College student engaging the market with an Internship?

[yxsg]

Hello everybody! Its good to be in the company of so many driven individuals who are already on the Fastlane or are taking the necessary steps to get themselves there.

A bit about myself:
I am a second year college student studying Business from Singapore. I was introduced to the idea of the Fastlane from James Jani's (who I recently found out is also an active member of the forum) YouTube channel, and I have since listened to both audiobooks and read numerous gold threads on the forum.

Reading Unscripted made me realize that most Singaporeans like myself have been living life based on the government's preordained script, with no idea.

Two examples:
1. Nation-wide exams at the ages of 12, 16 and 18 are used to sort students into schools based on academic performance. Students who are deemed academic underachievers will be placed in technical institutes and are taught skills like hospitality management and mechanic/technician repair skills to "prepare them for the workforce" instead of higher education (university). On the flip side, better school offer their students better opportunities and connections which can arguably set them up for life.

2. Under the public housing policy, single individuals who are under 35 are ineligible from purchasing their own apartments. In essence, the government is telling it's citizens to follow the script - "if you want your own place before you turn 35, get married and settle down". Be a cog in the system and do your part.

My plan:
Long-term:
Originally, I had planned to complete the honours programme for my degree which would take an additional year, totalling to 4 years. But I am now contending with the idea to complete my degree without honours. That year can used to engage the market by getting a job or executing on a business idea, instead of studying business concepts in class that do nothing in the real world.

Short-term:
My 3 month long summer break is coming up shortly and I think the best course of action would be to get an internship to engage the market to generate ideas. I currently have a few ideas but they are weak and do not fulfil all the CENTS commandments.

I was wondering if anyone has advice on what kind of internship I should take up that would help expose me to the business world and needs. Perhaps working at a small start-up or a sales job?

I am determined to break free of the scripted dogma that I see so many around me live by, and get myself in the Fastlane. Happy to be part of the forum!

 

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[lowtek]

Welcome aboard. It's an interesting question...

If you're dead set on doing the internship, sales is probably your best bet. It carries over into everything so learning it as an intern can serve as a force multiplier later.

Then again, there's always the question of how much heavy lifting an intern will really do. I have no idea whether or not the hiring company would let you actually close sales, or if you would end up with some trivial part of the sales process (finding leads, for instance) that can always be outsourced to low skill labor down the line.

Are there any students you can reach out to that have done these internships, to hear about their experience?

 

[yxsg]

Welcome aboard. It's an interesting question...

If you're dead set on doing the internship, sales is probably your best bet. It carries over into everything so learning it as an intern can serve as a force multiplier later.

Then again, there's always the question of how much heavy lifting an intern will really do. I have no idea whether or not the hiring company would let you actually close sales, or if you would end up with some trivial part of the sales process (finding leads, for instance) that can always be outsourced to low skill labor down the line.

Are there any students you can reach out to that have done these internships, to hear about their experience?

I am open to the idea of not doing an internship during my summer break as I already have some cash from previous jobs. However, I am not sure how else I can use the break wisely, given that I don't have an idea built on the CENTS framework at the moment (of course that can change).

I have seen several posts by MJ hammering the point that you have to engage the market in order to find out the needs of the market, which was why I think an internship will be my best bet.

MJ's post:
RANT I Want To Be World-Class But Don't Want The World-Class Effort! Tell Me How!
9 'Slap-Your-Face' Lessons You Need To Learn From This Shark Tank Success Story (point 2)

But you're right, given that this internship will be fairly short, it is likely that I will only be given menial tasks and not bigger responsibilities that will expose me to more opportunities to learn. Perhaps I will be better off executing on a simple idea and learning from that experience?