Everyone’s hiring interns.

“Always a bridesmaid but never a bride”.

Wait sorry, scratch that. I think the more accurate saying in my life would be “always an intern, but never employed”.

Ever saw a social media post screaming, “Hey, come join us as an intern!” Or promoting “Wow, being an intern with us is so fun,” and here’s the one I’m sure everyone has seen: “Look at our interns doing this trend haha, so funny!” Corporate social media posts love to highlight their interns, and why wouldn’t they? Interns are perceived as youthful, driven and trendy. But speaking from personal experience, interns are also overworked, underpaid and so, so tired.

At best, interns are used as tools to prove that the company is a Great Place To Work (yes this is an actual certification that companies can get, but no, interns having fun is not part of the criteria). If these young kids love working at our company, wouldn't you too? These social media publicity posts are great for attracting more interns. I have to admit that I also have a better impression of the company when I see interns doing cute videos featuring things like their well-stocked pantries and fun company outings.

However, while companies love their interns, they are rarely converted to full-timers. I have been given rave reviews by my colleagues during internships but have never been given a full-time offer. Instead, they just hired another intern. Reason being? No headcount sorry. This is sort of understandable given the economic climate that we’re in right now. Companies are cutting costs due to the slowing economy, which has been exacerbated by the US tariffs. In return, there has been increasing unwillingness to hire fresh blood, leading to increased competitiveness in the job market.

It is undeniably cheaper to hire an intern who can work for $1000 (sometimes less) per month, compared to hiring a full-timer who would probably demand at least 4 times that. Interns are also becoming increasingly more capable and experienced, with a guy from NTU even packing a whopping EIGHT in his four years (bro why you spoil market).

To be clear (and also to ensure I don’t get cancelled for this article), there are companies that pay interns crazy amounts of money. I’ve heard of interns being paid upwards of five thousand dollars. But these are also companies that are hiring interns with the wholehearted intent to convert them to full-time status. And there are indeed companies who still do convert. The point I’m making is that even when there are opportunities for conversion, it’s a highly competitive process with limited slots, and it's becoming rarer and rarer these days.

Credit: https://www.reddit.com/r/memes/comments/avaa3u/to_all_those_in_internships/ 

Ok, but it helps with getting hired right?

Well. Internship experience rarely counts as “real” experience. Taking myself as an example, I have about a year of “experience” as an intern divided across different companies and different stints. However, it doesn’t really compare to a continued year-long experience working in the same company. Additionally, although internship experiences differ from company to company, and there are definitely interns being given the same workload as full-timers, companies typically don’t see that as the same thing as being hired as a full-timer.

In my honest opinion, I feel like the tag of being an “intern” automatically gives companies the idea that we are somehow less skilled and less capable. That the work that we did during the internship might not be as valuable as the work of a full-timer. Now, I agree that I am completely biased here, but I do believe that interns are as important as full-timers. If the company has a revolving door of interns, doesn’t that mean that they do have work that they need someone to do full-time?

Credit: https://imgflip.com/tag/scumbag+job+market

”Oh but don’t interns do saikang work anyways?” For the uninformed, “saikang” refers to menial tasks at work that no one wants to do — either the boring, unpleasant, administrative tasks that are very time-consuming, or extra tasks not within your job scope which you have to clear. But these menial tasks are still work at the end of the day. And if those menial tasks, like creating a poster on Canva or sending out 100 personalised email invitations (my most hated job as an intern), are crucial to the work of others going smoothly, then I would say that interns, as the trusty saikang warriors, are an important part of the company.

At the same time, considering that every Tom, Dick, and Harry has done an internship these days, career advisors would tell you that it's foolish not to do an internship during your university years. After all, this is the time to learn, make mistakes and grow from them. And though they certainly don’t always help you land the job, it definitely does not hurt your chances of at the very least landing an interview.

Let’s take a breath.

This brings me to the more positive part of this article. I am no career advisor by any means, but if the job market is anything to count for (current employment rate as of June 2025 is a whopping…. 52%), if you can’t find a job, it’s more than likely that it’s not your fault. As someone who is graduating soon, the numbers do give me a lot of anxiety. And sometimes it can make me feel like I should be working harder to be part of the 52% that get hired. In fact, when I look around and see people who have already secured job offers for July 2026, I get even more anxious.

But here’s your reminder that anxiety is completely normal. Everyone else is facing the same anxieties surrounding the job search and their future. We are all clamouring to cross the finish line in this race to find a job. I won’t give you false hope that you will definitely find the job for you. In fact, it’s more than likely that your dream job doesn’t really exist. But there are definitely steps that we can take to try and gain an edge over the rest. Do some research on suitable jobs. Most universities have friendly career advisors ready to help look over resumes and give job advice. Find out the best sites to apply for jobs and cover all bases. Get ready for rounds and rounds of interviews (no seriously why does one job need 6 interview rounds?). I’m sure there are tons of other job hunting tips out there, but again, recall that 48% still failed, so don’t put too much pressure on yourself.

Nevertheless, I would also like to give a friendly, cliché reminder that we are all still young. We’re in our twenties. We will never be this young ever again. So while it's all good and well to start off strong in our careers, we also need to remember to enjoy our youth and live life before it passes by and escapes us. Stay strong and good luck everyone!

Credit: https://imgur.com/t/job_market