Negotiating Raise as an Intern
Hey guys,
Working at a firm while in school, I am at a well known grad school. Initial hourly was shit and I balked at the offer/tried to use another offer I had to get an increase but that was the starting wage for all interns.
Have been here a few months, there were a few other interns but soon I will be the only one working under the full time analyst the others left because they want to focus on school/one graduated this semester and is taking a full time role somewhere else starting next month. They have had many interns come and go in the past, so seems they don't care much for retaining talent. I plan on working as the only intern for a month or so then bring up the conversation of a raise. Has anyone dealt with this? My concern is this firm is cheap af evidenced by the super low starting offer and I think I'll have to be prepared to walk if they don't meet my number. The number in my head is right at market now and I am assuming we will meet in the middle so it won't even be market, any thoughts on that aspect? Talking through it seems like the pay situation sucks, anyone deal with this to get experience even though they knew they were getting screwed?
To give a better picture of the internship landscape, many first years in my program interned no where their first semester/are having trouble landing one in their second semester and judging by job boards there are very few openings coming up/for summer and if there are they are super competitive.
No? You’re an intern. What leverage do you really have?
You do not ask for a pay raise a month in. The moment before you accepted was the correct time to ask for more money.
Or at least give me some context here, where are you located and what are they giving you?
I did at the time, have a few years of experience before masters. They said this is what we pay interns, I am making $20 an hour. Others in my program have gotten low $30s/hour. I will be there almost 6 months at this point. It's in a major market think LA/Miami. At a well known program in those areas, was thinking I've built up my experience with them, know how they operate, have built up my excel skills and understanding even thought I came in with some from my experience.
Not great, not too terrible. I took an internship at $22/hr a few years back. I still think the time to negotiate was when they made the offer. 6 months in might be time. I guess it can’t hurt to ask, but I’d look to just leave if you’re looking for more pay since it sounds low pay is standard throughout the company.
Interns generally don't get raises. You talk about your company doesn't care for retaining talent based on interns coming and going, but that's kind of what internships are. You work for 3-6 months (usually), and then you go get another one. Now if they're not being competitive in full time wages to maintain talent, that's a different story.
As for your firm being cheap, I again wouldn't use what they pay interns as an example of that. You're still in school and you don't have much, if any, corporate experience yet. And as you correctly point out, many people need internships but there aren't always enough available. They could probably get away with not paying interns at all if they wanted to (and many companies do, not that I support that), it's just the nature of internships. There is no "market" wage for them.
I don't think it's fully impossible for an intern to get a raise if you're there long term, but you're definitley not getting one before a full year.
Makes sense, to be clear currently in a masters program in major market (LA/Miami). Getting $20/hour and my general thoughts are I should be more aligned with market ($30s/hr). I have a few years of experience coming in and tried to negotiate when I joined, I feel now I have more leverage being there for 6 months for them to give me some increase even if not to $30.
How bad of pay are we talking? Below $15/hr?
Speaking from my own experience and does not represent all companies, but when we budget for an intern position, we have a set dollar amount that can be spent on that role. There is no additional money set aside for "merit increases." Even a stellar intern who is pulling above their weight cannot get bumped up simply because there are not additional funds available to allocate to that role. It's not something that's negotiable, we just may have $50k allocated for the year towards the intern program and if that gets spent, that's it. Especially when most places are trying to trim expenses, the intern program is a place that budget cannot budge.
You're an intern dude, chill lol. Take the experience, work your ass off to learn, then find a better paying role for graduation. Nobody is going to give an intern a raise or care if you walk. You need to realize that interns add little to no value to an organization and in fact actually take more resources by requiring time from analysts and associates to supervise them and review their work.
If you want higher pay and have a long time left to intern through your schooling, then keep working there and start looking for another opportunity for next semester that pays more.
Fair point on leaving to find higher pay, currently a grad student so wanted to make a little more closer to market. It's not like I am in undergrad asking for more like I'm so god, I was making the same as I'm making now in undergad lol ($20/hr) but I could see them saying no increase go take a walk.
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