With unpaid internships becoming a stepping stone to gaining employment, university students are facing growing financial pressure to gain experience in Australia’s competitive job market.
For many students, finding a job is paved with unpaid or volunteer work, with recruitment agencies such as SEEK and Indeed, now placing advertisements for internships.
University of Wollongong Employability Officer, Michael Cooper has warned that students undertaking months of unpaid work may be unknowingly caught in illegal arrangements.
“Many students don’t realise it, but if you’re doing unpaid work for months, that’s illegal,” Mr Cooper said.
“It’s not the student who’s at fault—the responsibility lies with the employer.”
Internships are offered across a range of industries, including journalism, marketing, aged care and engineering. While unpaid placements are legal when formally integrated into degree programs—such as in nursing or teaching—others fall into murky legal territory, according to Mr Cooper.
Placements outside university structures, where students perform productive work that benefits the business, breach Australia’s Fair Work Act. Mr Cooper said both international and domestic students are being lured into such arrangements, often under the pressure of staying competitive in the job market.
Data from a Commonwealth Department of Employment survey revealed that a shocking number of Australians regularly perform unpaid work, with around 35 per cent of respondents reported working between 7 to 34 hours unpaid per week.
The healthcare industry reported the highest proportion of unpaid work and recorded the highest unemployment rate in any sector—21 per cent, followed closely by social and community services at 20 per cent.
Source: Commonwealth Department of Employment
Mr Cooper also cautions international students to steer clear of costly “internship programs” that charge up to $2,000 for vague training without guaranteed placement.
“It’s just dodgy. Come to the university careers team—we’ll help you get real experience, for free,” he said.
Part of the confusion he said stems from legal ambiguity. The Fair Work Act doesn’t clearly define ‘internship’, allowing some employers to exploit loopholes.
In a high-profile case, fashion retailer Her Fashion Box was fined $330,000 for underpaying a graphic designer by disguising the role as an internship.
Beyond the question of legality, unpaid internships reinforce inequality.
“When only the wealthier students can afford to intern, we shrink the talent pool,” Mr Cooper said.
“It’s bad for diversity, and bad for business.”
To address the issue, Mr Cooper encourages students to explore structured programs like CRLP202, a university elective that embeds legal internships into non-placement degrees. He also reminds students that internships aren’t the only pathway.
“Internships help, but they’re not everything. Build your portfolio, freelance—there are other ways in,” he said.
According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, the person doing the work should receive the main benefit of the arrangement. If the business is gaining more value from the work, the intern may legally be classified as an employee and entitled to pay.
For example, a council may offer an unpaid internship program for high school and university students interested in government processes. Students choose the hours they attend over a two-week period, and the role remains mostly observational. Because the student gains the primary benefit—insight and experience—there’s no employment relationship, and the council doesn’t have to pay them.
Note: The most recent data on unpaid work was collected in 2016. Despite the issue growing more widespread, no updated government surveys have been conducted since.
Additional reporting: Emilee O’Grady-Shorten
