Companies often don't pay interns for 2 reasons: 1. They don't think they can afford to give them responsibility, and with no responsibility = no pay. This is a

Companies often don't pay interns for 2 reasons: 1. They don't think they can afford to give them responsibility, and with no responsibility = no pay. This is a terrible relationship. (no pay = no responsibility as well) 2. They know that if it's unpaid - it's likely that only people very interested will apply - and this signal is, supposedly, very strong. The 3 MAJOR problems are: 1. The company is sending a signal that says, "we don't trust you", "we don't think you can do valuable work", "and we don't value you enough to pay you" 2. The company gets lower skilled people, because the good ones get the jobs with good experience AND pay 3. Have you EVER tried to get a volunteer to do anything?! It's impossible. Incentives are not aligned.