In September 2020, a newly-minted TikTokinfluencer namedAudrey Peters secured her first brand partnership. She was asked by an account called "Overheard" to recite some of the outrageous conversations she had on her walks through Manhattan. Ms. Peters ran out of friends who would follow her around the city with a camera.
A fellow content creator suggested that Ms. Peters seek out an intern who could support her work in exchange for experience. This sounded perfect. Ms. Peters had an internship during college. She created a story about a part-time job.
The post was not well received. Commenters accused her of exploitation and called her a classist. She said that the job description was incomplete and that she planned to introduce the intern to her brand partners.
In a phone interview in November, Ms. Peters said she was still getting emails and messages from people who wanted to work for her. The requests keep coming.
After a decade of labor activism, class-action lawsuits and legislation focused on making corporate internships less exploitative, it may be hard to see the appeal of taking such a position with a self-employed internet celebrity. For people who grew up online and spend most of their time there, the chance to learn how to make a living off their content can be attractive.
54 percent of the 2,000 people surveyed by Morning Consult said they would become an influence. The appeal of creative freedom and flexibility may be even stronger after nearly two years that have changed how people work and live.
Younger people don't want to work for a company. The head of business development for Viral Nation said that they want to have fun, be relevant and embedded in the culture.
There are many ways to become an influential person. Sometimes it is a happy accident when a video goes viral. Some people spend a lot of money on boot camps and bots to get noticed. Others head straight to the source and ask for a job.
There can be drawbacks to such arrangements, including odd hours, limited labor protections and accountability. Not to mention the opinions of followers. Mr. Feldman said that if you work with an influential person, their audience will stop growing in 2022. The rights to brag are gone.
There is money. Only 40 percent of Viral Nation's clients give their interns hourly pay, salaries or cash bonuses in exchange for delivered work, according to Mr. Feldman. Many young people who have debts and are staring down a 30-year high for inflation are not able to give away free labor.
After several media and entertainment companies were found to have violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, most large corporations pay their interns. By default, internships are not illegal.
The appeals court ruled that they were permissible if the intern was the primary beneficiary of the internship. A clear educational component and a job description thatcomplements, rather than displaces, the work of paid employees are some of the criteria the Department of Labor now lists.
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When a woman created an ad on social media for a part-time internship, viewers criticized her.
Employers in New York and California have strict criteria for internship opportunities. Minimum wage and overtime must be paid to interns if they are replacing an employee. There is a lot of abuse in New York City and Los Angeles, according to a lawyer.
She said that businesses scale up quickly in the influencer world. I need help because my audience is growing quickly. People are telling me that they want to learn from me and work for me. It is the perfect storm.
Several social media lawyers consulted for the article said they were not aware of any interns taking legal action against an influential person. A disgruntled intern can always complain to the state's labor authorities, which will result in accountability, according to Ms. Sharma.
Lauren Berger is the founder of Intern Queen, a career and internship advice company. She said that the guidelines were ambiguous. When one of the interns comes back in a few years, what are they going to do? That could be a potential lawsuit.
When her brand was small, her interns received a MetroCard and a daily lunch. She began to pay a stipend of fifteen dollars an hour.
Experience is the most valuable form of compensation, according to Hala Taha. She built her company with the help of 40 interns and volunteers.
Ms. Taha said that they arePodcast Listeners who ask how they can help, or say they look up to her or wish they could get into podcasting. They want to break into the media industry, but they don't have a lot of experience.
In the fall of 2021, she had seven interns who worked on her projects. Most received a monthly stipend of $300 and worked about 15 hours a week.
Ms. Taha said she was a master video producer. I feel like I have leveled up their skills twofold in a month by giving them real-time feedback and comments.
She said she didn't feel weird about not paying them.
In some states, minimum wage is the only legal standard if an intern is doingstantive work, such as planning social posts, copy-editing and publishing content without oversight. She said that the tasks are important to the business of the influencer.
Most interns get a full-time position and a salary between $35,000 and $48,000 after four months, according to Ms. Taha. The hourly rate for people who are still in college is $17 to $20 an hour.
During the summer of 2020, Caitlyn Saw was an intern for Ms. Taha. For 15 hours a week, she planned Ms. Taha's social posts. She was able to take the job because she was living at home and working part-time.
I did two internships before working with YAP. Ms. Saw said that she was used to not getting paid. It is not ideal, but I think her internship has so much value.
If you want to pursue a career in marketing or public relations, an internship for aninfluencer is a great place to start. She said to the intern, "Are you being paid fairly and treated fairly?"
Jon Rettinger, who runs several technology-focused YouTube channels, hopes to give his interns useful guidance. He said that it is a real job that is not all boxing matches and Lamborghinis. He said that he would have wanted someone to tell him.
The former interns said they valued mentorship. Sara Naqui, who started out taking photos on a volunteer basis, has a contract with the company and her own YouTube channel. Ms. Naqui said that she had never had an adult support her creative endeavors.
Marwa Atik, the co-founder and creative director of the fashion-forward hijab brand, has made a point of inviting followers to volunteer at photo shoots and apply for internships. Ms. Atik said that reaching out to a pool of people who support you is a way to see yourself in the product. It is a stronger connection when we bring on our girls.
Marwa extended herself as a mentor to me and helped me connect with brands even when I didn't have the motivation to do so. She was hired as a full-time social media associate.
The social presence for Effie's Paper was built from the ground up by the interns. She said that she was a lawyer transitioning to entrepreneurship a decade ago. I didn't have time to think about social media.
Ms. Chandler asked the help of a former intern, who had started her own social media company. Ms. Helander thought that Ms. Chandler should be the face of the social accounts.
Ms. Chandler was a bit skeptical at first. She said she was too brown and old.
Ms. Chandler said that she is the reason her face is all over everything.
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