For all the hand-wringing over the plight of the unpaid intern, let us turn our attention to the small group of lucky young professionals who find internships that pay more than many full-time positions.
Interns at the 25 best-paying companies earn an average monthly wage of between $4,604 and $6,704, according to a list provided by jobs site Glassdoor.com. For context, the average U.S. household pulls in about $4,400 monthly, based on U.S. Census Bureau data.
While no sensible person complains about getting paid a lot, money doesn’t, as the saying goes, buy happiness. For instance, Scottrade, one of the highest-rated companies in terms of interns’ satisfaction, only has an average base pay of about $1,800. Only five of the 20 best-rated companies also ranked among the highest-paying. “Compensation does not equate to 100 percent employee satisfaction,” says Scott Dobroski, a spokesman for Glassdoor. “Company culture is a strong piece, as is commute, how they feel about co-workers, and feeling like their work matters.” Surely, though, one can find some meaning for $6,700 a month.
So who’s paying up? “In tech and finance, the war for talent continues to be fierce, and it’s not so surprising that the war for talent is fierce at the intern level,” says Dobroski. “Why not tap the best young minds right out of the gate?”
Here’s the list, lowest to highest:
25. Qualcomm: $4,604
24. Bank of America: $4,605
23. SAP: $4,615
22. BP: $4,631
21. BlackRock: $4,698
20. Intel: $4,836
19. Tagged: $4,909
18. Capital One: $4,930
17. Deutsche Bank: $4,943
16. Shell Oil US: $4,975
15. Chevron: $4,999
14. PayPal: $5,060
13. Yahoo: $5,063
12. Apple: $5,277
11. Nvidia: $5,286
10. Amazon: $5,436
9. ConocoPhillips: $5,607
8. Microsoft: $5,847
7. Adobe: $5,861
6. LinkedIn: $5,866
5. Google: $5,891
4. Facebook: $6,084
3. ExxonMobil: $6,268
2. EBay: $6,500
1. VMware: $6,704
The figures are based on 13,500 intern reviews of 6,600 companies between January 2011 and January 2013. Reviews can be submitted by anyone who works as an intern at the company, from college students to grad school graduates and professionals making a career change. Only companies with 10 or more intern salary reports from that period were included. The average monthly base pay among surveyed interns was $4,200.
