An unpaid opportunity asks one person’s future to finance another person’s present work.

Unpaid work is financed by whoever can afford to go without income. The person doing it is paying now against a possible later, and only people with savings or family support can take that bet, which means the opportunity selects for money rather than for ability. Meanwhile the work being done is real and is being used.

If you are being asked to work unpaid, ask what the concrete return is and by when. If you offer such positions, ask who is excluded by the terms and whether a small payment would change that. It usually would, and it usually costs less than assumed.