The importance of internships:
Martin's Success Story
For many students nowadays, internships have become just another requirement to fulfill during their course of studies. Have you ever wondered just what the importance of internships is? What about the value of an internship at a startup or a small company? We caught up with our ex-intern, Martin, to hear about his experience at TalentKraft, and how it has helped him in his pursuit of a career in consulting.
Martin Neo graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration (specializing in Marketing and Entrepreneurship). With previous internship experiences in Marketing and Sales, Martin decided to take up an internship with TalentKraft to explore consulting as a potential career path.
In this interview, Martin answers a few frequently asked questions regarding working at TalentKraft.
Q: What made you apply for an internship at TalentKraft?
I heard from TalentKraft from a past intern — Richmond. Richmond is a really good friend of mine. He shared about TalentKraft’s brilliant bosses and how interning at TalentKraft would give me some consulting experience. I decided to apply to TalentKraft as I wanted to explore consulting as a career path.
Q: Could you describe some of the projects that you worked on as a TalentKraft intern?
At TalentKraft, I had a flexible role, working on various aspects of the business. At the start of the internship, it was agreed that my role would be 50% Consulting and 50% Sales and Marketing. This was a win-win situation for all parties involved because I would gain exposure into the world of consulting whilst TalentKraft would tap upon my Sales and Marketing background.
At the beginning of the internship, I was in charge of setting up an online payment gateway for one of the products. As the dedicated “Project Lead”, I led the end-to-end conceptualization and execution of the payment gateway.
Another task that I remember fondly would be handling the financial forecasting for the online case interview training market. While I didn’t have any past consulting experience, I was able to tap on my academic background as a business major to generate a financial forecast.
Besides that, I initiated the creation of Sales Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), building on my experience from previous internships. I even taught these SOPs to the other MBA interns at the time. We were able to set up some meetings with prospective clients, which was rather exciting.on
Q: What was the biggest challenge you faced during your internship?
My biggest challenge arose when I was handling the financial forecasting for the online case interview training market. To put it simply, I arrived at the wrong conclusion as to which market we should expand into. Partly due to my lack of experience in consulting, I approached the problem in an unstructured manner and just focused on mass outreach to various markets (a method I had used in other internships). Looking back, I could have approached the issue with a “consultant” mindset and first identified and most attractive markets before narrowing them down for further evaluation.
Q: What were the biggest takeaways from your internship?
My biggest takeaway from TalentKraft was learning about the consulting industry, and that also taught me how I could break into consulting. To begin a career in consulting, I needed to have 2 things. Firstly, I needed to have a consulting internship to give me some experience on my resume. TalentKraft’s brand as strategy consulting firm addressed this first requirement. The next thing I needed was to learn how to ace the case interview. At TalentKraft, I was given the opportunity to utilize the training tools, which helped with my case interview foundations. Next, the bosses were kind enough to take time off their busy schedules to help me practice for case interviews. The feedback I received really helped me structure my thoughts logically.
TalentKraft also taught me certain skills such as systematic thinking and structured problem solving to help me solve the case. These skills were actively taught, with formal training sessions being planned for the interns. With my new-found skills, I competed in a virtual case competition organised in Hungary and placed 3rd. That was pretty cool.
Q: What have you been up to after TalentKraft?
After accumulating knowledge from my internship at TalentKraft and the case competition, I was able to land internships at Allianz Consulting, IQVIA Consulting, and Glints. I continued to build my skills throughout the various internships, but it all started with TalentKraft. I would say that my TalentKraft internship was the spark of my consulting journey.
Q: What are your plans for the future?
I will be working full-time at Accenture Strategy as a full-fledged consultant!
Q: What did you do to prepare for the Accenture interview?
I think my success at the Accenture interviews was a result of the consulting knowledge I have accumulated since my days at TalentKraft. My internship experiences provided the foundation for my case interview skills. Since then, I have practised more than 200 case interviews. My vastly improved case interview skills allowed me to land even more consulting internships. Through these internships, I managed to gain even more knowledge and experience, helping me in my case competitions. I think that case competitions, case interviews, and internships have many synergies that enabled me to build more consulting knowledge. This ultimately landed me the Accenture Strategy role.
Q: Do you have any advice for future interns who want to break into consulting?
The best advice I can give to any future interns at TalentKraft is to reach out to the bosses for advice. They are a huge pool of knowledge waiting to be tapped. The onus is on you to take the initiative to ask them for higher-level thinking jobs, or how to better approach a problem. Their time is valuable so don’t waste their time, and be appreciative when they take the time to mentor you.
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