The Internship Arms Race: Are We Really Helping Students or Just Driving Them to Burnout?

by Nicholas Alexander Singh

Ah, internships. That shiny, gilded ticket into the adult world of “serious” work. A rite of passage, a source of envy for your peers, and—if you’re lucky—a chance to learn something, anything, before being swallowed by the corporate machine. But let’s be honest. In today’s competitive job market, internships have gone from being useful pit stops on the road to employment to full-blown contests, where students race to collect as many as possible, as if hoarding them like Pokémon cards will guarantee a career.

A recent article painted a picture of Singaporean students frantically pursuing multiple internships—despite universities only requiring one—to stand out in the overstuffed labour market. Ah yes, the good old-fashioned game of “who’s busier and more exhausted,” masquerading as career preparation. But is this mad rush really helping anyone? Or is it yet another race to nowhere, where students juggle so many internships, exams, and side hustles that they arrive at the finish line utterly knackered, barely able to recall their own names, let alone the difference between KPIs and OKRs?

Let’s get one thing clear: internships, in theory, are fantastic. I mean, what’s not to love? Hands-on experience, a sneak peek into your future career, networking opportunities—what could go wrong? Except, of course, when internships are transformed into a compulsive collection. And like all good collections, it becomes more about the quantity than the quality. So here we are, watching students rush from one internship to the next, grabbing whatever looks good on LinkedIn, without stopping to wonder if they’re actually learning anything meaningful.

1. The Quantity Trap: When More Is Actually Less

The current job market has turned internships into a numbers game. You’re not “employable” unless you’ve crammed your summer holidays and study breaks with as many stints as humanly possible. But is this obsession with piling on internships really helping students? Or is it just making them look busy for the sake of it?

I’ll tell you what’s really happening. These internships are starting to feel like a boxed set binge on Netflix—you’re so focused on finishing the next episode that you forget what happened two seasons ago. The result? An impressive-looking resume but a completely hollow experience. Sure, you might end up with a CV that reads like a corporate dystopia fan-fiction, but can you really explain what you did at that second internship? Or was it all just a blur of shadowing, coffee runs, and Slack notifications?

Rather than turning internships into a Pokémon Go hunt, students need to think about why they’re doing them in the first place. Are they learning, growing, and making real connections? Or are they simply ticking boxes and chasing the next thing to avoid being left behind? I’d argue for the former. In fact, let’s call this what it is—a miscalculation. If you’re collecting internships without purpose or strategy, you’re not standing out. You’re just accumulating professional clutter.

2. Burnout: The Great Unspoken Consequence

Ah yes, burnout. The inevitable by-product of trying to have it all. You’ve got your academics, your internships, your part-time job, and somewhere between all of that, a social life (I think?). Students are running themselves ragged trying to keep up with this ridiculous hamster wheel, and no one’s talking about it. The article glosses over it, but burnout is the elephant in the room.

Look, I’m not saying internships aren’t important—they are. But when you’re juggling three in a single year and trying to maintain your GPA, something’s got to give. And often, it’s your health, your relationships, or, heaven forbid, your sanity. Burnout doesn’t make you a better candidate. It just makes you tired, stressed, and, ironically, less productive. If the internship craze continues at this pace, we’ll be producing a generation of students who are so overworked they won’t be able to function by the time they actually land a job. And where’s the wisdom in that?

Instead of pushing students to cram in as many internships as they can, why aren’t we teaching them about balance? The ability to manage time, energy, and resources is far more valuable than having five different companies on your resume. Trust me, no recruiter is going to hire you if you’re too fried to remember the difference between Excel and PowerPoint during your interview.

3. Internships Should Be Prototyping, Not Collecting

What we need is a total rethink of how students approach internships. Let’s take a page from the design thinking playbook (yes, I’m about to get all business school on you) and start treating internships like prototypes. You’re not supposed to collect them. You’re supposed to test ideas, see what works, and iterate from there.

An internship isn’t just about gaining work experience. It’s about figuring out what kind of work you actually want to do. Do you like coding? Do you enjoy being part of a team? Or would you rather die than sit through another marketing brainstorm session? Internships should be your chance to explore these questions. Try something, reflect on it, and adjust your course.

But here’s the catch—you can’t do this if you’re running from one internship to the next without pause. Reflection takes time, and if students are too busy chasing the next big-name company to slap on their LinkedIn profile, they’re missing the point. The real value of an internship comes from the learning, not the label.

4. The Future of Work Isn’t What You Think: Adaptability Over Accumulation

Let’s talk about the future of work, shall we? It’s all anyone can bang on about these days. Automation, AI, digital transformation—it’s enough to make your head spin. But here’s the real kicker: the jobs of the future won’t necessarily go to the people who’ve done the most internships. They’ll go to the people who’ve adapted the fastest, who’ve shown they can learn on the fly and pivot when the world throws a curveball.

The article paints a picture of internships as the golden ticket to job security. But in reality, it’s not about how many internships you’ve done—it’s about what you’ve learned and how you’ve applied it. Employers are looking for people who can think critically, solve problems, and lead teams, not people who’ve racked up internships like they’re limited-edition sneakers.

So, instead of panicking about whether you’ve done enough internships, maybe the focus should be on developing future-proof skills. The ability to work across disciplines, understand technology, and think creatively are going to matter a lot more than whether you spent three months fetching lattes at a trendy startup. The real question is, how are students using their internships to build these competencies?

5. Let’s Not Forget the Power of People: Networking Matters

Another point the article touches on (but could have leaned into a bit harder) is networking. Because let’s be honest, sometimes it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Internships aren’t just about getting experience—they’re about building connections. And yet, we don’t talk enough about the importance of nurturing those relationships.

Interns who treat networking like a transactional exercise—show up, collect a recommendation, move on—are missing the bigger picture. Long-term career success is often about the relationships you’ve built along the way. That senior manager you worked with during your summer internship could be the key to your next big opportunity. But only if you’ve put in the effort to stay connected.

Networking isn’t a dirty word. It’s how people build careers. And the best way to do it? Be genuinely curious, make real connections, and keep in touch. An internship gives you access to a whole new world of potential mentors, colleagues, and friends. Don’t waste it by treating it like a pit stop.

It’s Time to Reclaim the Internship

At the end of the day, internships are a brilliant opportunity—but only if they’re done right. The current trend of treating them like a numbers game is doing students no favours. It’s time to move away from the ‘internship arms race’ and instead focus on making each experience count.

Students should approach internships strategically, choosing quality over quantity, and seeing them as a chance to learn, reflect, and grow. Let’s stop encouraging burnout and start promoting balance. Let’s rethink internships as a tool for prototyping career paths, building meaningful connections, and developing the skills that will actually matter in the future of work. Because if we keep going down this path, we’ll end up with a generation of overworked, under-prepared professionals who know how to survive an internship but not how to thrive in their careers.

And really, who wants that?

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