Internships - overrated?

What is the obsession with internships? Interns are people who (supposedly) work temporarily at a company for about 6 - 12 weeks or more. These interns may or may not be paid (if they are it’s usually only about $500-600 a month, $800-$1200 if you’re lucky), as the whole point of an internship is not working, but rather learning from working.

I think in Singapore the value of internships is (generally) overrated. How many of you have interned at a company, only to end up doing administrative or clerical work for the entire time you’re there? How many of you have gone through an internship and thought it was a complete waste of time?

Yet internships remain vastly high in demand by students who falsely think that having an internship, or more, listed on your resume or a curriculum vita at the end of the day is going to look impressive. Although quantity is good at first glance, one must not think that companies are not competent enough to actually sieve through what is written on your resume/curriculum vitae. Don’t forget that you will usually have to give a brief outline of your duties while interning. I hardly think clerical duties rank highly on the “impress me” scale.

Singaporean students, why so kiasu? Pick your battles, or in this case your internships, wisely.

Don’t get me mistaken; it’s not that I think internships are a waste of time. On the contrary, I think internships provide a really good opportunity for undergrads to educate themselves in whatever field they choose to do their internship in, whilst studying at the same time. It’s a great opportunity to reconcile the theory you learn in school, with the practical “real world”. What I feel, however, is that (on your part) you should pick your internships properly before going into them. Companies should also place more confidence in their interns. They are after all, there to learn.

Overall, internships, in my opinion do benefit both parties (intern and company).

For the intern, you not only get a remuneration (sometimes) for your work, you also (presumably in an ideal scenario) get the opportunity to challenge yourself. You get to attempt to break boundaries and improve your knowledge on the economy and the dynamics of business. You are given the chance to hone your skills, both hard and soft. All this takes place under the mentorship of an experience person – which means you get guidance for your tasks. There is no doubt that you can accomplish all this by simply trial and error when you start work and an internship is not needed. Consider though, the advantage you would have, however slight, if you have already surpassed the stage of growth where you are crawling on all fours, and begin at the stage where you start to walk on your own two feet whilst others around you struggle. Internships not only offer these, but may also offer different perspectives to situations that may inspire a business idea later on.

For the company, you not only get a pair of extra hands and a brain, you also receive value for money in terms of your cost for hiring the intern. This deal is made even sweeter if your intern is not to receive financial remuneration in the form of a monthly salary! Companies should also consider the fresh perspectives interns can offer. Sometimes staying immersed in an industry wires your brain so it’s difficult to come up with new innovative concepts. Interns may offer the “why not this” perspective, which may pay off. Perhaps another benefit to companies who hire interns is the possibility of interns applying to be full timers after graduation. Having interned with you before, you would have a better idea on the type of person you would be hiring – his/her strengths or weaknesses, and how beneficial you think this individual would be to the company. Interviews, after all, can only reveal so much with strangers. Having interns apply to become full time staff not only equips you with better knowledge during the selection process, but also cuts down on your cost to advertise on your job vacancies.

I don’t think the demand for internships by students is going to drop anytime soon with the cultural “attitude” of kiasu-ism involved. I don’t think students are going to stop doing internships and hope to learn something useful. What I do think is that companies offering internships should allow their interns to go beyond clerical duties and really get a taste of the corporate lifestyle.

Students should not be too dismayed if they do not have an internship reflected on their resume/curriculum vitae at the end of the day either. It’s really not the end of the world.