Applying Internships

Many undergraduates work as interns during their school breaks, typically from end May to early August period, which is the local universities' long break. Doing internships or industrial attachments will help the students to gain valuable job experience, to have a first hand experience of the kind of job they want to do after graduation, and also increase the chance of being recruited upon graduation by the companies at which they interned. One may choose to intern during the long break just after Year 1, 2 or 3 (assuming it is a 4-year course). However, opportunities are most aplenty for Year 3 students, as large organisations are recruiting potential employees to join their companies after the students have graduated. One may apply for internships through his university, or directly to the companies.

Recruitment process may start as early as 9 or 6 months before the internship. For instance, Lim Min has started to apply for May - Aug 2016 internship period in Aug-Dec 2015. Companies (with either local or overseas attachments) that she had applied include: Jane Street, Facebook, Google, Merck Sharp & Dohme, P & G, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, GIC, Merrill Lynch Bank of America. Most of the intern jobs that she has applied fall under Tech Professional or Software Engineer category. After going through many, many rounds of selection tests and interviews, she has had some rejections and offers.

Interestingly, these companies offer successful interns a wide salary range, it may be from as low as S$800 per month to as much as above S$10,000 per month.

After much consideration, Lim Min has decided to accept the offer from GIC.