Unpaid Internship
I just started an unpaid internship. Initially, I didn't really care that it would not be paid as I thought it would be a valuable learning experience plus it would look great on my resume( Investment Banking). I was told in the interview that I would learn a lot, and would not do any of the things Interns usually do ( Coffee runs, buying office supplies etc.)
I started the first day and thought I was going to start learning more about the industry. Well, I was wrong. My boss and his partner asked me to buy them slippers for the office, and cups/ sugar for the coffee. This took out a lot of time I was supposed to be learning. I was very angry, and I think they could tell. And I feel like this going to happen more times. This is my third internship and I did actual work and was treated very fairly, so I am not new to internships.
Now I have a couple of questions. I feel like I am going to quit because this I did not sign up to be exploited like this. But I want to leave this position on my resume because the position looks good and I did do some work and I don't want that to go to waste for nothing. So how long should I wait, and how should I tell my boss?
If they were paying you, they would feel an obligation to teach you something useful/give you useful tasks in order to make sure you contribute more than they're giving you in salary.
This is exactly why I don't trust unpaid internships, especially in finance.
So...you run errands for the guys a couple days per week in exchange for getting to say you interned for an investment bank while in school? It sounds like a good trade to me.
The reason you're doing the internship is to get a name on your CV. If you didn't think you needed the line item on your resume, you wouldn't be there. But it sounds like you do need it. And since it's just your second week there (at two days per week, that makes this your 4th day), I'd suggest you stop being a whiny little bitch. I got coffee and tea for people for a year as a trader after I had a master's degree from a top target school and was a full-time employee. You're going to do a lot more bitch work in your early years. I'd suggest you get used to that idea.
It takes effort to teach you something. It sounds like you need to convince them to do that. Right now, you're actually helping them the way an assistant might. If in another month, they haven't taught you anything, you can suggest you have midterms coming up, and that you need to focus on your studies. That way, you can leave the experience on your CV without burning any bridges.
If you leave now or have a bad attitude when asked to do menial tasks, you definitely shouldn't keep the name on your resume. It doesn't take a lot of effort for someone to call your former employer when they're the only bullet point on your CV in the industry you're attempting to break into.
We have a good family friend who owns a series of car dealerships on the east coast, he makes millions of dollars a year so naturally his son wanted to join the business too. When his son graduated from college he showed up to his fathers dealership and said, "Hey dad, Where's my office?" True story, his dad handed him a mop and said you'll start off by cleaning the showroom floor, and next month you'll move up to detailing the cars in the lot. Slowly you'll work your way up until you fully understand the business from the bottom up.
Moral of the story being, fetch that coffee subservient!
Personal note: It's easier to quit than work to solve a really complex problem, but at some point in life you'll realize quiting is a lot like masturbation in the end you're really just screwing yourself.