Resume and Interview Tips to ACE your Application with GovTech

Are you looking to apply for our young talent programmes but unsure where to start? How do you prepare for it?

Hello! My name is Janessa, and I’m a final-year business student at Singapore Management University. I just ended my five-month stint as a Talent Acquisition intern in GovTech’s Young Talent team, where we recruit young talents like yourself for Internships, the Smart Nation Scholarship (SNS) and the Technology Associate Programme (TAP).

Dilys (fellow intern), Cayley (our supervisor) and myself

The Talent Attraction Team

I had hands-on experience filtering out resumes, facilitating technical assessments and sitting through interview rounds with the tech leads, HR as well as senior management. On top of that, I acted as the touch point between candidates and the relevant stakeholders, participating in the full end-to-end recruitment.

In this post, I will be sharing with you some of the observations I made based on my experience, and offer you some insider tips that will help in your application.

Read on to find out how to ACE your GovTech Internship and Smart Nation Scholarship applications!

As with all application journeys, the first step is to prepare your resume before hitting the ‘apply’ button.

What makes a good CV (Internships)?

1. Personal information

• Include your contact number, email and LinkedIn URL so that the recruiters can contact you to update you on your application status when needed
• However, do not include other personal information like your age, height, race, religion etc as they are irrelevant details to the role

2. Your contributions and experiences

• Research and project(s) done, including your internship experiences and personal projects
• Tell us the impact in quantitative or qualitative terms
• We want to know your contributions and what you have learnt

Pro tip: only include experiences that are relevant to the role as you would want to keep your resume comprehensive

• Include any experiences in hackathons, Capture-the-Flag competitions or any tech-related experiences
• If you had any achievements from the competition, do include them too
• Or even any certifications you have obtained to showcase your interest in the particular field

3. Include your hobbies and interests

• We want to know more about who you are as a person
• What do you do outside school/work
• How these interests have helped you in your life
• Remember to keep this section short and sweet

Pro tip: it will be good to include interests that are related to technology and demonstrate your passion in this industry

4. More is NOT always merrier

• Don’t put too little or too much, while the recruiters want to know more about you, they have hundreds of resumes to look through as well
• Include only relevant details, jump straight to the point
• If you have included URLs in your resumes, make sure the links are working

Pro tip: Ensure that your URLs are hyperlinked so that it is easier for assessors to click into your portfolios

• Suggest keeping your resume to one page preferably, and not more than two pages
• Your resume should reflect your ability to learn and your passion for the job. We want to see your agility to adapt as well

What should I include in my application form (SNS)?

The requirement for SNS is slightly different where instead of a resume, you are expected to answer a series of questions within a maximum number of words per question. You might be wondering, then how do I summarise my answers yet ensure it is comprehensive?

1. Tech-related involvements in/outside school

• Think about what you have participated in thus far and how these involvements sparked your interest in technology — courses, activities, competitions
• If you had any achievements from the experience, do include them too
• If not, you can write your learnings from these experiences

Pro Tip 1: You can adopt the STAR framework (see below under ‘during interview’) to write your answer by giving the assessor some context followed by the achievement/learning subsequently

Pro tip 2: Elaborate on your more unique/greatest achievements to set a first impression when the assessors are reading your application

2. Why Smart Nation Scholarship (SNS) and Technology

• Among many scholarships available, there must be a reason that got you interested in SNS and the technology domain
• How can this scholarship help you in your university journey?
• Why the technology career?

Pro Tip: Instead of giving a generic answer, have an answer that shows who you are and that belongs to you

3. What do you hope to achieve through this scholarship

• What are some of the goals you set for yourself in university?
• What kind of career are you working towards?
• It does not have to be just one but a certain direction you have in mind

How do I prepare for my interview?

1. Learn more about GovTech

• Understand more about our Vision, Mission and Values
• You can reach out to previous interns or current/previous scholars for advice or for them to share their personal experiences with you

Pro tip: Follow us on our social media to get the latest news and updates

2. Review the job description for internships

• Understand the responsibilities required for the position which will enable you to share relevant experience and skills during the interview that apply to what the role and GovTech are looking for

3. Reflect on your motivations to apply and where you hope to contribute

• Why GovTech?

Pro tip: Think about your interest in doing tech for the public good and reflect on what drives you to apply to SNS

• What are some of the projects done by GovTech that you are particularly interested in and how can you contribute to it?
• What are some of the improvements GovTech/the particular project can make?

4. Prepare questions to ask during your interview

• Create a list of questions to ask the interviewers about the team, the job and the hiring process

5. Ensure a stable internet connection

• Test out the virtual interview link in advance to ensure that it is working
• Test and ensure that your audio & camera are working
• Contact us if you encounter a broken link

6. Make your first impression count

• Arrive five minutes earlier to the interview time
• Dress appropriately to leave a great first impression
• For eg. a collared shirt and combing your hair neatly
• Avoid low-cutting clothing

Pro tip: As much as you want to prepare for your interview, do not OVER prepare for it too.

How do I shine during the interview?

• Turn on your camera and adjust it to make sure you are “square” to the camera and not looking up/down or having parts of your face obscured
• Start with a short self-introduction, your current/previous scope, accomplishments and projects you were involved in
• Be your authentic self, maintain eye contact during the interview and keep it conversational

Pro tip: Try not to be scripted or have a script beside you during the interview as the assessors are likely to notice this, and it can seem like you are not confident/not as interested.

STAR Framework

We recommend using the STAR interview response technique to demonstrate how you handled certain situations on the job based on your relevant past experiences/projects.

Describe the following:

• Situation: Set the stage by sharing the context
• Task: Describe your role in the situation
• Actions: Explain how you handled the situation
• Results: Share what the outcome was

Pro Tip: Frame your responses for interview questions using ‘I’ as the subject of your responses to demonstrate your contributions and achievements and “We” to demonstrate a sense of shared responsibility and team-mindedness.

This is all I have for you, hope you learn a little more about how to prepare yourself, all the best for your applications!

Intern Volunteer Day

To find out more about GovTech’s internship programme, head to go.gov.sg/govtechinternship and apply when the application opens in Feb 2024! If you’re passionate about tech and a career in public service, learn more about the Smart Nation Scholarship at go.gov.sg/govtechsns to apply by 1 April 2024.