Not a Paid Internship

I recently just got a new internship, this is my fifth internship. I don't really need the experience, but I am a part-time student and I thought the more experience the merrier & I can use the money. I was only looking for paid opportunities and on the application, it said it was a paid internship, and looked like a great opportunity. I did great on my interviews. My interviewer emailed me the start dates and everything was set, except how much I will be compensated. Just a heads up, I didn't start the internship yet, but I will supposedly be starting VERY soon. So I decided to email my interviewer to ask, she said this was an unpaid internship for credit and she thought that " I knew that this was an unpaid opportunity". It clearly said on the application that this was paid, ( I took a screenshot for proof). I think it is pretty deceitful to label an opportunity as a paid internship when it isn't. So I just want to ask you guys two things.

1) Do you guys think this is pretty misleading & messed up for an employer to do that? 2) How should I respond?

4 Comments
 

If it genuinely said "paid" on the application, I would not do the internship. It's a waste of your time and you could easily find somewhere that is paid with your amount of experience.

 

I would respond to the interviewer with the screenshot showing that it is paid. Politely ask if that is still a possibility - that while you very much appreciate the opportunity, you are not in a position to take an unpaid role right now.

If they'll pay you, great... if not just move on, this doesn't really sound like your fault. I think there are fairly strict guidelines on getting credit for an internship and they definitely would have mentioned them.

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