SINGAPORE: Singapore’s aspiring bankers are increasingly skipping classes to opt for multiple internships, a trend known as internship stacking.
As the competition for finance jobs intensified, real-world experience gained through internships became crucial.
Aloysius Kang, a 24-year-old accountancy student at Singapore Management University (SMU), was part of this growing trend. According to The Straits Times, when BNP Paribas offered him a six-month internship, he did not hesitate.
Mr Kang withdrew from his university classes mid-semester to seize what he saw as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” After starting his internship in March, he spent two semesters away from school, likely delaying his graduation.
However, he believed the experience was “worth it in the long run.”
“The job market is tough now, so this has given me a starting point for my career,” he said. Despite taking only one class to attend his internship, he had to pay S$5,750 in school fees.
Internship stacking became more common as students sought to boost their resumes with substantial work experience.
Corrine Ong, director of careers and employability services at SMU, noted, “Graduate recruitment is so competitive that internships are where you can get a foot in the door.”
She pointed out that, unlike today, when students often completed as many as eight internships before graduating, internships were rare fifteen years ago when she attended university. “Unfortunately, it’s become a chasing game,” she said.
The pressure to accumulate internships was especially intense for those targeting positions at top-tier banks like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase. These firms saw a surge in internship applications, making the process highly competitive.
Goldman Sachs reported a 31.5% increase in applications for its 2024 internship programme in Singapore compared to the previous year.
A spokesperson said the bank received over 5,000 applications for the programme, resulting in a 1.4% acceptance rate.
On the other hand, JPMorgan received 493,000 applications for 4,000 global internship slots, marking a 15% year-on-year (YoY) increase in Asia-Pacific applicants.
Eric Sim, a career coach and former UBS banker, highlighted the growing importance of internships in hiring. “There’s a new level of competitiveness,” he said. Internships became essential for securing job offers, particularly in banking.
This drove students to believe that more internships would improve their job prospects.
Emma Lee, a recent business graduate, illustrated how far students went to secure internships. During her undergraduate years, Lee completed six internships, ranging from three to six months.
“Some of these big names only offer six-month internships,” she said. She took time off from school to intern with BNP Paribas and, in her final year, sent out over 20 internship applications but only received responses from four.
Currently interning at a bank, Lee had to cram seven classes into her final semester to graduate on time.
The intense competition for internships is further fuelled by companies reducing entry-level hiring, especially in finance, which has seen industry-wide layoffs.
Citigroup, for example, reduced its workforce in Singapore by about 500 people amid a global restructuring. Deutsche Bank and HSBC Holdings also made job cuts in Asia due to a slump in deal-making, as reported by Bloomberg News.
Joel Foo, head of corporate and transaction banking at recruitment company Ethos BeathChapman, said, “We are feeling the lagged effects of COVID-19.” Companies that had gone on hiring sprees post-pandemic were now cutting back.
Each job posting in the finance sector attracted hundreds of applicants.
The latest joint university graduate employment survey, released last February, showed that fewer new business graduates in Singapore found employment last year.
Only around 88% secured full-time permanent roles, down from 91% the previous year.
Ashley Lim, a 23-year-old economics undergraduate, took a semester off to intern and also juggled a part-time internship with night classes.
She will graduate in November 2025, a semester later than her peers. With many of her classmates already having significant internship experience, Lim felt her own portfolio needed something extra to be more competitive. /TISG
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