Paid internship "dark web" reflects the real demand for internship
Following the anxiety that "Grade points are king" in the ivory tower, finding an internship seems to have become a high incidence of college students' "involution".
According to a report in Caijing magazine, some intermediaries are weaving a dark web of paid internships around the needs of college students who want to go to "big factories" and large institutions for internships.
They clearly marked the price of the promotion opportunities of major companies, and claimed that after paying tens of thousands of yuan, they would "free of interviews, and cover all of them."
According to the reporter's investigation, some of these are suspected of fraudulent "fake internships", and some organizations even take students to do fake projects. From the docking tutor to the content of the project, the organization itself manages it.
College students who think they have been successfully internalized actually cannot get an internship certificate.
Other organizations use connections to leverage the internal promotion privileges of employees of famous companies, and take shortcuts to help customers "take down" real practices.
Behind this dark web, it reflects the real internship needs of some college students.
Under the severe employment situation, many college students hope to brighten their resumes through internship experiences in famous enterprises and enhance their employment competitiveness.
However, due to the lack of social network resources and strong academic and professional background, many people's "big factory complex" is difficult to realize.
After the resume is submitted, it is often the case.
Some intermediaries have grasped this real pain point, further sold and spread job hunting anxiety, and then used the promise of "you can practice internship with money" and "help you achieve background improvement" to attract customers and seek benefits.
However, this gray industrial chain is latent with great risks.
For students, the high cost of tens of thousands of dollars can sometimes not buy peace of mind. If they fall into the fake internship scam carefully arranged by the intermediary, it will only be a waste of money.
Even if they were lucky enough to get real training, many of them were remotely "doing things", wasting time, and the connection with the company and the intern tutor was extremely weak.
The internship is intended to feel the real corporate atmosphere and industry development, learn professional skills and develop in-depth exchanges with seniors.
The detached relationship in paid remote internships often does not bring much benefit to students.
In subsequent job interviews, interviewers tend to pay more attention to the applicant's understanding and participation in the internship project.
Sometimes just a few specific questions can easily burst the glamorous bubble of "water practice".
In this sense, a "beautiful" resume created with a lot of money may become a "negative equity" for job hunting.
When internal referrals are made into a business, the company's talent selection mechanism and social reputation will also be affected.
Under normal circumstances, the selection of interns is based on their strengths, and companies can also select from them to cultivate the talent pool.
However, when the referral opportunities are abused by some employees, or even reselling internship opportunities becomes a trend, the fair and transparent selection mechanism will be disturbed, and the outstanding students who truly meet the requirements will be eliminated.
If things go on like this, it will not only cause bad money to drive out good money, and the quality of talents in the company will continue to decline, but it will also leave job seekers with a negative impression of "not fair enough" and "only relevant households", which in turn will hurt industry reviews and social reputation.
As an increasingly common phenomenon, the concept of "shortcuts" pointed to by paid internships will undoubtedly have a corrosive effect on workplace ecology and social atmosphere.
The "theatre effect" shows that when a group of people sit in the theater and watch a play, if someone breaks the rules and stands up without being stopped, the people behind will have to stand up, and the normal order of the theater itself will be broken.
With limited positions, if more and more people enter famous companies through the "fast lane" for internships, those who abide by the rules and accumulate professional knowledge and skills will be squeezed, and even make their persistence seem a bit " stupid".
This phenomenon of "relying on financial resources instead of strength to obtain opportunities" is obviously contrary to the basic principles of fair competition, and it also promotes the unhealthy trend of opportunism and utilitarian internships.
When internship becomes a tool for intermediaries to "make money" and a weight for college students to "stick gold" on their own, the value of internship itself is being distorted and alienated.
For companies and college students, only by adhering to the awareness of rules, respecting professional values and real learning, are they responsible for themselves.
Schools can solve the problem of information asymmetry by developing career planning training and integrating internship resources.
The society also needs to reflect on the hidden dangers brought about by paid internships, make up for loopholes in related laws and systems, and provide college students with a fairer and more reasonable job search environment.
Ren Guanqing Source: China Youth Daily