on buget an equal or even stronger reward then money. What could be an option is to offer them future jobs or shares, but you are uncertain of the future of the company and you don’t want to give to much shares or promises away. Some students will already work for recommondation letters or the addition of the project to their CV. Sometimes the students are also need to do a mandatory industrial internship to complete their studies. Study the study regulations of different course of studies and keep an eye open for that. Offer work in small independent projects which can be done in 3-6 months. Like this you are more likely to attract students which need to do an industrial internship. Keep in touch with students on your campus and keep an active look out for motivated and good people.
Unpaid internships for for-profit corporations are generally not legal in the United States. There are a few exceptions if the internship passes these six criteria, but based on your post I think you'd fail the fourth test.
The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern
(I'm assuming your startup is for-profit and in the United States. If not, this doesn't apply.)
If the above doesn't apply and you're able to offer an unpaid internship, I think you just need to be very clear and honest when describing the internship.
There are several reasons one might work an unpaid internship and Lucas listed a few of them. Other reasons could be mentorship or an opportunity to work on something inaccessible to individuals. The students should have an idea of what they're looking for and will apply to your position if it fulfills their needs. Then it's on you to ensure the internship provides the advertised benefits.
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