Non profit internships score low

by Francesco Dente

Young Italians give a failing mark to the traineeship experience offered by non profit organisations. In this sector interns have the lowest possibility of being made staff after completing their internship and the quality of the training they receive is ranked amongst the lowest. These two unflattering facts are documented in the report “Italian interns look into the mirror” (Gli stagisti italiani allo specchio) that elaborates on a poll by Repubblica degli stagisti (the Republic of Interns), an online newspaper dedicated to the world of internships, and ISFOL, the Italian ministry of labour. Three thousand people (no more) responded to the poll. Only three per cent of them have worked for the third sector.

These “facts” should be taken with a grain of salt. There are three reasons for this. First, this was an online survey and not a structured research project. Next, it is not clear if these “non profit” voices represent voluntary organisations, associations or social cooperatives. Finally, as the authors of this research themselves point out, the quality of an internship also depends on the expectations of the intern. If one doesn’t find a job it can be expected that one will negatively judge the experience.

The numbers above insinuate that the social sector is not the ideal place to do an internship. Two out of three respondents (67.1%) agree. “A good 15 percentage points more than the general average,” says Elenora Voltolina, director of the online paper. Only 16.8 per cent of these traineeships turn into career opportunities and in few cases did that mean a stable work contract – 3.8 per cent are fixed term contracts and 0.6 per cent are contracts without a fixed term. Most often a person is offered a contract of collaboration or a contract for a project.

But who are these non profit interns? “Most respondents held a University degree and 20 per cent were men, while 80 per cent were women,” according to Voltolina. The ratio of women is 11 per cent higher than the overall ratio of female interns. These women have made their voices heard. Twelve per cent of verdicts ranked the non profit internship experience as  “very bad.” In total, internships ranked as mediocre, sufficient and very bad accounted for 54 per cent of the responses, slightly higher than the overall average, 50.4 per cent.

According to ISFOL, this data on non profits “sheds light on a sector that, due to its principles, attracts a lot of young people to work in its structures but suffers from organisational problems and from unclear objectives in the missions.” Almost without being asked the director of the site says, “if you offer an internship in a non profit organisation, in fact especially in this case, it should be planned with the dignity of the intern in mind. It is sad to say this but many young people who take an interest in non profits, because of a poorly organised internship, end up distancing themselves from the non profit sector disillusioned and disappointed by the work.”