I'm worried about coming off as presumptuous, but at the same time it's a significant factor in deciding what internship offer to accept, as quite often an intern receives and accepts a full-time offer at the place they interned. From the company's perspective, however, asking about this likely comes across negatively, as I have not yet had the chance to work with them, so they wouldn't know whether or not they indeed want me as a full-time employee. So is it ever appropriate to ask about full-time compensation after receiving an internship offer? And if so, how would I phrase the question delicately?
2 Answers
So is it ever appropriate to ask about full-time compensation after receiving an internship offer?
If you are thinking of asking "what is your starting salary for converted interns" than the answer is "no".
You can (and should) ask about hiring policies for interns up front. Some companies do convert interns, others do not and that can change over time (based in business needs and budget).
You can look up typical salaries and compensation satisfaction and sites like salary.com, glassdoor.com, etc. Salaries are freshers are pretty standard, so chances that you will find large variances there are small.
However, the money discussion should not start until there is serious talk about an offer for full time employment which would only happen towards the end of your internship.
It's entirely reasonable to want to know whether a company is merely offering some initial commercial experience in exchange for cheap labour, or is running a program to identify it's future junior hires. Something along the lines of following would indicate your interest in a permanent role without being presumptuous about your performance leading to an offer.
I'm hoping to find an internship with the potential to lead to a permanent full time job. Does that happen at [company name]? If it does, could you tell me a bit about the salary range and other terms and conditions for your junior employees please?
