Re: A terrific Yahoo article about unpaid jobs and abuse in the biz

We have had high school and grad school interns here over the years, and I much prefer the high schoolers, who tend not to act so entitled and are more willing to do grunt work as well as ask questions all the time. The programs are coordinated by our HR department, and the state and local school boards. One of the things you have to consider is insurance issues. We had one teen intern get in a wreck with our van while running tapes back to the shop, that was... unpleasant.

If you are not sure you want to commit to an internship program for your shop, consider offering a day or a week of "job shadowing". In job shadowing, the student just follows you around during some appointed times and observes and asks questions but is not expected to do any hands-on. Like auditing a college course, for example.

One time in my youth, I was between paying gigs and volunteered to work a month or two for Cox Cable in the Chicago suburbs, producing a kid's public affairs talk show. I worked for free for the experience and contacts and to keep my resume from looking like It had a gap of unemployment in it, while I looked for paying work. But that was for a known, fixed period of time.