IAC Summer 2020 Internship Program

[Arthur.Ramsay]

International Academic Competitions is excited to announce new internship opportunities for students who are seeking further engagement in the quiz bowl community! At the moment, we’re seeking interns to engage with the following projects:

• Archive content management: Help us organize previously-used question sets into study guides, which also allows you to study the materials in the process.
• Communications: Work with our communications team to compile resources, design newsletters, and help grow the quiz bowl community.
• Question production: Write questions for future use in our Middle and Elementary School divisions and get feedback on your submissions from IAC staff to help improve your question writing skills.
• IAC Live Quizzes: Work with our outreach team on organizing weekly live trivia events for individuals and teams/families.

We're also open to consideration of other applicant-proposed projects that fit your skill set.

General Expectations
This program is for fully-remote, unpaid internships and is open to students who have already completed tenth grade. Priority will be given to applicants who are able to commit to 10 hours each week for 6-8 weeks. IAC is also happy to work with schools that provide academic credit for internships at the applicant’s request. Students will also receive a letter of recommendation following successful completion of the program. For internal security reasons, participants will not have access to uncleared question content.

Application Process
A complete application will include a copy of your resume, a brief statement of interest (no longer than 150 words), and 1-2 references. Applications should be sent by email to the program coordinator at [email protected]. Priority will be given to applicants who apply by Sunday, July 12; applications received after that date will be considered on a rolling basis.

[AKKOLADE]

This program is for fully-remote, unpaid internships

Unpaid labor is bad.

[AKKOLADE]

So, I'm far from a lawyer, but I'm looking at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-s ... nternships and I wonder how this is legal, understanding that unpaid internships are woefully under-enforced. There's several points on the test listed on that page that I feel like IAC would have a hard time being able to say they fulfill.

[Rabbinator]

Yikes.

Anyone feel like unpaid child labor is the future? No? Me neither.

https://twitter.com/forexposure_txt

[Arthur.Ramsay]

In response to the comments made here and elsewhere about the Internship Program, we wanted to clarify a few points:

1. All questions written for IAC will continue to be purchased directly from writers or be commissioned, and paid for, by our question production team. Those interested in joining as a freelance paid writer or going through our standard writer training program should keep an eye on the forums over the coming weeks.
2. To the extent that interns will be writing questions, the interns will keep all intellectual property rights over their questions. The aim of this is to give students who want to improve their writing skills the chance to do so.
3. IAC does not use questions submitted by writers without payment for their work. IAC does, however, reserve the right to offer to purchase questions from these students.
4. The primary purpose of the internship program is not designed to involve question production. However, if they show interest and skill in this area, interns will receive advice and feedback from experienced IAC staff, positioning them very well to be paid for questions written for IAC and other question providers.

Additionally, I've already received several questions on the requirement for references. We are not asking applicants to send letters of recommendation as a part of their applications. We are asking applicants to include the name, email address, and phone number of 1-2 individuals who can serve as references.

We're excited to have interns joining us this summer, and hope that IAC continues to be a constructive learning environment in this new endeavor! I'm happy to answer any further questions, either by email ([email protected]) or by PM here.

[Rabbinator]

So, I'm far from a lawyer, but I'm looking at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-s ... nternships and I wonder how this is legal, understanding that unpaid internships are woefully under-enforced. There's several points on the test listed on that page that I feel like IAC would have a hard time being able to say they fulfill.

Arthur, I'm interested in how you would answer all of these questions to clarify how the children are interns versus employees.

[Cheynem]

I did an unpaid internship after college in a museum. I learned how to do some museum work and made some contacts. I was also an adult, of course, and knew what I was getting into (this was entirely voluntary--it wasn't for credit or anything). I think there are some benefits for unpaid internships in the abstract. But in general--internships in general, and especially unpaid internships, are mostly designed to give people a taste and experience in a field they might be interested in studying or working in. They make contacts, learn skills, and get used to doing work.

I'm a little concerned that this is not what is happening here--how many of these students want to make quizbowl their future career or even a short-term job? Are the references or contacts you make here not something that just as easily be done in other settings, like through PACE, NAQT, or collaborative projects? What sort of college or high school programs offer credit in working for a quizbowl company?

I'm not demeaning the work. This sounds like perfectly valid work. If this were a job posting that wanted to hire folks to write IAC questions, help run quizzes, or do outreach work, that's fine. But the concept of an internship, especially an unpaid one, conjures up a greater sense of job training or academic program preparation that I'm concerned this program might not be doing. I'd like to hear more about what makes this an internship.

[Arthur.Ramsay]

Following further discussion, we have decided to amend our internship offer to include compensation and clarify the details of the program.
More details can be found here: https://www.iacompetitions.com/internship/.

[AKKOLADE]

I'm well overdue in saying that I'm glad you've added compensation for this program. Thank you for doing that.