Moritz Erhardt was a student, a highly promising student at that, hailing from Germany he was undertaking an internship which (pro rata) paid £45,000 a year. Unbelievable isn't it? You're right I didn't know internships paid that much either. But at what personal cost does this internship come?
Current reports suggest that Moritz suffered from epilepsy and the late nights he endured at work may have triggered a seizure which killed him.
The late nights we speak of here may be as a result of something in the industry known as "the magic roundabout". This is when a taxi picks you up from work early in the morning after working through the night, and waits outside your house while you shower and get changed to return to work. I would have thought that this would be a secret in the industry, though it seems this isn't the case. A friend of mine who attended only an insight day into the financial sector said they were told about the magic roundabout by someone running the insight day, possibly as a hint towards the hours expected of them if they were to pursue this kind of career.
Before we go any further, I feel it is important to note that this is not a blog to deter you from an internship, but one that will from this point explain to you what you should expect and how to deal with any problems you have.
1) You can leave
Yes, the money is attractive, but if you feel you are being worn down to a point where you're not enjoying yourself anymore, have a word with someone. If you don't feel it can be someone at work, try a family member. Listen to their concerns. You're only an intern so I don't think the option of opting out of the working time directive will have been presented to you yet.. (this is the piece of legislation which says you should work no more than 48 hours a week), so if you're doing more than that or being pushed too hard, look up your rights.
2) You should be getting paid
Some companies argue that an internship is like work experience. No it is not. They are right in that for work experience you don't need to be paid. But if you are doing the job of a permanent employee, i.e. performing the same tasks, you need to be paid. This should also be above or equal to the national minimum wage for your age group which you can find on the www.gov.uk website.
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| Source: www.brightfutures.co.uk |
3) Talk to your University
Most people who complete an internship will tell you it was one of the most worthwhile things they have ever done. It doesn't have to be with a fancy sounding company and you might not get paid the world but you will gain fantastic experience and really grow as a person. If you do get the chance to complete an internship, you could talk to someone at the Careers Service at your university, who may even be able to talk to the employer themselves to keep track on you while you do it or just offer you some advice.
4) You have most of the same rights as other employees..
Ok so you might not be entitled to build up holidays and the rest of it, but remember you can't be discriminated against and you can't be forced to doing tasks you feel do not relate to your role in the company (like the hoovering - unless you're on a cleaning internship). If you feel like something is not quite right, speak to the Human Resources department at the company and let them know your concerns. They should point you in the right direction.
Don't feel you have to see an internship through if you feel it will be of detriment to your health. But do remember, as mentioned earlier, hundreds if not thousands of students every year are treated perfectly well on an internship and are catapulted into the career of their dreams, or at least gain the work experience to put them ahead of other students in a job application process. Don't miss out and follow the advice in this blog; the real value of an internship will be seen in upcoming and previous 'Student of the Week' posts.
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