Afew short months ago, I was in the same shoes as many of you. I was an ambitious student, coffee and newspaper in hand, on the cusp of graduation with a looming anxiety of finding a job. For four years I was told how hard finding a job in “the industry” can be. I refined my resume daily.  I created accounts on various websites to assist in my job search. I was actively involved in extracurricular activities, and I worked hard to earn honors that would help me stand out to recruiters.
  But I didn’t find my dream job a week after graduation. In fact, the majority of the applications I spent hours perfecting were rejected. I was a newlywed in a new city with no leads for employment. I had a hard time sitting still, and I struggled with feeling incompetent. Four months of no luck in the job hunt, I came across an opportunity for an internship with a video production company in the Atlanta area — an unpaid internship. I thought the experience would be strictly educational. I did an unpaid internship in college (although it wasn’t really unpaid — I received college credit) and had a wonderful experience.
   I pictured a flexible schedule with plenty of time and opportunity to still seek a “real” job and learn new skills. I was wrong.
    I did meet a lot of kind people and did learn a few new things, but once my skill set was understood, I went to work for free.
   After a few weeks, I tried discussing why my unpaid internship looked more like a full-time job with my supervisor  and was informed I simply had the wrong attitude about the internship — the supervisor told me I should be grateful for the opportunity to work in the industry instead of being concerned about working for free. So after a month, I quit to seek full-time, paid employment.
   I realize the video production industry is tough, but I’d like to make one thing clear to any of you who are considering an unpaid internship: do not settle for anything less than you deserve. A lot of time, money, sacrifice and investments from many people happened to get where you are right now. Don’t waste your talents.
   If your internship fails to meet the requirements held by the U.S. Department of Labor, the company could be in hot water for a lawsuit. In fact, several companies such as Fox Searchlight Pictures are undergoing lawsuits and appeals from unpaid interns.
   The work I did as an unpaid intern was directly to the benefit of the company. I worked on projects for clients — in fact, one of my first-round draft videos went directly to a client for review. I transcribed interviews. I cleaned dirty cables. I assisted on video shoots. I was even assigned as the “lead editor” on a project. And though I did gain some experience outside of school, the internship wasn’t for my direct benefit — I was told to come in on a weekend if I wanted to learn new software because I had so much “real work” that needed to be done for clients.
   Here’s the part where some of the older people reading this might say, “Oh, you silly little millennial. You just expect everything to be handed to you on a silver platter. You don’t know how to work hard. Why, back in my day…”
  I’d like to think if my great-grand father, a Watkins salesman during the Great Depression, heard his great-granddaughter was working hard for absolutely nothing, he’d be furious.
   We all have to start from the bottom. I get that. We have to work our way up. No one will be a vice president of communication for Turner Broadcasting six months after graduating from college. Dream jobs often don’t come along as quickly as we want them.
   So what do we do in the meantime? We learn new skills. We meet more people. We search for jobs outside our industry that could benefit our futures. Even if you have a degree in mechanical engineering but have a job at a coffee shop, refine your skills and learn from the experience. Practice and perfect the things that will make you a well-rounded individual in any industry.
  Perhaps the most important thing we can do is have patience. For me, that meant listening to my parents. They told me over and over not to stress myself out if I don’t find the perfect job immediately out of college. And seven months after graduating with a degree in communication, I am now a marketing specialist in video production for a non-profit — and I absolutely love my job.