Once upon a time (starting about 1088 AD), before job postings and corporate networks, there were guilds. According to good old Google, the first guild was that of a network of students in the area of Bologna in Italy, soon thereafter in Oxford in England, and Paris in France (though, in France, they called themselves masters rather than students). The very first guilds were more like clubs gathering people of related interests. If one considers it, a university is actually a situation where people wanting to learn, or to teach, are gathered. Over the next couple of hundred years, guilds grew in scope and division and split between merchant guilds and crafts guilds.
[Note that I use the word "master" in this blog because that is the term that has been used throughout history. Usage has expanded meaning, and not always in positive ways, and people should substitute the alternative word of their choosing.]
A merchant guild was a combination of an incorporation, a self-insuring entity, a network of contacts, and mutual security. As merchant classes grew, and changed, they became the representatives of the merchant class to the highest authorities (usually part of the royalty as allocated to the area) and ended up creating political offices and organizations needed for city services as well as support of merchants in-town and importing/exporting. They often interacted closely with the craft guilds (as follows).
The other branch of guilds -- more directly relevant to this blog -- were the craft guilds. They were composed of people jointly working with, or around, a particular substance or product. Thus, there were guilds for those that worked with metal -- possibly refined to working with copper or some other specific metal. Weavers were an early guild as everyone in Europe needed clothing and fabric. And to clothe the feet -- leatherworking guilds and shoemaking guilds. There were guilds for jewelry, bakers, cabinetmakers, sculptors, armourers, and many other aspects of everyday life. Some guilds split and some aggregated depending on the differences in products and numbers of members.
Guilds started small (even if split off from another guild). They could provide protection for the members -- both price and physical protection (during transport and from thievery). Quality could be monitored and enforced -- stabilizing prices and ensuring respectability and status. They often became effective monopolies with those inherent advantages and disadvantages (primarily to consumers).
As they grew -- like most (but not all) organizations -- class lines stratified within the guilds and the purpose of the organization shifted to being primarily to maintain the organization and secondarily the product and craftspeople. Conflicts arose from the desire to split off from the original guild or desire to create new guilds working with associated, but not original, products. New positions became hereditary within families rather than allowing social movement and employment of interested people. Social restrictions were enforced -- facilitating discrimination against women and those not presently in favor. More aspects of guilds -- particularly in the Medieval times in Europe -- can be found here.
When a new person wanted to learn a craft, they were brought in (sometimes "bought" in via contributions from a wealthy family with too many sons) at a beginning level as an "apprentice". As an apprentice, it was expected that a person would slowly learn the craft. At first, they were primarily used as janitors and gofers. As time proceeded, they would interact with the "master" (person under whom they were apprenticed) or an experienced journeyman (still under supervision of the master) to start working with the product. Finally, they would work directly under the guidance of the master on products. At this stage, they were considered journeypeople.
The final jump between being a journeyperson and a master normally included a project, and examination, which was evaluated not only by their master but also a group of other masters within the guild. A person had to become a master in order to take on apprentices -- which allowed increased production (and profits). This can be directly related to current academic procedures of a student working on, and submitting, a Master's Thesis to obtain a master's degree.
Once admitted into an apprenticeship (which might have required some fee if not family), the apprentice was under the care of the master. The master must provide proper housing (which might be some straw by the furnace or oven), food, and clothing. As they became journeypeople they might also be given some type of wages. Much of this was regulated by the guild as a whole.
Within the United States, guilds never took hold much -- perhaps because many of the immigrants were seeking to leave older practices. Some of the service organizations (Rotary Club, USO, Lions Club International, Kiwanis, ...), professional organizations (Authors Guild, American Bar Association, National Association of Realtors, ...) and other loosely craft-oriented organizations (such as Freemasons, Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks, Knights of Columbus, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, ...) may have some correspondence to guilds -- with combinations of attributes of both merchant and craft guilds. In some areas of Europe, guilds still exist and have some strength.
So now we leap into current times. Rather than apprentices, we have interns. Interns often have the same type of progression from apprentices (janitorial and gofer) to journeypeople (actually working on products). Duties depend strongly on the type of work. Interns who are immediately able to work are often paid -- this usually means that they are in the midst of some academic training. Some internships are not paid. These are often positions with a lot of competition to fill the positions -- few openings, many wanting them.
Unpaid internships strongly favor those from financially strong supportive families which, thus, has considerable social impact -- helping to perpetuate income classes. Paid internships can do the reverse -- allowing those, from less financially strong families, to have a chance to show their abilities. The individual ("master") or corporation ("sponsor") no longer directly promises support of the intern/apprentice -- if they are paid, they can support themselves from that pay. If they are not paid, they must support themselves through savings or by support from others.
There is a trend away from traditional academic certification as qualification for positions -- especially technical positions. It is recognized that there are many different routes to obtain knowledge and experience. Internships can be of assistance to verify ability before making a commitment to hire people. But, in order to access all of the available pools of abilities, it is necessary to eliminate those aspects that are NOT connected to job performance. This means that some type of support needs to be made during the internship whether that is a minimal salary or provision of food and shelter (assuming that the internship period is short enough to not need additional clothing).
This shift in direction has some positive aspects -- but only if done the correct way. Our educational institutions are still relevant -- but they need to interconnect with our economy and businesses. Internships can be a good way to bring more people's abilities into the economy -- but it needs to be done in a way that focuses on ability rather than extraneous things.
