Internships… we all know them, and (love them or hate them) they can be a great experience. We also know the unbelievable expectations some companies have these days: “have a minimum of five years experience” fresh out of university. Unfortunately for us students, more and more of these opportunities are becoming unpaid.
For Management, Chemistry, IT, Psychology, the Science/Management dual degree, and countless other students, we are all familiar with the struggles of trying to secure an internship, because, well, it’s often a program requirement.
Sure, internships can give you a competitive edge, but are they really giving you a return on your investment?
The idea behind internships is fairly simple: they are meant to bridge the gap between school and the workplace. Students gain real-world experience, while organizations benefit from fresh ideas and additional support. Many employers also view internships as a recruitment tool, allowing them to identify potential hires before offering full-time positions. In that sense, internships are often promoted as the first step toward building a career.
But the reality is that a growing number of these opportunities come without pay. In Canada alone, it’s estimated that there may be over 300,000 unpaid interns working across the country. That stat comes from 2013, so the number has likely changed since then. Exact numbers are difficult to confirm because this type of work is rarely tracked through official labour statistics. This has led to ongoing debates about whether unpaid internships are a valuable learning opportunity or a form of unpaid labour.
Historically, internships were often associated with fields such as medicine or law, where supervised training was required before entering the profession. Over time, however, unpaid internships expanded into industries like media, marketing, politics, and non-profit organizations. In many of these sectors, internships gradually shifted from optional learning experiences to informal expectations for young people trying to enter the field.
Critics argue that this shift has created barriers for many students. Because unpaid internships often have full-time hours but require people to work without income, they are often only accessible to those who can afford to do so. Students who need paying jobs to support themselves may struggle to participate, even if the internship would benefit their career development or if it’s required to complete their degree. As a result, unpaid internships can unintentionally reinforce economic inequality in the job market.
Another concern is the way unpaid internships can reshape entry-level work. Some employers rely on interns to complete tasks that would normally be assigned to paid staff, raising questions about whether these positions replace jobs that would otherwise exist. When this happens, the internship stops being purely educational and begins to resemble regular employment without the compensation.
Despite these concerns, many students still pursue unpaid internships because they are seen as a “foot in the door” to competitive industries. The hope is that gaining experience, building professional connections, and adding recognizable organizations to a resume will increase the chances of securing future employment. Unfortunately, research presented to Parliament suggests that most unpaid interns are not ultimately hired by the organizations they work for, meaning the expected pathway to employment doesn’t always materialize.
For students entering the workforce today, internships remain a complicated reality. On one hand, they provide valuable mentorship, hands-on experience, and exposure to professional environments. On the other hand, when those opportunities require working for free, they raise difficult questions about fairness and accessibility.
Experience is clearly important in today’s job market. But as unpaid internships continue to grow, many students are left asking an increasingly important question: how much experience should someone be expected to give away for free?
