How to hire your first intern in Singapore
Pick your dates first, because students' terms decide who you can hire. Then write down what the intern will actually do and who will look after them, offer at least the typical allowance for the field (S$1,000 a month across Worksider), and settle CPF before day one: for Singaporean and PR interns it is payable unless their school has approved the internship.
That is most of it. Here is each step in a little more detail, with links to the rules themselves. This is a practical summary, not legal advice.
1. Pick the window
Most university students are free from mid May to early August. Many courses also run long internships during term, and polytechnic students intern in their final year, usually from March or September. Our guide to internship periods has the dates school by school. For the May to August holidays, post between February and April.
2. Decide the work, and who supervises it
Write down three or four things the intern will own by the end, not a list of everything they might help with. "Run our Instagram for 12 weeks and report on what performs each Friday" is a role. "Assist the marketing team" is a hope. Name one person who will check in daily for the first week and weekly after that.
3. Set the allowance
There is no minimum wage in Singapore, and no law sets a figure for interns (MOM). The market does. How much to pay an intern has the typical figure by field from our own listings, and the ranges the schools themselves suggest.
4. Get the paperwork right
CPF. CPF is payable for Singapore citizen and PR employees who earn more than S$50 a month, part-time and temporary staff included. Interns are exempt only when they are studying at an MOE-subsidised institution and the internship has been approved by their school, and you should get and keep the school's paperwork that says so. Without it, contribute as for any employee. Foreign interns, Student's Pass holders included, do not get CPF.
Sources: CPF Board on interns, CPF Board on students.
Employment Act and work injury cover. An intern on a contract of service is covered by the Employment Act and the Work Injury Compensation Act like any other employee. Work injury insurance is compulsory for every manual worker and for non-manual staff earning S$2,600 a month or less, which covers almost every intern. Polytechnics say they insure their own students on internships; ask the school what its cover includes, and do not assume it replaces yours.
Sources: MOM on interns, MOM on work injury insurance.
International students. Full-time students on a Student's Pass at an approved school (NUS, NTU, SMU, SUTD, SIT, SUSS, the polytechnics, ITE, LASALLE, NAFA and a few others) can work without a work pass during their vacation. During term they can work up to 16 hours a week, or do an internship that their school arranges. Exchange students cannot, and students at private schools need a work pass. A student from an overseas university can come on a Training Employment Pass for up to three months, if the attachment is part of their course.
Sources: MOM work pass exemption for foreign students, MOM Training Employment Pass.
A short letter. Put the dates, the allowance, the working hours, leave, and who the intern reports to in writing before they start. If the school has its own agreement, complete that as well.
5. Write a listing people answer
- A plain title. "Marketing Intern", not "Growth Ninja".
- The allowance, as a number. About two in three internships on Worksider show one, and the ones that do not ask students to apply on trust.
- The dates and the hours. "12 weeks from 18 May, Monday to Friday, hybrid."
- The three or four things they will own, from step 2.
- What you need and what you do not. If no experience is fine, say so. Students rule themselves out of roles they could do.
6. The first week
Have the laptop, the logins and a first small task ready on day one. Introduce them to everyone they will work with. Agree how they should ask questions. End the week by asking what was unclear. The first week sets the pace for the rest, and a good intern is often your next graduate hire.
Is there funding?
Less than many older articles say. Enterprise Singapore's Global Ready Talent programme stopped funding company internship stipends on 31 January 2026. For fresh graduates rather than students, the Graduate Industry Traineeships programme funds 70% of a three to six month traineeship paying S$1,800 to S$2,400 a month, for Singaporean and PR graduates of 2024 to 2026. Check the scheme's page for the current terms before you plan around it.
Sources: Enterprise Singapore, Graduate Industry Traineeships.