A Case Of Job Snobs: How To Better Career Preparations?
written by: Fatmah K., Bold At Work Content Writer Intern
With the beginning of the endemic phase, the rules are starting to loosen, the job market is starting to recover, and youths find themselves at a good position where youth unemployment rates fall to 7.3% from 10.6% in 2020, at the peak of Covid-19, based on statistics shared by The New Paper.
With more options, comes more room for choice. But are we still ignorant as to what we are searching for, when we seek that elusive 'suitable’ job?
Perhaps, one perspective I can offer is how we can make use of internships to get better at identifying what it is we need and want in our future jobs.
From classroom to real world
When we are sheltered in our classrooms, we often tend to get fixated on what we think we want. While some eschew internships and traineeships, thinking that they are not worthwhile for the short-term nature, I think they could provide youths great value in terms of further honing our skills, and opening up new possibilities on what we could venture into.
For me, the course that I am taking is completely different from what I am doing here at Bold. My course involves theatre studies and management, however, I am trying out being a content writer in a completely different domain. I decided that I had had enough of what my classroom had taught me, and instead, I wanted to venture out and see what it would be like to turn my writing hobby into a working experience. Sure, it is scary and a little weird trying to venture into a new domain, however, I refused to limit my options, as I am always seeking out new and more options.
Internships, I find, are a great opportunity for opening up options and learning more about ourselves and the working world. Yet in 2021, as many as 52.4% of students and graduates have not taken on formal internships, based on Statista. Seeing that data, got me wondering what the youth perspective of internships are.
I interviewed a group of youths, ages ranging from 20-24, asking them about their own internship experience and here’s a list of tips for what I learnt you should look out for in getting the most out of an internship experience!
Meet Chloe & Kholish- when expectations meets reality
“Change your mindset! It's all in the mind"!”, as Chloe, 21, who was studying Biomedical Science at Republic Polytechnic would say. “Even if we do not enjoy the tasks, still, we shouldn't just look at it as a countdown till it comes time to knock off from work. Sure, some days can be a chore, but think of it as an opportunity (a paid one, at that!) that helps us find out what we enjoy and what we don't.”
For Chloe, her internship she was a junior medical technologist, and what scared her the most when she entered, was how different it was in a real work setting, compared to her classes in the laboratory which were so orderly and fully equipped for her learning.
She found that it took a lot of effort simply to navigate the fast-paced and dynamic work environment she found herself in. It caught her off-guard for a while, but as she worked alongside her colleagues, that woke her up to responsibilities she had and how serious her work actually was, and the importance of the impact one could make. And that made her stop counting the days. She realised that she did enjoy being in the healthcare industry, for she personally could connect to the ones in need without having to actually tend to the patient, but through research where she realised that being behind the scenes was as important as being on the frontline. She was glad that the internship opened up her eyes to alternative career opportunities in healthcare, such as a clinical research tech or a lab assistant.
Listening to Chloe, made me reflect that every experience, even those that we do not enjoy, can teach us something, and that if only we were to pull ourselves out of that moment, we could begin to start appreciating what we are doing and what the experience is teaching us about ourselves.
Decide on a goal! "A goal is important, so you're not too caught up in the day to day." Kholish says.
For him, he felt that his internship did not help him much as the media and films company was very small, which made exposure to clients very limited. He remembered sitting at his desk observing his colleagues’ behaviours and ways, their reactions and their ideas. He made it a point to help with what he could or what they deemed useful for him in his 6 months there as an intern.
He laughed as he remembered how he began to appreciate that internship experience only years later. He recalled the goal that he had set for himself as an intern, which was to produce even better work and set higher standards than his then-employer. Since then, he has kickstarted his own journey as a freelance photographer. He appreciated the internship experience he had, as those 6 months gave him an idea of what people are like in the media industry, which made him more aware of who he wants to be working with. It was also then that he came to the realisation that he prefered being a solo photographer as he prioritised the freedom of what he wanted and what goals he would want to meet for himself as a brand, rather than working as part of an established company that keeps track of your KPIs.
From what I have gathered, I do think that the question is not one of how to land a perfectly suitable internship or job. Instead, whatever internship or job we land in, what is more important is being clear what we want out of it. For some, it may be taking the opportunity to find out more about the industry and alternative careers that could better match one’s temperament, for others, it’s the joy of what you learn each day and the experiences you want to gain that keeps the idea of internships interesting and fulfilling. Finding a ‘suitable’ job is more of an ongoing process, rather than a destination. And internships are a great way to kickstart that process.
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