WHAT EMPLOYERS ARE LOOKING FOR

This sense of what employers are looking for was borne out by recruitment experts who spoke to CNA.

“Work experience will almost always carry more weight than academic grades because of the complexity of real work projects,” said Ms Chee Sze-Yen, executive director of Career Agility International.

“Candidates who have been exposed to multiple stakeholders and differing expectations all while keeping an eye on the budget and producing quality output will have a competitive edge.”

Hiring for technical roles mostly focuses on the candidate’s performance during the technical round of interviews, said Mr Sachet Sethi, senior manager of technology and transformation at Robert Walters Singapore.

“Especially for the tech industry, practical knowledge and experience are quite relevant to support innovation and transformation,” he said.

In Mr Gao’s experience, a lack of industry experience could mean not being able to answer some of the technical interview questions even for internships.

When he started applying for internships in his first year, competition was such that he received only one concrete offer out of 20 applications.

The single offer came from the public sector. According to Mr Gao, government agencies seem more open to hiring less experienced undergraduates.

Those interviewed recounted good internship experiences mostly at large internet companies.

Mr Wang felt that he was given many opportunities and did “pretty impactful” work during his internship at a leading social media platform.

At the crypto exchange where Mr Gao drew about S$3,500 a month, he felt like there was almost no difference between himself and a full-time employee.

“I’m working on smaller scope projects, but it’s probably used in actual production and I’m actually able to sort of contribute to the real code base,” he said.

The recruitment experts pointed out that hiring interns is also beneficial and cost-effective for companies.

From a long-term perspective, hiring interns allows companies to identify and groom high-potential individuals, said Mr Sethi.

Employers get to “try before (they) buy” and save time and effort in hiring, as interns who perform well can skip interview rounds, added Ms Chee.