Yale-NUS students apply their knowledge through internships

Throughout the course of their undergraduate studies, Yale-NUS students engage in a variety of activities to further develop their skills, such as participating in internships. During the semester break in December, several students worked to apply what they had learned in the classroom to different fields. In this article, we caught up with Muhammad Katif Jabbar (Class of 2024), Sophia Qiu (Class of 2025), and Ashley Koh (Class of 2025), who worked as an investment analyst intern, people strategy intern, and litigation intern, respectively.

Katif interned at Tristar Investment Management as an investment analyst. Image provided by Katif Jabbar.

As an investment analyst intern at Tristar Investment Management, Katif analysed the movement of financial markets and formed conclusions about how changes in the market would affect the portfolios of the company. He also conducted research on new investment ideas which improved the financial performance of the portfolios of the company. One of the most interesting projects he worked on during his internship was analysing a diverse and complicated equities portfolio which allowed him to forecast the direction in which the portfolio was heading. Much of these tasks involved working with Excel and Bloomberg tools to analyse numbers, read reports, and present financial data in a clear and understandable manner.

Still, the internship came with the challenge of a long commute and work hours. Katif spent around nine hours at work and two hours commuting to and from work, which meant that most of his day was spent on work-related activities. Still, he noted, “I had supportive colleagues who make the experience fulfilling.”

As an Economics major, Katif is keen to work in finance in the future. Taking on the internship has better prepared him for his career post-graduation as the role gave him “exposure to hands-on analysis, portfolio management, and technical skills like Bloomberg and financial modelling, which are important for a career in finance.”

Sophia started her internship at Glints last December and continues the work on a part-time basis this semester. Image provided by Sophia Qiu.

Sophia Qiu started working at Glints, a talent recruitment company in Southeast Asia, in December as a people strategy intern, and continues the work on a part-time basis this semester. As part of her role, Sophia works on a variety of projects such as designing organisational structures, career paths, and employee training to develop and execute strategic initiatives to help achieve company-wide HR objectives. To do so, she analysed employee engagement and conducted satisfaction surveys to determine trends, and developed targeted initiatives for 2024. In addition, she also created new objectives, agendas, meetings structures to improve internal communication in the company, specifically focusing on company-wide meetings, as well as refined HR data systems, confidentiality policies, and updated employee data.

As a Psychology major, Sophia hopes to utilise her skills to empower individuals and foster positive change. She is very interested in strategy and organisations, and strategic problem-solving within organisation contexts. As this internship is her first time working in HR and people strategy, she hopes to explore corporate strategy, organisational development, and HR/strategy consulting in the future.

Ashley worked on litigation under TSMP Law Corporation over the winter break. Image provided by Ashley Koh (Class of 2026).

For Ashley Koh, a student in the Double Degree Programme in Law and Liberal Arts (DDP), she decided to intern in a law firm to apply what she had learned during her classes. She worked in the litigation department at TSMP Law Corporation, a boutique law firm which specialises in “cutting-edge and high-value transactions and disputes”. As an intern in the litigation department, she conducted research, specifically regarding commercial law, which TSMP specialises in, as well as drafted and created legal documents for the firm. During her internship, she was challenged with time management as there were many deadlines to meet and multiple research tasks she had to work on simultaneously. Beside professional knowledge, she also gained valuable soft skills from her experience as she learned to  prioritise tasks, reach out to seniors in the company, and manage internal soft deadlines alongside hard deadlines.

Overall, Ashley’s internship exposed her to litigation and helped her understand the kind of work she wants to do in the future. She reflected, “I am interested in pursuing litigation in the future, but I also want to look into the possibility of pursuing corporate law. It was a good experience to see what I might be suited to do in the future!”