The summer vacation can present an array of opportunities: travelling, interning, completing work experience, or just taking some time out. But how you spend the vacation is increasingly regarded as being vital to securing your place in the graduate job market and improving your prospects. As Paul Redmond argues on his blog, work experience is key to entering the job market, with almost half of all leading graduate recruiters saying they would be unlikely to recruit students who lack work experience. Some internships on offer are paid, but the unpaid and low-paid internships or work experience out there provide a dangerous gamble for many students.

Unpaid internships are the stuff of potential nightmares. They contribute to the stagnation of social mobility which is a profoundly serious thing, and perpetuate the existence of the ‘glass-ceiling’ between wealthier middle-class students and their less privileged peers. The expenses associated with an unpaid or low-paid internship almost immediately prevents those from a lower socio-economic background from applying. Another consideration is the necessity of paid work during the vacation. Many students spend their summer vacations working in order to support themselves financially during the academic year, and an unpaid internship could mean forgoing this either entirely or in part. If you spend six weeks perfecting the morning coffee-run and not much else, then you may have little to show for your time, except for financial set-back.

In 2014 the Sutton Trust released a report on long-term graduate internships, those that last months rather than weeks, and concluded that only ‘the wealthy’ are able to absorb the costs of unpaid internships. The report recommended that the national minimum wage be paid for placements lasting over a month. Similarly, in 2015 Ed Miliband pledged that Labour would ensure internships lasting over four weeks would pay the national minimum wage. Recently, the Labour leader candidate Andy Burnham pledged in his manifesto that he too would ban unpaid internships.

Though much of the controversy surrounding unpaid internships focuses on the type of long-term internships discussed in the Sutton Trust report, the same issues are surely still applicable to unpaid internships for undergraduates. Four-week, eight-week or twelve-week internships are still a substantial block of time and, as such, will have similarly substantial costs. My four-week internship at a charity in London was only made possible through financial assistance from my college, and family who let me stay with them. For students who have little disposable income, choices are limited. Even with grants and bursaries the high cost of renting in London, where most major internships are located, can make it almost impossible to secure accommodation. Commuting is often out of the question, both financially and logistically.

In a climate where a degree is no longer enough, students are increasingly aware of the importance of work experience in order to be more successful in their applications for graduate jobs. Though an internship will not guarantee you a graduate job, it will get your foot in the door and should enhance your CV with new skills and experiences. The experience gained during an internship can prove invaluable when filling out application forms, especially the competency and skills based questions.

Yet we lack a level playing field in terms of access to internships and work experience, and we will continue to do so as long as socio-economic background governs our life options. The impressive work that is being done to address educational inequality and to improve access to higher education risks being undermined if we cannot extend social mobility right through the higher education system to graduate prospects. Unpaid internships are just one part of this, but they are very dangerous and highly significant.

@shona_whatford