I came across this article Work for Free that got me thinking.
The goal of every employer is to gain
more value from workers than the firm
pays out in wages; otherwise, there is
no growth, no advance, and no
advantage for the employer.
Conversely, the goal of every employee
should be to contribute more to the
firm than he or she receives in wages,
and thereby provide a solid rationale
for receiving raises and advancement
in the firm.
I don't need to tell you that the
refusenik didn't last long in this
job.
In contrast, here is a story from last
week. My phone rang. It was the
employment division of a major
university. The man on the phone was
inquiring about the performance of a
person who did some site work on
Mises.org last year. I was able to
tell him about a remarkable young man
who swung into action during a crisis,
and how he worked three 19-hour days,
three days in a row, how he learned
new software with diligence, how he
kept his cool, how he navigated his
way with grace and expertise amidst
some 80 different third-party plug-ins
and databases, how he saw his way
around the inevitable problems, how he
assumed responsibility for the
results, and much more.
What I didn't tell the interviewer was
that this person did all this without
asking for any payment. Did that fact
influence my report on his
performance? I'm not entirely sure,
but the interviewer probably sensed in
my voice my sense of awe toward what
this person had done for the Mises
Institute. The interviewer told me
that he had written down 15 different
questions to ask me but that I had
answered them all already in the
course of my monologue, and that he
was thrilled to hear all these
specifics.
The person was offered the job. He had
done a very wise thing; he had earned
a devotee for life.
The harder the economic times, the
more employers need to know what they
are getting when they hire someone.
The job applications pour in by the
buckets, all padded with degrees and
made to look as impressive as
possible. It's all just paper. What
matters today is what a person can do
for a firm. The resume becomes pro
forma but not decisive under these
conditions. But for a former boss or
manager to rave about you to a
potential employer? That's worth
everything.
What do you think? Has anyone here worked for free? If so, has it benefited you in any way? Why should(nt) you work for free (presuming you have the money from other means to keep you going)? Can you share your experience?
Me, I am taking a year out of college and haven't gotten a degree yet so that's probably why most of my job applications are getting ignored. So im thinking about working for free for the experience?
