Bank of America interns work on in ‘hostile’ jobs market
22 August 2013
The decision of interns based in London with Bank of America Merrill Lynch to continue their placements even in the aftermath of the death of their colleague Moritz Erhardt shows the attractiveness of the City to young people, despite hostility in the job market, reports the Financial Times.
Thu, 22 Aug 2013
The decision of interns based in London with Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) to continue their placements even in the aftermath of the death of their colleague Moritz Erhardt shows the attractiveness of the City to young people, despite hostility in the job market, reports the Financial Times.
The death of Erhardt last Thursday (15 August) came to the attention of the media this week, prompting debate around the culture of long hours in the City given reports that the 21-year-old German had worked through the night three days in a row before his death.
Today, the FT writes that the “decisions by Moritz Erhardt’s peers to stay on highlights youngsters’ determination to win a passport into that world”, with BAML’s press office telling the paper it was not aware of any intern taking up the offer to end their internships, earlier than the date scheduled, which is tomorrow (23 August).
Yesterday, a BAML spokesperson told recruiter.co.uk that the company was supporting Erhardt’s fellow interns.
But with youth unemployment at such high levels, and the FT claiming that the average real net incomes of Brits in their 20s are now lower than at any point in the new millennium, competition is as fierce as ever for graduate opportunities.
“This kind of economic situation can mean they’re [interns] more open to exploitation or might go the extra mile, not even because it’s being asked of them but because they think that’s what they need to do,” Katerina Rudiger, head of skills and policy campaign of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development tells the paper.
Also speaking to the FT, John Philpott, an economist working for consultancy Jobs Economist, comments: “Right at the height of the crisis, there was a sense that many young people were turning away from finance to more so-called productive activities but, as time has worn on, the imperative to get work and make a decent income seems to have overridden those concerns for the majority.”
While this year saw social enterprise Teach First overtake the Big Four accountants to become the biggest graduate recruiter in the UK, City firms are still hugely oversubscribed for places on graduate and student schemes – although FMCG overtook such firms as the most numerically overwhelmed this year, as recruiter.co.uk reported last month.
One former banker comments: “You’re not being exploited, you are exploiting yourself,” while another investment banking intern tells the FT of her “complete surprise” when on an internship at RBS Capital Markets she found the office “pretty much empty by 10pm”, and was sent home at 7pm after her boss discovered her working all night.
The decision of interns based in London with Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) to continue their placements even in the aftermath of the death of their colleague Moritz Erhardt shows the attractiveness of the City to young people, despite hostility in the job market, reports the Financial Times.
The death of Erhardt last Thursday (15 August) came to the attention of the media this week, prompting debate around the culture of long hours in the City given reports that the 21-year-old German had worked through the night three days in a row before his death.
Today, the FT writes that the “decisions by Moritz Erhardt’s peers to stay on highlights youngsters’ determination to win a passport into that world”, with BAML’s press office telling the paper it was not aware of any intern taking up the offer to end their internships, earlier than the date scheduled, which is tomorrow (23 August).
Yesterday, a BAML spokesperson told recruiter.co.uk that the company was supporting Erhardt’s fellow interns.
But with youth unemployment at such high levels, and the FT claiming that the average real net incomes of Brits in their 20s are now lower than at any point in the new millennium, competition is as fierce as ever for graduate opportunities.
“This kind of economic situation can mean they’re [interns] more open to exploitation or might go the extra mile, not even because it’s being asked of them but because they think that’s what they need to do,” Katerina Rudiger, head of skills and policy campaign of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development tells the paper.
Also speaking to the FT, John Philpott, an economist working for consultancy Jobs Economist, comments: “Right at the height of the crisis, there was a sense that many young people were turning away from finance to more so-called productive activities but, as time has worn on, the imperative to get work and make a decent income seems to have overridden those concerns for the majority.”
While this year saw social enterprise Teach First overtake the Big Four accountants to become the biggest graduate recruiter in the UK, City firms are still hugely oversubscribed for places on graduate and student schemes – although FMCG overtook such firms as the most numerically overwhelmed this year, as recruiter.co.uk reported last month.
One former banker comments: “You’re not being exploited, you are exploiting yourself,” while another investment banking intern tells the FT of her “complete surprise” when on an internship at RBS Capital Markets she found the office “pretty much empty by 10pm”, and was sent home at 7pm after her boss discovered her working all night.
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