Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy, by Ross Perlin, 2011.

Just on impulse I picked this book up at Barnes & Noble because my college-age daughter and niece were both starting internships here in Reno in June. In this brand new book, Perlin examines the explosion of the internship phenomena.

He delves into the history of unpaid employment – why young, aspiring people want these experiences and what they are willing to do to have these connections listed on their future resumes. But Perlin also exposes another side of this “contingency labor” – the trend for non-profits and mega companies to replace paid employees with either non-paid interns or minimum wage interns.

The chapter on the Walt Disney Corporation is fascinating. Perlin gives us a lot to think about as we launch these college kids into the real world of work.