My Skilio internship experience in a nutshell
My journey with Skilio started in May 2021, amidst the turbulent time of Covid-19 restrictions. After just 2 weeks of going to the office, the government announced that workplace arrangements would be “work from home”, something I had mixed feelings about. On one hand, I was glad to be able to wake up later and work in the comfort of my home. However, I thought that my internship experience would be limited as it would be difficult to bond with my colleagues and experience a real work environment.
Thankfully, my full year with Skilio was fulfilling and fun, as I had opportunities to work with various departments such as marketing, skills and research and product, as well as get to know my colleagues through online and offline meetings. As my journey with Skilio draws to a close, I present my 3 key take-aways from my internship with Skilio, which might be useful for those starting an internship soon!
1. Don’t be afraid to try new things
One of the unique aspects of my internship with Skilio was the freedom to explore the work that the different departments do. Although I was a Skills & Research intern, I also worked on marketing collaterals and product-related work, which gave me a more diverse experience. For example, I had the opportunity to create videos, posters, vouchers using tools such as OFFEO and Canva. Although I was a beginner at using these tools, I gradually improved and was even able to use the tools for my school projects and presentations.
In addition, I also had the chance to design the blog page on the Skilio website, first using Figma to sketch out what the page would look like and then using WordPress to implement the page on the website. Although learning the skills was not an easy process, I learnt to overcome the difficulties by taking on each challenge step-by-step. By breaking down the task into smaller goals, I was able to source for the solution to each problem along the way instead of being overwhelmed by what I did not know.
The bottom line is, an internship is a chance for you to explore different facets of the working world. Take up any opportunities you are given and treat them as a learning process, rather than something you have to excel in immediately. Even if you are not explicitly offered the chance to experience various departmental work, approaching your fellow colleagues to express your interest is a good way to understand their work and possibly offer them your help where you can.
2. Manage your time well
My internship with Skilio was on a part-time basis for about 9 months, as I was also attending classes full-time at NUS. While I might have previously spent all of my free time outside of classes studying or playing games, I now had to factor in time to complete my work. It was admittedly challenging at first as I did not know how to plan my time, and hence struggled when assignments started piling up. I gradually picked up a few tips to manage my time better, which I will share here:
- Set a fixed day for the things you have to do. For example, you may want to complete readings on Monday for a class that is on Tuesday, and revise for your weekly quiz every Friday.
- Start on your tasks early. It’s tempting to only complete your tasks when the deadline is looming, but you will face problems when multiple tasks are due at the same time.
- Don’t neglect your relaxation time! If you find that you are not making progress with your tasks, shuffle your timetable around where possible and take a short break to rest your mind.
- For more general tips on making the best use of your time, you can take a look at my previous article here!
3. Start searching for your next job opportunity early
As I began this internship with Skilio in the last summer of my university life, I started worrying about finding a full-time job about 5 months before graduating. I was plagued with thoughts of not being able to secure a full-time job before graduating and worried that I did not have the skills my potential employers wanted. Luckily, around the time when I began to search in earnest, Skilio had launched the Skilio Campus academy, a platform for jobseekers to get hired for their skills. The Skilio Campus Academy enables you to search for jobs based on their required skills, which you can showcase by completing skills modules. After completing a skills module, you can choose to get recommended to employers who are hiring for specific skills, hence increasing your chances of getting noticed by them.
I personally found that the skills modules helped to make the job search less daunting, as I could showcase the skills that I learnt outside of my university degree, some of which employers were looking for. Instead of being restricted to jobs that asked for my university qualifications, I could apply to a greater variety of jobs using the skills I had picked up in my internship with Skilio and my previous experiences. To that end, my job-hunting efforts eventually paid off and I am on my way to starting my full-time job in June this year!
Final thoughts
Although I have no basis of comparison as my only internship experience was with Skilio, I felt that it was a much more fulfilling and fun experience than I had expected. Maybe it was because I was told by many friends that internships usually involve completing boring tasks with little variation, or being delegated work that no one else wanted to do. But contrary to what I had heard, my internship with Skilio was far from boring as I was constantly trying out new things. I also grew better at stepping out of my comfort zone to pick up new skills, as well as improved my time management skills immensely from juggling my studies and the part-time internship. With that, I wish everyone all the best in your future endeavours and happy job hunting!
