Why did my job hire me?
Hi y'all, I've read all the rules and I hope this applies, not sure where else to post.
I've recently been hired at a small company that sells HR services to bigger companies. I'm still finishing my studies so when I applied I specified that I had no previous experiences and that all I was looking for was a place to “learn on the field” and improve my soft skills. Still, I got hired with an apprentship contract (4 hours a day, 5 days a week) for small money, but money is not the issue. I was really happy!
At first it seemed I was just gonna be producing content for our training programs – leadership, communication skills and whatnot – but soon after meeting me in person my boss (who happens to be the founder of the company) switched gears. He assigned me a huge project whit a workload I just can't deal with on my 4 hours a day schedule and a lot of responsabilities.
He keeps telling me how important this project is and giving me new deadlines – even asking me to work overtime with no pay – and I'm starting to feel like I'm just not competent enough to do what he is asking me. No one else at my company works on the project directly, but I talk to a lot other people at other companies which serve as “content advisors” and help me manage the project.
What is going on here? I've asked friends and family and they assure me they must've seen something in me and are testing me, but as I see it they are basically setting me up for failure! There's no way a student who works 4 hours a day can manage to complete this kind of project in time.
To people that are going to say “they are trying to get you to quit”, it's really easy to fire interns in my country, they could do it real easy and without any reason other than “we don't think you fit”. Also, a lot is riding on this project.
What is your opinion, reddit?