As a Communications and New Media undergraduate, I was interested to explore the advertising field. And interning at Yahoo! was one of the most gratifying choices I have made in my life.

Being in the Display Sales department, I have had a lot of exposure to external events. Some of it included Yahoo! Singapore 9, where I met prominent figures like politician Mr Chiam See Tong and filmmaker Royston Tan. Events like Yahoo! Online Marketing Summit and Yahoo! Digital Showdown gave me the chance to interact with our working partners. On top of it, we had frequent visits to media agencies during Fresh Fridays and Yahoo! 101 sessions.

As a Sales Strategy intern, I was placed in charge of updating Yahoo! SEA’s advertising site and built case studies on advertising campaigns. What could be more gratifying than seeing your own work showcased on a public platform? Learning to monitor media trends in the digital scene proved relevant to both my course of study and my future within the media industry.

Throughout my six month internship stint, I was intrigued by the fun corporate culture in Yahoo!. Where else can one get a zestful pantry with complimentary drinks, foosball tables and game sets like Wii and Rock Band?

There was never a dull day in the bustling Sales department. Let me share a few highlights of my time here:  planning the Halloween Happy Hour for the month of October and Sales team-bonding day, where we organized activities and interacted with the disadvantaged children from Beyond Social Services. Prior to that, the Sales team organized a Mojito Madness event as a fundraising effort for the children. A mobile bar selling Mojitos in office – how does it sound?

The dynamic intern culture in Yahoo! is unique and was definitely something that kept me energized. The interns are closely knitted – the awesome lunch breaks and foosball matches were my daily dose of vivacity. We often organized mini events amongst us, like birthday celebrations, pizza parties, after-work gatherings and Christmas gift exchange. The great camaraderie within the interns fostered our friendship and we still remain close after our internship stint ended.

So if you’re seeking for an internship with a whiz-bang balance of work and play, I kid you not, Yahoo! is the place to be.

Working at Yahoo! Southeast Asia was the single most refreshing work experience I’ve had in my life. So far, I’ve worked with numerous companies as a freelance writer, and a couple of other full-time jobs at others, but none came close to the culture Yahoo! provided.

For one, the title “intern” is just a formality. We’re expected to have the skills, responsibility, and pro-activity just as a full-time permanent employee has. In addition, there was no strict hierarchy at Yahoo!. No one threw their weight around, and everyone was as nice and friendly as can be.

Of course, this didn’t mean that your supervisors will be all hands-off; it’s not called an internship for nothing! I was mentored by experienced and battle-hardened editors who made sure my writing was up to scratch before they could be published. My colleagues were also quick to offer assistance and advice whenever I encountered obstacles at work.

As part of the media development team, I drove two special media projects – Singapore 9 and Yahoo! Tech Talk – and helped out in others where necessary. Minimal supervision was present, which meant I was responsible for the execution and maintenance of the sites, and driving traffic to them.

A particularly memorable highlight of my internship was the chance to organize one Happy Hour session for the entire Singapore office. Happy Hours are held monthly – with free food and booze, needless to say – and each department alternates at organizing each month. Together with the other interns, we came up with a theme, complete with games and decoration, and ensured that everyone had a blast.

I could go on, but why settle for reading about my experience when you could be exposed to Yahoo!’s dynamic culture yourself? If you’re in the market for an internship, or even a job, you owe it to yourself to check Yahoo! out.

Thomas Diong – Tech Initiatives 2011

Internship in Yahoo has been nothing short of amazing. Where else can you get free, all-you-can drink selection of drinks straight from the vending machine? You get to press the buttons without putting in any money! Isn’t that cool?

Apart from that, there are of course, work, which is as awesome, if not more awesome than the vending machine. I had the amazing opportunity to work with the Koprol team from Indonesia to organize the virtual Yahoo! Koprol Hack & Roll Hacking Competition (a mouthful, I know). Did I mention that I travelled to Jakarta and Bangalore for Kopfest and Yahoo! Open Hack Day while on the job?

Furthermore, I’ve also been given the chance to be involved in a various projects still in the research stages. Now, if anyone asks me what I do at Yahoo, I can finally recite my favorite line from every spy movies ever existed in this world. “If I tell you I might have to kill you!

Because of the interaction I’ve had with the many brilliant Yahoos, the evil-genius type, I have learnt so much more than I ever did in school (ever, seriously). My boss, Michael Smith Jr, is of course, as clever as he is handsome and has guided me with extreme patience. Tell me, which boss in this world is willing to spend hours explaining to you a certain concept and making sure you get what he means? I don’t think there are many outside of Yahoo. In Yahoo, leadership is not “go”. Leadership is “let’s go” in Yahoo. 

Edmund Chia – HR Intern 2011
I interned with Yahoo! Southeast Asia’s HR team for 11months and during this time, I have always felt empowered to be the HR professional I wanted to be. Not seen as ‘just an intern’ I was embraced as a valued member of the team. I was expected to all HR meetings and contribute with my opinions and feedback.  These meetings brought me face to face with real issues that HR professionals operating in a multinational environment encounter on a daily basis. Questions were always welcomed and my insights as a Generation Y individual were sought and given equal consideration. 

At the same time, I was always given opportunities to work on assignments that stretched my abilities. I had the privilege to bring onboard talents, manage and fine-tune the talent acquisition tracking system, help roll out a talent development programme on top of organizing training sessions, team-building events and organize a regional conference that involved 60-odd participants from across the Asia Pacific region. I was tasked to design collaterals, handle all logistics and execute the 3day conference - as a result, I got to meet and network with the global head of HR and many other heads of HR programs from all over the world. 
Most importantly, every colleague was a mentor who was ever-ready to explain their work to me or answer my incessant questions. They also provided valuable and seasoned perspectives to HR issues I was encountering for the first time. As such, not only did I develop skill sets for a future career in HR, I have also gained knowledge about current affairs pertaining to the field.  All in all, my internship experience has imbued me with more confidence to tough it out as a HR practitioner and I owe it all to an enlightened organization willing to nurture future talents.