Chapter 2: Building Employability in a Neoliberal World: Intern Perceptions, Expectations and Experiences of Their Unpaid Internships

Unpaid internships have become an omnipresent fixture in the global and Australian labour markets, particularly in the graduate labour market. Key drivers of this internship economy have included the growth of higher education and an increasing emphasis on graduates’ job readiness. To meet the challenges of a crowded labour market and changing employer expectations, employability has become a key focus for higher education institutions, policymakers, and students and graduates themselves. Underpinning an increasing focus on employability are neoliberal policies and settings that have driven job seekers to ‘assume the predominant burden of building their own employability’ (Frenette, 2013, p. 358).

While unpaid internships are purported to build employability, little is known about the lived experiences of interns as it relates to the notion of employability, including interns’ perceptions of the labour market, employer expectations, and their experiences of Australia’s higher education system. To better understand these lived experiences, 38 semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with a diverse range of students and graduates in Australia who had undertaken unpaid internships. I find that structural and external influences and factors undoubtedly impact heavily on interns’ experiences during their internships, and in their interactions with the labour market. This chapter focusses on four integral factors that impact the internship experience and colour interns’ employability-building experiences: interns’ perceptions of a competitive labour market, changing employer expectations, university structures and support, and lastly, a knowledge gap with regards to the regulatory environment, which ought to be further investigated.