Constance Tan
Year 3 Business, MNO & Marketing
Head of Research
What is/was your internship role?
I am a HR Intern. My day to day tasks include helping with the hiring process, such as recruitment and onboarding, as well as side-projects that involve data analysis, streamlining the work processes and marketing.
Share with us a brief background of your internship company.
My company is an MNC in the Global Energy Services Industry. It provides digital solutions and deploys innovative technologies to enable performance and sustainability for the global energy industry.
What was your best takeaway/insight(s) from this internship?
One of my best insights is how my company constantly upgrades and improves the efficiency of its Human Resources processes using technology. An area where technology is applied is evidenced from how my Human Resources department is currently undergoing the testing of a Chatbot to answer the questions which employees usually ask the Human Resources department. How the chatbot works is that the chatbot would answer the employees’ questions by grouping the questions based on their type and would produce an answer based on the category which that type of question falls under. Previously, Human Resources had to reply manually to each of their questions via email. Therefore, I feel that the creation and eventual implementation of such a chatbot would increase the efficiency of the department as a whole. This means that Human Resources employees can divert their time to other areas which need their attention, enabling them to experience increased productivity as well. However, I also learnt that the creation of such a chatbot can be a more tedious process to implement, as compared to a person manually replying to the questions posed by the employees, which is a relatively easier process to implement. This is because if employees’ questions do not contain certain keywords which the chatbot is looking for, this hinders the employee from getting his question answered well, as the response might not be as targeted. Furthermore, the chatbot has to account for the different languages that the various questions will be asked in. However, I feel that the benefits of efficiency and convenience heavily outweigh these trade offs, and these are trade offs which are currently being tackled by the Human Resources team as well.
What was your biggest challenge(s) faced and how did you overcome it/them?
For me, the biggest challenge faced was regarding time management, such as being able to multitask and meet different deadlines. Apart from the daily tasks, I am also assigned a few projects to complete. Hence, it can be challenging to balance my time between the two areas, and ensure that work is still completed to the best standard. To manage my time better, I have my own personal calendar, where I set out specific hours dedicated to different tasks. Once the time limit is up, I force myself to move on to the next task so that I cover a breadth of tasks, rather than diving too deep into one task which can end up neglecting other tasks. In my opinion, the calendar was a massive help in enabling me to plan and visualise the amount of time and effort that I am spending per task, and hence be able to prioritise better to ensure better time management.
What would you do differently if you could go back to the start of the internship?
Personally, I would have set out a more detailed goal and plan for myself from the very start of the internship. This is because I felt that I was not very productive during the first few weeks of transitioning into work, and it was up to myself to monitor and track my own progress. Hence, I would have begun with a more determined mindset to achieve one takeaway on my checklist every week from the start, instead of being aimless.
How has the internship value-added your prospective career in HR?
The internship has exposed me to the different functions of HR, such as compensation and benefits, recruitment and employee support and more. I have experienced and observed how all these functions contribute to the running of a company, as well as how they are interlinked with one another to bring out the best of a company’s human capital resources. Furthermore, this internship has allowed me to gain insight about the role of the HR in helping the company to adapt to the challenges of COVID-19, in areas like how the employer branding and marketing, recruitment and employee support.