Re: Interns@ $10 an hour

["Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM>]

At 02:44 PM 12/11/97 -0700, John Eldard wrote:
>I think $10 an hour is not bad for an Intern. This is a learning experience
>and I know that when I was an intern (a thousand years ago) we made didly!
>But the things I learned contributed to the good salary I make today!

True enough--and an internship isn't the same as a regular
staff position. Although the company "spends" only
$10/hour in salary, you have to assume that they
incur other costs. For example, if Joan's Tech Writing
Company hires an intern at $10/hour, I'd assume that
they're planning on:
* 8 hours/day (equivalent) @ $80
* 1-2 hours/day of senior staff teaching, support,
        and mentoring @ $100-200
* needed clerical support _for_ intern.
* standard equipment etc. overhead
* extra time in budget for intern to work
        more slowly (due to learning curve)
        than regular staff
* extra costs of heavy editing, reworking,
        and revising due to inexperience of
        intern.
These costs do add up.

Of course, the other explanation is that the
company budgets $10/hour for an "intern"
to do advanced clerical duties, reformat
documents that others wrote, and take
care of running errands and fetching
coffee. That's what gives internships a
bad name and wastes everyone's time.

Eric




**************************************************
Eric J. Ray                      ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com
TECHWR-L Listowner         http://www.raycomm.com/

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