Akshay, a final-year student from Singapore Polytechnic, shares his reflection about his 5-month internship experience at Skillseed.

“In internships you only need to make coffee for your supervisor. Don’t need to worry so much!”

This was the advice that someone close to me had said when I told him that I would be doing an internship during the final semester of my polytechnic studies. His “comforting” words were quite the opposite of comforting, and instead relatively anxiety-inducing.

It didn’t help that before starting my 22-week stint as an Experiential Learning Programmes and Business Development Intern at Skillseed, there were many questions flooding my mind: “Will I be able to cope with the workload? Will my supervisors be understanding? Will I really be able to learn anything relevant?” Although I had worked part-time in various ad-hoc jobs in the past, this would be my first internship and also the longest that I had worked in an organisation. Despite my worries, I had the desire to make the most out of my internship and accepted the offer, looking forward to what was to come in the following months.

Fast forward 5 months later, I am drawing to a close on my internship and I have no regrets about my decision to intern at Skillseed. My internship journey has been nothing short of memorable. If I were to share the main highlights of my internship journey, it would be my dynamic job scope and the developmental aspect of the internship programme.

Throughout my internship, I felt that no two days were the same. On some days, I was tracking Skillseed’s website metrics through the use of Google Analytics, and performing client partner satisfaction tracking to measure the success of Skillseed’s programmes. On other days, I was writing articles that would be posted on Skillseed’s Journal page and doing research to support Skillseed’s Business Development efforts. My dynamic job scope kept me on my toes and interested in my work.

Besides my daily work tasks, the developmental aspect of my internship programme was also enriching and beneficial for a student. Since I was doing a Youth Corps Community Internship, there were many training and developmental programmes to nurture interns to become more career-ready and confident. I am especially thankful for the opportunities to interact with career professionals working in the private, public, and people’s sector. This gave me the opportunity to be exposed to different careers to make informed career choices. There were also plenty of opportunities to forge new friendships with others who were doing their Youth Corps Community Internships in the social sector!

Needless to say, my internship journey was not always a bed of roses. There were some hiccups and challenges that I faced. Managing and allocating my time efficiently was a significant challenge at the start of my internship. As I am still a student, I had to allocate and balance time between completing school-related tasks, work-related tasks, and other personal endeavours. I initially struggled with this. However, through the use of time management techniques and tools like the Eisenhower Matrix and setting focus hours, I was able to complete my work efficiently and to the best of my ability.

It was also challenging to write in a clear and concise manner that aligned with the organisation’s writing style. As my work involved writing social media captions and even articles that would be posted on Skillseed’s Journal page, I had to ensure that my writing was up to standard. However, at the beginning, I struggled with this and I had made many errors in terms of word choice, faulty sentence structure, and not being aware of the context. I am grateful to my supervisors for sharing their tips to check my written work and improve the quality of my writing (Do an internship here at Skillseed if you want to know what these tips are!). With their guidance, my writing gradually improved over time, and I became a more confident and competent writer.

I also found it hard to overcome the fear of making mistakes. Since this was my first internship, I was determined to perform well, and I felt that I had to do all my work tasks without making mistakes. I was even slightly scared to ask questions due to the fear of looking foolish. I soon realised that I should not hold myself up to such unreasonable standards. In the first week or two of a new job or experience, it is best to ask as many thoughtful questions as possible and absorb as much information as possible. It is worth taking the first few weeks in a new role as a “buffer period” as other co-workers understand that you are new, and are generally more accepting of mistakes. Once I understood this, I was more open to clarifying any doubts that I had and was not afraid of appearing foolish.

Aside from the challenges that I faced during my internship, there are 3 main takeaways that I would like to share, which I believe would be useful for interns, especially those who are interested in pursuing an internship at Skillseed.

Firstly, say “yes” as much as you can. Throughout your internship, your supervisors will assign you a myriad of tasks. However, when there are tasks that are not assigned directly to you, and are up for grabs, try to clinch the opportunity to take on the task if you have the bandwidth to do so. This should not be at the expense of not being able to complete the work that is already on your “to-do” list. Going the extra mile will allow you to make the most of your internship experience. I also found that oftentimes, you may learn the most from a task that seems rather straightforward or menial.

You should also adopt the mindset of a student and a CEO. Just like a student should be curious and willing to learn, you should always be focused on learning during your internship. You should also have similar qualities to a CEO as they are often described to be confident individuals who are knowledgeable in their work, and responsible for the decisions that they make. Adopting these traits will take you far not just in your internship, but in other facets of your life.

When you are new to an organisation, or to the corporate world, you may not be familiar with the lingo that your co-workers are using. I experienced this as well, and I quickly understood the importance of clarifying doubts if you are unsure about anything that your co-worker has communicated to you. It’s best to ask and clarify instead of proceeding to do something that is incorrect. This saves time and effort for both parties in rectifying errors or mistakes that happened due to miscommunications.

The end of a journey means the start of another one. Although my internship journey has come to an end, the invaluable lessons that I learnt from my internship, and the experiences that I shared with my co-workers and others who were together with me through the highs and lows of this journey will always be etched in my mind. To those who are looking to do an internship at Skillseed, I can confidently say that you get to do more than just make coffee during your time here.

𝐀 𝐘𝐂𝐂𝐈 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐝: 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐞