Well said! I even have right on my website that I do not accept interns and am not hiring, and I still get emails and calls all the time. I work alone and run my business by myself. And yes, I get the impression all the time that it's high school or college girls who think it would be fun to learn all about cake decorating for free. Agree that the best thing to do would be to take classes, practice, learn everything you can on your own, and then aply as a decorator. I paid thousands of dollars to learn the things I know. I'm not going to give that away for free.

SIGH. What happened to each one teach one? Sadly, I have learned the hard way that most people are just not willing to help others or share knowledge. Yes, I realize that most of us have spent countless $ and hours learning our craft but why is it that so many feel indignant (or maybe threatened) when someone wants to learn from us (beyond the walls of cakecentral)? I understand being too busy to teach someone with NO experience but what about someone who truly shows promise who already has some experience and just wants to get better? About 6 months ago, I actually PM'd a user on here in my area and asked if she could use an intern, willing to do grunt work, and no response. I've been decorating over 3 years and clearly have some knowledge of what I'm doing and I figured it could be a win win situation. I'd learn some advanced techniques from an amazing decorator and she'd get FREE help doing things that would be a big time saver to her. I know I for one would love a deal like that if it came along...

And to the OP, yes you should know that interns (I was one) are usually given all the grunt work. It's sad really because (and this is in every field) interns are under utilized and are just viewed as free or cheap labor and given the jobs no one wants to do.

It's not necessarily that people don't want to share their knowledge, but people need to keep in mind that having an intern doesn't necessarily relieve you of a lot of work. It often creates more as you suddenly have someone else to manage and teach while you still have to get your regular work done. It's basically like having a free short-term employee. That's great on paper, but that employee still has to go through the training period that every new employee would, and soon after that you have to start all over with a new employee. That takes time, and not everyone has the time to devote to someone's free training.

I also work out of my home, like I mentioned before, so it isn't practical to have an intern. My work time is completely scattered, so there's no way to set a schedule. I'll be glad to teach people, but it will be at a time that I set and it will be at a class that they pay for

Heh heh, I don't know if I'm supposed to have employees or not, but if someone wants to intern with me they can come on over and do my laundry, take out the garbage and clean the bathrooms, which are some of the glamorous and super-fun things that I do in between cake stuff. That's part of the joy of working from home!

The difference in this situation is that the skills needed to succeed in cake decorating are not easily transferable from other industries and are difficult to practice on your own sustainably.

You can read at home about printers and how they work and have a good enough understanding of the technology to hit the ground running. You can read about cake decorating and working with fondant all you want, but until you start practicing on real cake you will never get any better.

Apprenticeship programs where interns build their skills by working with master craftsmen for little or no pay have existed in one form or another since the Middle Ages.

Uh no. My DH has his master in CS. You can not hit the ground running at the level he has. You are aiming way too low here. And frankly I find that statement ridiculous.

And yes the skills for cake decorating are easily transferrable. Just last night on Challenge two of the assistants were sculptors. I believe that if someone is skilled in working with their hand in other art mediums, they can do well in cake decorating.

Duh on the cake thing. Anyone can buy fondant at your local craft store. There is more to cake decorating than that.

And thank god this is not the middle ages any more. Thst is comparing apples to oranges IMO.

I'm not getting your point at all, other than you like to argue your point to death all the time, whether you are right or not.

That's a good point...although sculpting is another industry where much of the experience is gained through apprenticeships.

You asked how the cake decorating business is different from working with printers, I was giving my opinion. As you've seen, it's difficult to get hired in this business without a portfolio showing your work. If you can find a paid position to help you build your skills, that's great, but for most people the choice is between working an unpaid internship (which only costs you your time) and making cakes on your own (which costs you time and a non-trivial amount of money).

In the computer science field, the tools necessary to learn on your own are very inexpensive and often free. Of course once you past a certain point specialized experience becomes important, but we're talking about getting your foot in the door here, not master's level work.

And yes, I do like arguing my point, as long as others respond with their own points instead of ad hominem attacks. That's why I participate in a discussion group.

But you're talking about someone looking for a paid job, which is different from someone looking for an internship. Interships are set up so that you do learn for free...Of course, the business owner gets the value of the work that you do, but it isn't as easy as that if you're the owner. I'd point to the things that other people have noted, like the insurance to back that up.

I do think that people who are looking for internships have a good intention, but they probably don't realize that it takes work to train an intern. They're going into it from a different perspective than the person who hires them.

I also know some local people who do take interns, but they use them as basically free slave labor. There's one person who isn't a very good decorator, but he takes interns from cake decorating programs so that he can use the skills that they have. They won't end up learning a bit from him, but he sure does benefit from them being able to decorate better than he does! It's not always beneficial to the intern.

Not in all states. Business owners do not have to have a policy for others in some states, and there are no penalties where it isn't required.

Learn something new every day...I thought it was required in all states. Here is a list of workers comp info by state:
http://www.ic.nc.gov/ncic/pages/all50.htm

Even if it's not required, having worker's comp coverage is still a very good idea, since in all states you are held personally liable for your employees' and interns' on-the-job injuries.

I believe that you and I have gone over this already. I'm surprised how quickly it was forgotten. (I guess that means you don't hold a grudge!)

"could be" held liable in court.

WC is available in all states, however, it isn't required in all states if you have fewer than a certain number of employees.

If a state does not require a WC policy and an employee or intern gets injured at an employer without WC coverage, I don't think the state would get involved at all (aside from the judicial system in the case of a lawsuit). Even when the employer has a WC policy, the transaction would be between the employee and the WC insurer, the state would only get involved (by fining the employer) if WC was required and the employer did not have it.

The employee or intern, upon hearing that WC was not available, would either file a claim with their own health insurance policy (if any) and/or sue the employer. The employer would be responsible for paying the medical bills out of pocket if and only if the employee can prove negligence on the part of the employer, but the employer may still be held partially liable depending on the circumstances of the injury. The employee can also recover "pain and suffering" damages and punitive damages if the situation warrants.

If the employer has WC coverage and the employee is covered under the WC policy, the employee cannot sue the employer in the case of an on-the-job accident.

We pay ~$400/year for a WC policy that covers only our unpaid intern. WC is one of those things that most people will probably never need, but if you don't have it, a single accident can potentially ruin your business.

Source: http://www.workerscompensationlawfirms.com/workplace-injury-claims/slip-and-fall-injuries.htm

If the employer has WC, the WC policy underwriter pays.

If the employer does not have WC, the employee pays (either through their own insurance or out of pocket) and then sues the employer to recover the costs.