Extension of my Intern ship

greg9891

#1

[h=2] Extension of my Intern ship[/h]

Hey Guys. I've been working at this company and my one year Internship was Completed on Wednesday. I was excited as our company had grown from 75 to about 150 people and is projected to grow to 200 employees. I worked for about 9.75 an hour 40hr a week. and when the time came for my internship to expire that called me into the office and offered to extend my internship with no raise or company benefits ....another year at the exact same salary. That was a huge disappointment to me because I thought for sure I would be given a raise and permanent position at the company at this point. Below is a list of the things I did on a daily basis at the company. Would you guys accept another year at the same salary?

I.T Support
-Configure Cisco switches/L3 Switches
-point of call for help desk (theres only 2 of us so...)
-configure all Cisco wireless devices on site, all ubiquity Wireless access points, Air fiber wireless point to point
-Printer/copier issues maintenance
-Troubleshoot various operating systems
- maintained server cabinet, Installing servers, Apc rack mount ups, kvms ect
- running, terminating cables keystone jacks ect
- telephony systems, ip phones
- Maintain site I.T. Inventory,Purchasing of all equipment, expiring licenses, various Ink and Toners, ect
- Manage the Entire Site when ever my boss is away or on vacation (63 acre site)
- manage and issue all keys, access control system, company issued laptops and mobile phones.
- All new employees I.T Setup, email setup shared folders network printers ect
- Supervising contractors to ensure that they are working safe and they are carrying our the scope of work the correct way as they were hired to do.
-maintaining the companies manufacturing software and computers. Scada system and the list goes on.


Would you guys accept another year as an intern at the same salary?

Pmorgan2

I would start looking elsewhere. Can you accept the extension and leave once you find a new job? That year of experience should help get a permanent position, even if it's another entry level job.

Trucido

I would apply elsewhere as well. Maybe let your manager know that you were expecting more than .. well.. nothing. Don't really let on that you're looking elsewhere until you have interviews or a job offer for more, then bring that to your manager; "Hey I got job offers elsewhere for X, I would be willing to stay for X, otherwise the other opportunity is more beneficial to my career." ect ect.

Don't be a douche about it, but at the same time, you're doing like 4+ different jobs and aren't getting any reason to keep on doing it.

Nans

Don't, get your confidence together and find a job else where, you have done some good job over here, if you can make a good resume and be aggressive in your job search you should be able to find may be which pays you 4 time more than this job... All the best

greg9891

Hey Guys I agree with have to look into searching for something new

sj4088

I would accept it but I would start applying to other positions ASAP. This is how companies shoot themselves in the foot by trying to take advantage of employees. You now have a YEAR of real world experience and I'm assuming a degree or close to have a degree. With that combo can get entry level positions at other companies that pay much more than an internship.

After your year was up they should of offered you a full time job imo. But they didn't so after spending a YEAR providing you training you likely will leave soon. Dumb on the part of the company imo. And companies wonder why they can't keep anybody, smh.

aftereffector

I wouldn't call that an internship. That sounds like an entry level employee position. Semantics maybe, but I would want more than $9.75/hr to be one of two IT guys at a 150 person company - calling it an "internship" seems disingenuous on the part of the employer.

cyberguypr

What a slap on the face. Someone who stretches a low pay internship for two years clearly does not value the role or the employee. As others have said, of course take it, but plan your exit ASAP. And I agree with sj4088, what a stupid decision. When you leave they have to waste time and effort ramping up another resource. How that makes business sense is beyond me.

sj4088

aftereffector wrote: »

I wouldn't call that an internship. That sounds like an entry level employee position. Semantics maybe, but I would want more than $9.75/hr to be one of two IT guys at a 150 person company - calling it an "internship" seems disingenuous on the part of the employer.

Exactly. The other thing is internships are usually 3 to 6 months long. I've never seen anyone with an internship lasting over a year. Most companies either hire you full time(with a sizable bump in pay) or let you go after that.

They are definitely trying to take advantage of greg9891. Not the kind of place I would want to work at.

IronmanX

I had the same thing happen to me. I was in a 1 year contract position right out of college (they did not call it an internship).
My 1 year was close to coming to an end and I was upfront with them and told them i need a day off for a interview due to my contract ending in a couple of months. I dunno if i would recommend being that up front now but back then I saw no harm in it since my contract was close to ending.

The day after I asked about getting the day off for the interview I was told they where going to give me another 1 year contract (same pay, no benefits, no vacation). I said wow that is great. Then my interview I did turned into a job and I left for more money and benefits and vacation.

I would suggest maybe asking some probing questions. Say oh that is great another year extension to work at this great place. I would love to work here permanently what would it take to get on permanently?

IronmanX

sj4088 wrote: »

Exactly. The other thing is internships are usually 3 to 6 months long. I've never seen anyone with an internship lasting over a year. Most companies either hire you full time(with a sizable bump in pay) or let you go after that.

16 month internships are fairly common now here on Ontario Canada especially for Software Development. These are proper internships that are part of a college program. For example the University of Western Ontario Computer Science from program has a 16 month internship. Basically you work through a summer and a whole academic year, so it does take you a year longer to graduate but it is paid.

sj4088

IronmanX wrote: »

16 month internships are fairly common now here on Ontario Canada especially for Software Development. These are proper internships that are part of a college program. For example the University of Western Ontario Computer Science from program has a 16 month internship. Basically you work through a summer and a whole academic year, so it does take you a year longer to graduate but it is paid.

Well that's a good thing. The key is its proper internship that is part of the college program. Getting those 16 months of experience are invaluable.

daviddws

be careful. The last thing you want is to be strung along in an intern capacity. I had a co-worker from a previous job that was an "intern" for three years.

I would start looking.

greg9891

The Search has already begun! Slowly but surely I will work my way out of there! I work on a 63 acre site and I work completely unsupervised. 150 to 200 employees and that does not include the 100 contractors that work on site.

ozzy99

Well i was in the same situation a few years back. was working as network intern doing almost the same things that you have mentioned. I had no guidance at that time. after finishing a year of internship they extended it without permanent position or raise, unhappy with that decided to leave and look for a better position. That year economy took a **** and had a tough time finding work after i left.

From my experience and what others have mentioned it is better to stick along till you find a proper job till then do some certs and you will be ok.

greg9891

ozzy99 wrote: »

Well i was in the same situation a few years back. was working as network intern doing almost the same things that you have mentioned. I had no guidance at that time. after finishing a year of internship they extended it without permanent position or raise, unhappy with that decided to leave and look for a better position. That year economy took a **** and had a tough time finding work after i left.

From my experience and what others have mentioned it is better to stick along till you find a proper job till then do some certs and you will be ok.

Yeah it is rough but I intend to do just that.....keep a positive attitude, work hard and just learn everything I can until the next job comes along.