today • Monday 17 March 2014 20

‘interns need tiMe to understand industry deMands’ SMEs call for longer internships for poly students

Ng JiNg YNg interns and to compensate for the [email protected] short internship length, the firm has divided its engineering projects Diverse participation expected for Community Games 2014 SINGAPORE — As the Government aims into various segments to give interns Prime Minister (third from right) and West Member of Parliament Lam Pin Min to deepen industry involvement in suicient exposure and to allow the (centre) launching this year’s Community games, organised by the People’s Association (PA) and the Com- the vocational education landscape, company to assess their abilities. munity Sports Club Council, at Anchorvale Community Club yesterday. Members of the disabled community employers are calling for longer in- Among employers interviewed, took part in the games for the irst time yesterday, two years after the multi-sport event was started to connect ternships so that polytechnic stu- clean energy irm Alpha Biofuels, for residents across ages, races and estates. About 30 to 50 disabled residents have registered, said PA Chief Execu- dents can truly learn the ins and outs instance, noted that training interns tive Director Ang hak Seng, out of the approximately 10,000 people who have registered for the event so far. of the business. in the auditing process can take up to Six of the 10 local small and me- three months. “Once they pick up the More sign-ups are expected before registration closes on March 24. XUE JIANYUE, PHOTO: OOI BOON KEONG dium enterprises (SMEs) TODAY skills, it’s time to go,” said its Chief interviewed felt that the current in- Executive Allan Lim. ternship period of between six weeks Food and Beverage irm JUMBO and ive months is too short for stu- Group’s Senior Director (HR and dents to be involved in meaningful Corporate Afairs) Christina Kong tasks or be suiciently aware of in- concurred. “In-depth learning is dustry demands. hard because their stints are too Other challenges companies cit- short. We also cannot give them a ed included having to further stretch lot of responsibilities,” she said. their employees who, in addition to Given the nature of many skilled juggling various workloads, would industries that work on projects then have to mentor the interns and spanning over a few months, employ- oversee their work. ers also prefer interns who can see Then there is the disincentive the project through. of interns leaving for multination- Marcella Holdings co-founder Lai al companies after they have been Chang Wen noted that interns who trained, the SMEs said. help design fashion items during their The Education Ministry is re- 10-week internship do not get to see viewing the Institute of Technical the process through to the launch. “It Education and polytechnic system is a pity for them”, he said. through a 98-member committee led Another common issue raised by by Senior Minister of State for Edu- at least three employers is the lack cation . The commit- of a structured interview process be- tee recently visited Switzerland and fore students are placed in a irm. In Germany to study their integrated some instances, they are just ofered work-study system and has sug- to the company by the polytechnic. gested that industry players play a Stressing the importance of the greater role. interview, employers pointed out To encourage more SMEs to invest that the internship is a potential re- in the internship process, Oneber- cruitment platform, with an average ry Technologies Chief Executive of between one and two interns re- Ken Pereira suggested that interns cruited as full-time staf each year. work for a longer period, which is The quality and attitude of in- similar to the German model in terns vary and an interview could which students work for up to a year. provide a better assessment, said More industry exposure could Techsailor Group’s Chief Business keep students updated with rapid Development Oicer Leon Leong. technology changes, he said, while A Lock And Store representative Ms Joanne Yeo, Executive Direc- also felt that a prior screening gives tor of Presidium Instruments, sug- employers the opportunity to match gested that a longer internship could a student’s aspirations with the ap- count towards academic credits. propriate job scope. CKE Manufacturing Enterprise Citing limited resources in small- Development Manager Kwan Li er irms, Mr Benedict Leow, Exec- Feng suggested that polytechnics utive Director of The Soup Spoon, could include multiple internships suggested that polytechnics could throughout the course so students provide orientation programmes so can continuously apply theory to interns could transit more quickly practice. On its part, to motivate into the work environment.