Photo: Image Source/REX USA.
Condé Nast has had quite the tumultuous year with its internship program. It's facing two lawsuits from former interns, along with harsh criticism of its decision to stop paying interns altogether. And now, the publishing company has announced that it will terminate its internship program entirely next year.
Current interns are unaffected by this change, but no new interns will be hired, beginning in 2014. Can you hear that noise, there? It's the panicked screams of editors anticipating doing their own research, going on their own coffee runs, and organizing their own fashion closets.
And sure, internships in general can sometimes include menial tasks (much like grabbing coffee and running errands), but they also offer solid work experience to college students (and sometimes recent grads). Not to mention the fact that they can be the proverbial foot in the door in a lot of cases. In the past few years, internships have become an essential resume booster in the competitive realm of fashion and journalism in NYC. So yes, Condé Nast's decision to end the program may have stemmed from the ongoing controversy, but now, it's creating fresh concerns around the lost opportunities for so many students. Yep, this changes everything. (WWD)