By day, he was mostly an unpaid intern, getting a glimpse of day-to-day life in university research as he networked with potential employers.
Nightfall would often send him rushing to his second shift; this time, at a library in the suburbs of Paris as he strives to pay his bills.
“You work for your internship and then you work for money,” said Lucas, 27, after wrapping up a string of internships that stretched across five months.
The internships, one unpaid and the other providing a token €400 (£344) a month, chipped away at his savings from summer jobs and forced him to keep a constant watch on his spending.
“I buy a lot of rice,” he said, laughing. “They say you’re lucky to have an internship – but you’re paying for that luck and prestige because you cut back on food or other things.”
What we see is that, many times, they [internships] are actually replacing entry-level jobsTea Jarc, of the European Trade Union Confederation
It’s a reality that has become increasingly common for young people as unpaid internships boom across much of the world. But in the EU – where the parliament has repeatedly described unpaid internships as a “form of exploitation of young workers and a violation of their rights” – relief may soon be on the way.
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