Honestly, I can’t say I’ve been in any Singapore
internship at all, as I was from the private school sector after my ‘O’
levels (and totally proud of that fact, please). With the current education
system which churns out so many graduates of outstanding grades, you would
think that interns would all be very good workers.
Erm, wrong. Good
grades doesn’t equate to good workers. Instead, having the right attitude and mindset does.
Meme from memecreator
I have worked with many interns every year for
about 3 years now, here’s some tips and pointers I would like to share,
which I kinda learnt the hard way when I just started working.
Take the pointers with a pinch of salt though. It may or may not reflect your corporate situation, but here's what I've put together after gathering some feedback around too:
Meme from Imgur
Meme from Keep-Calm-o-matic
1.
Show some enthusiasm. Please.
Simply put, be more proactive.
You’ve just started out in the workforce, where's your energy? Be more enthusiastic. Probably also shouldn’t show your seniors
that you’re more bored than them already. If you find what you’re doing is
really boring, speak with your supervisor and see if there’s anything you can
help them with. They will be more than happy to delegate, I’m sure.
2.
Think your ideas through before proposing them
at all.
Before any proposal, please think
it through. I have people coming up to me thinking ideas without thinking of any specifics of execution behind the idea. When you propose something, think of the feasibility. If you're not sure, discuss with your superior to see if it'll work.
Meme from Memecreator
3.
Don’t grumble. Seriously.
Many times, interns keep
complaining to me that they have a lot of work. Seriously? Don’t. To put it
bluntly, if you can’t handle your internship workload, what makes you think that
you can take up anything more than that? I watched a huge Hong Kong super star's (I can't remember if it was Simon Yam or Tony Leung) playback interview a couple of years back. He shares that when you're a newbie, you need to learn to take up jobs. Many of them, and learn. And learn. And learn again. Until you're an expert in them. When you're an expert, that's when you can choose your jobs.
4.
Don’t try to fly before you even can walk.
I’ve met some interns who totally
reject every correction shared with them. There is always something to learn. Look,
you may be smart. But that, like I said, isn’t everything. Chinese people have
a great saying, “Wanting to fly even before you can walk”. Don’t get caught up
thinking that you know everything, because if you do, that’s when your mind
will start to reject some great things you can learn from experienced folks who
have been around. Don’t miss out that.
Meme from Memecreator
5.
“Hey, is that work already completed?”
Many times, I had to chase interns
for work. Put yourself in this scenario, if you had to complete a teamwork
project and delegated a portion to your team member to complete by a certain deadline,
but hears nothing from them after that, not even an update, how would you feel?
Would you think that they are being responsible or irresponsible? Even if they
could not finish it by the deadline, don’t you think that a mature thing to do
would be to update the team? Well, it’s the same back in the office. Don’t
make your superiors chase you for work. It reflects badly on your efficiency level too. They will appreciate you more if you update them if you can’t
finish or are having difficulties completing the task.Like I said, there are good, capable interns around too, they are like a diamond in the rough, and they just need a little polishing to shine. You probably are one of them, just that you may not know it. Other than just setting out to find internships in Singapore, just remember that, grades are not everything. The right attitude, is probably the cloth that will help polish you up to be the gem of tomorrow's workforce.
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