SINGAPORE — For the last two years of his university studies, Mr Andrew William strategically scheduled his timetable to maximise most of his time outside class taking up internship stints.
While educational institutes have long emphasised the importance of and helped students secure internships, students are growing increasingly hungry for more internship opportunities outside of school requirements.
The rest of the internship stints? Mr William, a Singapore permanent resident who graduated in 2022, had taken them up on his own initiative. While arming himself with 10 internships might seem like overkill to an earlier generation of undergraduates, Mr William — who now works as a management consultant at an American consultancy firm — is part of a growing number of students who have joined the “rat race” for internships even before completing their paper chase at universities and polytechnics.Mr Andrew William completed 10 internships — although only one stint was a graduation requirement.
One such business based in Hong Kong, called IBankCoaching, states on its website that it provides job tracking support for internships and “insider tips” to ace interviews with companies such as Goldman Sachs, Blackrock and DBS. Temasek Polytechnic’s director of student support and career services Samuel Wee said that internships allow students to establish connections with professionals and peers in their field and gain “valuable insights, guidance and potential job prospects, as many employers view internships as a pipeline for talent acquisition”.
Ms Louisa Lau, director of Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Office of Immersion and Careers, added that the polytechnic has education and career coaches who run clinics and coaching sessions to “help students build their confidence when applying for internships and enhance their employability”, among other initiatives to help prepare students for these work stints.
“Even within a particular sector, the differences in companies that operate in the space may be useful for graduates to observe and learn best practices. So, multiple internships are recommended in general for all young people to build a strong foundation for their future careers,” said Ms Prasanthi.
“Companies are finding different methods to get talents… such as through case competition where people can showcase their knowledge,” said Mr Koh, who is currently on his fourth internship stint, as an automation intern at a bank. Not wanting to miss out on any time to intern, Ms Noreen has been searching for an internship opportunity in Singapore while she is back in the country for the first time since she started her university studies.
Barely a month into his internship now, the 26-year-old told TODAY he has plans for a fifth internship later in the year — in New York. Mr William, the consultant who took on 10 internships, acknowledged that he might be among those who have spurred the “rat race” that has made internship programmes more competitive. But he said it was a necessity as he wanted to pursue a career that differed from his studies.
The NUS business administration student is currently a client and markets intern for professional services network Deloitte. She started her internship journey with startups, before securing stints with bigger companies like Deloitte and management consultancy BCG X. But not all interns go unpaid though — schools often have a recommended allowance. At NUS, the recommended allowance is at least S$800 to S$1,000.Interning at a top firm also has its perks monetary-wise. The Business Times reported in 2017 that the monthly internship pay can be up to S$10,000 at firms like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.
Beyond that, these opportunities also allow them to make career changes, gain work experience and gain expert knowledge from mentors during the internship. “These internships are definitely of value as they are often competitive to get and increasingly are scrutinised by governments or certain bodies to ensure they are not exploitative and give the intern good exposure,” he said.These systems, which recruiters and employers use to manage job applicants, might rank candidates with such coveted internships higher — meaning they have a higher chance of getting an interview with the respective companies.
“Companies should also offer feedback through regular performance reviews to help interns grow… and provide exposure to different aspects of the business,” he added. Company reviews and testimonials from former interns may also help students to decide if a particular internship is suitable for them. “Internships are also networking opportunities since you can build connections with people in the industry,” said Mr Wong Wai Fai, 25, an NUS final-year business administration student.
“It’s not really healthy to be in this perpetual state of grinding and hustling it out… not forgetting you’re just going to be doing that for the rest of your career.” In Ms Lim's case, the NUS student had taken on a part-time internship but found herself working more days and hours than she agreed upon.
— including one user who worked at a Singapore firm that had interns do most of the human resource work, and another who would run errands for their boss.
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