UNI.CORNs are not just made of dreams
By Chow Pui Fang, Programme Lead (UNI.CORN+ Tech Internship Programme), DBS Innovation
As a typical undergraduate, I filled my summers with internships in hopes of learning and experiencing as much as possible. Most were typical; every morning I’d settle into my desk, check my emails, and go about “business as usual” tasks assigned by supervisors. It would be a fair comment to make that such experiences are typical across most internships, and unsurprisingly, didn’t leave me feeling very inspired.
But I was lucky enough to land a gig that was a little different. My final internship experience was one where I was given actual autonomy in voicing out ideas, and opportunities to make direct, tangible contributions to the team’s work. Most importantly, I enjoyed being a part of a team that possessed a gung-ho attitude in taking challenges straight on. This was a team that took massive leaps of faith that everyone else was too afraid to take. It was this buzz and excitement that kept me coming back for more, and I eventually joined the company full-time. This brings me to where I am today as a part of the Innovation team at DBS Bank.
Not all internships are created equal
It was in fact during this internship that I witnessed the execution of the first UNI.CORN internship run. While I wasn’t a part of the cohort, much of my time was spent supporting the execution of the programme. I remember times where I caught myself thinking “why wasn’t I involved in such a programme?” or “wow, my last internship was really unproductive in comparison”.
This was when I realised how uniquely different the internship programme is. Being in the trenches with the UNI.CORN interns, albeit being more of a medic at times, gave me lots of ‘insider’ feedback about the programme. We saw interns as the “customers” of the programme, and tweaked the programme based on their feedback, true to DBS’ ethos of being customer-obsessed. This experience proved to be valuable when I later joined the team to manage this programme full-time.
Being customer-obsessed about Gen Z
I noticed a stark difference from my internship days, where the conversation has since shifted from ‘what do millennials want?” to “what does Gen Z want?” It isn’t all that perplexing as what some might believe. At the end of the day, what’s important is respecting and understanding their goals and needs. The Gen Z are increasingly thinking about not only their career but personal growth, and the impact they have on the world. Translating this into an internship programme takes time and effort, and unfortunately, is not a priority for all companies.
We recognise that the Gen Z of tomorrow want to know that they can make a difference and they want to do it now. For us, this means that creating engagements that help them in these aspects are important. We do this by constantly having an active feedback loop, where we work with them to improve on the programme structure based on their needs. This is because we believe that UNI.CORN+ should not just be about helping the DBS businesses, but also about helping our UNI.CORN+ interns grow and develop as individuals.
Nurturing a UNI.CORN
We set out to create the most engaging and rewarding internship experience that a student could have. There was a gap in the internship market — though companies were rapidly innovating new processes and systems to adapt to today’s digital era, the methodologies in which internships were run remained unchanged. This meant that the new generation of talent would not be equipped with the right skills and mindsets when they joined the workforce.
We wanted to introduce a non-conventional approach, where interns are thrown into the deep end to learn and gain real industry experience, working with business stakeholders right from the get-go. The programme was designed for the interns to go through the exact same process that our business teams would when developing a new product or service, right from defining a challenge statement to creating a new concept. Bringing in these talents was also a way for us to gather fresh perspectives.
In 2019, we decided to pivot and experiment with bringing in tech talents for the first time, which is in line with DBS’ vision to be digital-first in our approach. But we wanted to achieve more. We wanted to drive actual tangible business outcomes from these projects that the interns work on. The expectation was for these interns to go beyond ideation, and into the actual development and testing of working prototypes. We hoped that this process would pull them out from their comfort zone hiding behind computer screens by equipping them with new skills necessary in today’s world where the line between business and tech is blurring.
A mix of nature and nurture
We believe that the best way to groom such talent is through a mix of on-the-job training and mentorship. I’ve seen interns who have been left to flounder on their own, and that’s not a productive way to learn. Having a mentor means having a positive role model to look up to, and I believe that being inspired by a senior is always helpful in maintaining the spirit and perseverance in learning something new. That’s where striking a fine balance is crucial — that we give them enough space at the pool to explore while guiding them to swim, yet at the same time not wrapping them tightly with a float!
UNI.CORNs taking flight
Success to us is when we see our interns’ satisfaction and transformation from the programme. It is when these interns can confidently say they have grown in terms of personal development and have also picked up new skills that would make them more marketable to employers.
The success of our talent pipeline was the most evident when seven of our 2017 UNI.CORN interns were recruited to join the prestigious DBS Management Associate programme upon graduation. The UNI.CORN brand has also clearly made a mark on the industry, having been awarded the Millennial 20/20 Ones To Watch Award (Millennial Brand) in 2017. The programme’s popularity is also clearly reflected in the number of interested applicants has, with more than 1,000 applicants from all disciplines in 2018, and close to 800 applicants this year when we narrowed the search down to techies.
DBS has also successfully launched ideas that have come out of UNI.CORN, including the DBS QR AngBao, and DBS Car Marketplace. Work that did not make it to production as-is have also not gone to waste. Much of this has been adopted or adapted by businesses in parts, to develop other new products and services. This year, we’re excited see an increase in such tangible outcomes in the form of prototypes, with the help of our new techie UNI.CORN+ interns.
It is the journey that matters most
While these outcomes are a great testament to success, the journey is something we stress very much at DBS and in the UNI.CORN+ programme. The core spirit that we drive is the importance of having the courage to take that first step to try, embrace failure and learn from mistakes. That is because unlike results, what we learn from the process transcends across time. Take a walk down memory lane, and I’m sure that you will be able to think of instances from the past that when looked at through a different lens, will teach you a new lesson even today.
