A New York-based firm allegedly put up a listing for an internship where the intern is to pay $15 per hour to work for them. They called this the reverse financed internship. Working as an unpaid intern has been heard of and is quite common. However, a reverse internship, which mandates the employee, to pay to work at the company is rare. So rare that it is actually false.
According to reports, the internship listing was taken down but its screenshot has been widely shared by many social media handles, including some verified ones. But a quick Google search for the term Reverse Financed Internship reveals articles and the exact same listing dating back to 2020.
Old job listing goes viral again, in 2021
Once the screenshot of the job listing was posted on Twitter, multiple users came forward with their own stories and instances when companies had asked them to pay to work with them. Many people also found nothing wrong with the idea of paying to do an internship, stating that it's still very common and that they had to pay much more than $15 during their internship.
On the other hand, many users seemed outraged at the illogical nature behind the reverse internship method.
Fact check
International Business Times looked deeper into the claim made in the viral job listing screenshot. As it appears, the job listing is fake and no such job opening was available in a New York-based company. While the posting itself is real, although deleted, the job and the company are fake. The company, Eisele & Stern, which supposedly put up the ad, doesn't exist.
The job listing was posted on the Indeed Support platform, which deleted the said listing last year itself and a clarification was issued in the same regard.
Seeing all the evidence, it is clear that the listing is fake and no such internship position with a so-called Reverse Financed Internship model is available in the US.
