I'll do it for free

I WOULD gladly intern for free, were I convinced that the experience would be worth it in my chosen field of journalism.

With hiring freezes in almost all local news media companies, I found many doors shut in my face. So after evaluating my choices, I felt it might be a good idea to work for free at foreign wire companies because the experience might open doors in the future.

Money is important, but it becomes secondary to internships that could add lustre to my resume.

Besides, when else could I work for free but when fresh out of school, when I have lower expectations and am not weighed down by monetary responsibilities - yet?

It's just too bad that even some non-paying internships seem to have stopped accepting applications.

Lee Khai Yan, 22, is a fourth-year student at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, NTU.

Studying through bad times

IN THESE bleak times, I would rather further my studies after graduation than go out to work and settle for lower starting pay.

Pursuing a post-graduate degree is a tempting and practical option. It can be in an area more suited to one's interest, or perhaps it can offer a different skill set to bolster one's qualifications.

The opportunity cost of further studies in a gloomy economy is low, as one can be sure of not losing much by way of income in the first year.

Also, with better qualifications, I might be better placed for a higher starting pay upon entering the workforce when the economy picks up.

After all, when you have nothing much to begin with, you have little to lose.

Chew Zhi Wen, 21, is a first-year law student at NUS.

Experience over money

I LACK work experience because of few internship opportunities during university.

But I know that building up relevant skills in the profession I hope to enter - which would be writing or reporting - is vital.

Thus, I'd be willing to do an internship for as little as $500 a month, even though I understand that social science honours graduates get starting salaries of more than $2,500 a month.

After all, when you're starting out, getting work experience is more important than aiming for a high salary.

But I can't work for nothing as I cannot expect my parents to continue paying for my living expenses indefinitely.

For me to be able to work at such low pay, the company offering the internship would have to be very reputable (such as a national newspaper or an international news agency). Even then, I would have to give tuition on the side to pay for basic necessities.

Jonathan Kwok, 24, is an honours student in economics at NUS.

Pay us appropriately

I WOULD not hesitate to reject an unpaid internship.

Even though I am still a student, I have to cover my living expenses as I stopped taking an allowance from my parents when I turned 18.

Part-time work would be preferable to an unpaid internship.

Recession or not, I find the culture of students willing to intern for free rather demeaning.

This signals to companies that our education doesn't even merit a meagre allowance, let alone commensurate pay.

If this culture becomes increasingly pervasive, companies might even come to expect it as the norm to offer unpaid internships, even in robust economic conditions.

As students, we don't want to go down this slippery slope, do we?

Jason Zhou, 23, is a third-year economics student at SMU. He is now on an exchange programme at Wirtschärftsuniversität Wien in Vienna.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.