I've been specializing in my field for the last 7 years. I graduated with honors and summa cum laude from the world no.3 university in my field of specialty. I won two scholarships, got two research projects funded. Including one from my PhD which is now paying for two phd researchers, with an extra 50k for my now ex university to blow on equipment. I've co- organized the world's biggest conference in my field of research for the last couple of years. Completed 5 massive research projects, some of which ended up on the news.
I've been searching for my next steps out of academia into industry for a while. I'm quite specialized in my field, so I approached the largest industrial partner in this field who have a global reach and by far the biggest market share of the particular area of interest.
Their reply ? Our procedure is that when hiring international applications (I'm from the EU, applying within another EU country), we always start with a 6 month unpaid internship for people to integrare into our culture. I speak 4 languages, English being my native one. The company is English speaking too. I've lived in 4 countries so am well traveled. Of course I politely declined. The kicker – their company website brag about how they're set on investing into third world countries, and so proud of having such a diverse team of people from all around the world. Yeah, I get why – cheap labour.
Ironically, I've accepted a job which is located 30minutes away from the place. Amazing salary in an amazing startup tech. This b.s of unpaid internships, especially from companies making millions in revenue, is a joke.