I Regret Saying No To An Unpaid Internship

By Selipha Kihagi

Sometimes the good things are wrapped in the most terrible of gift wrappers and in this same analogy so are career opportunities. When fresh graduates are looking for their first jobs, they have a perception of what they want or at least they look forward to a nice and well paying job, but this is hardly ever the case.

Not all beginnings are rosy, and you may want to take up something you did not presume you would just so you can have a starting point; a decision Samantha Nzioka wishes she could go back in time to make.
Samantha was offered an internship, but since she wanted a job that she thought she deserved, today she is just another unemployed Kenyan.

This Is Her Story
I graduated from campus in November 2013 and was looking forward to my first job as a Nutritionist, but I wanted at least 2 months to relax before I could start job searching. I stayed home, travelled around the country and visited everyone I could in only a month, but then I was tired. I needed to find a job and I needed to find it first because I wanted something to keep me busy, so I started making applications.

I also knew just making applications would not be enough so I started reaching out to the people I knew, including my project supervisor and relatives. After about a month and a half of checking my emails and following up on promises, I received a call from a company I had applied to but was hardly familiar with.

Its description showed it was affiliated to an NGO, so I believed I had run into luck because as far as I was concerned such institutions always paid well – even for internships, like the one I had applied for.

Going for the interview, I was well prepared and was not too surprised when the interviewer said they would be calling me in two days to let me know if I had gotten the part. When asked if I had any questions, I was too excited the only question that came up was “Should I expect a Salary? Shock came when they said the position was unpaid and I would only receive a monthly stipend.

I tried so much to hide my disappointment as I walked out of the room, but I couldn’t help but wonder why I would put up with 6 months of unpaid work in an NGO – didn’t they always pay people? True to my assumptions of the interview going well, I received a call telling me that I got the job and I should let them know if I was interested. I wasn’t. I sent them an email a few hours later saying I would not be taking the position, after all, if I got this opportunity I would get others later.

That did not happen. I am in my second year now and it might be karma punishing me, but I am worried I might be jobless a very long time. It also does not make it better that the same company I refused to intern with is openly expanding every day; I keep wondering where I would be today if I had said yes to the internship.

They could have given me a permanent job, or I could have had the experience employers are looking for, and even may be the stipend would not have been that bad – I don’t know but it’s clearly stressing me out.

Have you been Samantha at one time in your career journey? Or have you made a career mistake you regret today? Share your story with us so other job seekers can learn from you.

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