- Level Up
- Posts
- đ„Â Hot take: stop offering to work for free
đ„Â Hot take: stop offering to work for free
Thinking of volunteering? Read this first.
SPONSORED BY:
If youâre offering your services for free, itâs time to stop.
You might not agree with me.
But by the end of this article, maybe youâll understand my perspective.
In fact, Iâve written about whether unpaid internships are exploitative before - and included paid alternatives.
And you voted that although unpaid internships may be exploitative, the good outweighs the bad.
Some of you value experience more than being paid. âI'll do anything for growth right?â
But I donât think itâs the right way to grow.
So Iâve broken down my reasons below:
Why offering to work for free actually sabotages you
Why companies donât want volunteers
Why normalizing unpaid work harms future generations
Keep reading as I deep-dive into these reasons.
A MESSAGE FROM TECH SAFARI
Tech Safari is your tour guide to tech in Africa.
They cover the most interesting companies, the latest trends and the biggest trends in African tech - with enough bad jokes to make it fun.
And as friends of Level Up, Tech Safari is giving away a free EntryLevel program to one lucky subscriber who joins Tech Safari this week. To enter, subscribe below before May 28.
|
Interested in sponsoring Level Up? Learn more and apply here.
Why working for free sabotages you
Asking companies if you can provide free labour for them doesnât always guarantee youâll get the experience you need.
But working on a project does.
Thatâs how Ati, an EntryLevel student, landed a job. She proactively worked on projects that gave value to the company she wanted to get noticed at.
Even if your project doesnât get you hired, youâll still learn valuable skills:
Pitching to the company you did the project for
Negotiation
Research
And so much more.
Youâll also get more experience with:
Contracts
Payments
Intellectual property (IP)
Client and stakeholder management
This will ensure you work with the right companies and clients - people who arenât trying to exploit you.
Why companies donât want volunteers
Offering to volunteer with zero context actually creates more work for a company.
âBut Iâm offering to work for free, on whatever the company wants! How can it cost the company?â You might wonder.
Remember: time is money.
The time it takes for someone at the company to mentor you, give you tasks to do, give you feedback, and manage your work can be costly.
Thatâs why I focus so much on proactively doing projects that bring value to the company.
Every company has a problem - itâs your job to research what that is and solve it effectively. Once you prove yourself and get hired as a result, companies should be happy to pay you.
You want to make it as easy as possible to say âyesâ to what youâre offering - and get paid for it.
Plus, the fact that theyâre paying you may make them think your work is worth the investment.
Like when you pay for something, youâre more likely to value it than if you got it for free, right?
Why normalizing unpaid work harms future generations
Weâve all seen it.
Those job postings that require 5 years of experience for an entry-level role.
But why?
If everyone got years of unpaid internship experience before entering the workforce, companies might think thatâs the norm.
And if thatâs the norm, then companies will start requiring it in job postings.
But all that does is make it even harder to land an entry-level job.
Itâs supply and demand - if more workers are willing to offer their services for free, why would companies choose otherwise?
But not all companies are like this.
Thatâs why I only apply to companies that match my ideal criteria:
Remote (can work from anywhere)
Flexible hours (and they trust you to do your work)
Good team culture
Skills-based, rather than degree-based
This ensures Iâll be happy spending the majority of my day at work - instead of feeling miserable every Monday.
Do you agree?
Despite all these reasons, you might still think doing unpaid work is the best way to grow your career.
And maybe youâd be right - everyoneâs situation is different.
But hopefully youâre now a bit more aware of why unpaid work isnât always great, and why you shouldnât always offer it.
If youâre looking for ways to get paid for your work, check out this previous article and scroll to the bottom for some websites.
What do you think of unpaid internships? |