Business

Daily Buzz: The Unpaid Internship Problem

Unpaid internships can put financial strain on many young professionals—but doing away with these programs won’t solve the issue, either. Also: how to refine content in 2020.

For many young professionals, internships offer valuable work experience that can help catapult their careers. But when internships are unpaid—as 43 percent of them were in 2018, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers—they present a financial quandary.

“When middle-class or low-income students can’t afford to be cheap labor, those unpaid internships effectively shut them out of their desired career paths—while opening doors for privileged students who already have a leg up,” says Pavithra Mohan on Fast Company.

Does that mean unpaid internships should be eliminated entirely? Not necessarily. Mohan says balancing the scales is more about distributing opportunity equally. For example, a nonprofit called Code2040 works to pair black and Latinx fellows with internships at top tech companies to help close the racial wealth gap.

Even then, young professionals have to balance financial realities with career goals, often sacrificing some of their dreams to pay the bills. But, as Mohan points out, programs like Code2040 that are working to level the playing field are a step in the right direction.

Content Tips for 2020

Your association has a blog, it produces content, and it does it well. Come 2020, that might not be enough to keep readers engaged.

Content Marketing Institute asked speakers at Content Marketing World 2019 where the focus will shift in the coming year. Among the top answers? Understanding the purpose behind your content.

“Sharp vision seems to be around the need to create content in various forms for people to respond to and all the various forms that can take,” said Tamsen Webster, founder and chief message strategist of Find The Red Thread. “What’s still blurry is why you’re creating that content in the first place—what you want it to do.”

Other Links of Note

Like Facebook before it, LinkedIn is turning to live video. The Hootsuite blog shares how to make the most of LinkedIn Live.

Looking for nonprofit-specific tech tools? The Wild Apricot blog explains how to cut through the software noise to find the best solution for your organization.

It’s no secret that social media is key to event marketing. Smart Meetings outlines what every planner needs to know to track social ROI.

(Artur/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Jeff Hsin

By Jeff Hsin

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