Big companies advertising for jobs that are unpaid yet require skill/commitment/talent is exploitation. "Paying in experience/exposure" is not payment, it is exploitation. Not everyone is privileged enough to devote hours to specialised work without remuneration. It is wrong. https://twitter.com/smarterscout/status/1329045900644249600

I was fortunate enough to accept unpaid work, with these precise promises. It did not help further my career, it led to me abandoning that 'career' and forced me into work which I had no interest in and which I actively disliked. There is NO benefit to unpaid work, it is a myth.

By all means, work for yourself; start a blog, actively use social media, further your knowledge, pitch ideas to editors, build up relationships. All of that is infinitely more important than giving companies work for free. If you accept this, they know you will expect nothing.

This attitude is precisely why journalism has few to none working class voices. If you aren't lucky enough to be born into money, you simply cannot accept unpaid work. Accepting this depresses the market, lowers standards, lowers pay and excludes others less fortunate. Say NO.

The three most important things to further your career:
- talent (an obvious prerequisite, although comfortably the least important for many careers)
- work ethic (see above)
- luck (unquantifiable, but absolutely crucial)
- contacts (the most important, and linked to the above)

No doubt people will claim how their unpaid work led to opportunities. Ok, so to hell with those who can't accept them? Because that's the market you create. Also, did it *really* benefit you? Setting your price as 0? Closing off other opportunities? That is unquantifiable.