Chapter II: Pierre, Objectif Singapore.

Publié le 7 octobre 2011 par The Singapoverblog.

It's huge, It’s flying… it's the Emirates A380-800, the biggest plane in the world!
I needed a plane like this to go so far away from my school... 11 038km away with a stop at Dubai! And when I arrived finally at Singapore, I… But wait! I'm going too fast!! I still haven't explained to you how I got there...

“Bref,” let’s start from the beginning.

Now you know that I was looking for an internship. But at the beginning of my search I didn’t have any specific destination in mind. A lot of people explained to me that it would be extremely difficult to IMGP3753 find an internship in our 2nd year... So first I focussed on the contents of the missions and not on the destination. To give you an idea, I started investigating in the middle of April and finally got my internship only in July: 4 months to find it without any pause. Yes indeed, it took a lot of time and a lot of emails.

But to give you a more precise idea about this “investigation”, let’s sum it up with a few numbers:

- 4 months of research on the internet,
- Around 150 or more mails sent .
- Maybe 20 replies to my mails.
- More than 4 hours on Skype with potential internship managers.
- 2 false joys for two internships, which finally didn’t work out.
- 5 internship accepted... but too late.
- 709 € of plane tickets.
- 28 kilos of luggage.
- A 23-hour trip between my parent’s home to my apartment in Singapore.
- One scary moment when I thought I had lost my VISA at the Customs in Singapore Airport,
- And finally 1 lonnnng shower when I got home!!

Impressive…!

In fact, the only thing you should always remember during your research is never to give up. You must be determined and patient if you want the internship of your dream. Of course if you’re lucky, you will find your internship after only 1 or 2 mails like some of my friends, but keep in mind that this is really not very common...
Besides, if you know some people abroad, it may be useful to call them for them to help you. Use your personal social network. And if you think your network might suck, you’re wrong. EVERYONE knows someone, or has a friend who knows someone who could help you during your search for an internship or when you are abroad.

Alright, I must say that I haven’t used my network to find my internship, but for the accommodation I did use it. And in Singapore, it has helped me a lot. I will explain to you later how difficult it is to find accommodation in Singapore… (yes yes, my blog is like a American Tv Series, there is a new mystery at each episode.)

So why did I choose to focus on Singapore? First, because it’s a city I really wanted to discover. I was fascinated by what a friend leaving there told us, and moreover I have little knowledge about Asia: I had never been before in an Asian country (except 2 months in Sri Lanka with my parents a few years ago) and for me Singapore was a good starting point.

IMGP3861

Secondly, I first got interested in Singapore because I was about to have an internship at Publicis-Singapore. But finally one week before leaving France, I received an email telling me that they had cancelled the internship. How stupid you feel one week before leaving… This happened in June because I had applied for the summer time as well.

After this first disappointment, I resumed my research. Finally, after plenty of emails sent (agaiiiin) ,I had a Skype Interview with Kevin Timmons my manager. And after a 1hour interview, I was so exhilarated to learn I was accepted!

A few days after getting my internship, I was on the plane …

As far as the Pass (Visa) is concerned; It isn’t too difficult to get it. Singapore is a city who tries to attract a lot of Expats. Their policies about European or American foreigners are extremely cool.
In fact, the only difficulty is to choose the right visa because there are plenty of different Passes!

For the student who wishes to do an Internship in Singapore, I recommend the “Work Holliday Pass”. It allows you to work in Singapore for 6 months in a company. Don’t look at the “Student Pass”, it’s ONLY to study in a university in Singapore! Don’t use it to work there!

Anyway, to get this Pass, you just have to fill in an Application Form on your Pc (Word Format), and then send it by email to the MOM of Singapore (Ministry Of Manpower of Singapore).
You will then receive an email from the MOM 20 days later, which confirms that your application has been accepted. And after this? Afterwards, you can take your plane tickets to go to Singapore. Easy, isn’t it?

I would like to add that all these steps have helped me to become more sef-reliant and a little more self-confident. And moreover, the process involved skills to make contact with professional relations.
This internship and first of all, this search and these administrative steps are extremely instructive and enriching.
Everything you will do during your search or during the steps to get a VISA will help you in your future career! Don’t forget it and good luck!

- Je venais d’écrire mon deuxième article du blog.
- Je me sentais vachement intelligent en relisant mon article 100% Anglais.
- J’ai repensé aux trois jours précédents de rédaction.
- J’espérais sincérement que j’obtiendrai une médaille pour ce dur labeur
- J'ai juste gagné un porridge au poulet de la part de mon colloc'.

Bref, Voilà mon article sur « Pierre, Objectif Singapore »