Great Eastern Life
 

Hi everyone,
I'm currently on the lookout for internship opportunities and got offered an internship at Great Eastern under the entrepreneurship internship programme (EIP). Apparently it is already in its 12th batch, and it is packaged as a wealth management/financial advisory type of internship with a focus on entrepreneurship. There will also be financial services license to be acquired during the course of the internship.
However i am a little skeptical about this internship mainly due to Great Eastern as an insurance company, i'm wary that it is actually an internship on insurance sales etc.
Would anyone care to offer their opinion on this matter? Any input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

No doubt about it. It is

I'm not interested in a sales related job or pushing insurance etc, however that being said, would this internship still be useful in terms of the things i may pick up in other sectors of finance?

Take it up if you don't have any other option. Unless you want to enter the insurance industry, I would imagine that you won't be able to learn much about the other sectors of finance through the internship.

However, at least do something over the summer. So if you don't have any other choice, just go for it.

actually thats exactly how i view it as well, however how would WM in an insurance company differ from banks?

Generally:
- Insurance company: Sell insurance
- Banks (Retail WM): Sell credit card
- Banks (Private WM): Investments (equity/bounds/funds), Trusts, etc

"...focus on entrepreneurship. There will also be financial services license to be acquired during the course of the internship."

Entrepreneurship = Do your own biz or in insurance speak = sell insurance
Acquire financial svc license = So u can be your entrepreneur and sell insurance.

Its an insurance sale oriented internship (actually 'course' would be a better word). I have been through it during my yr2 as I could not land any other internships then.

Basically, you will have to attend motivation/self help talks, lessons which prepares you for all the insurance exams, and courses on how to sell insurance. It has nothing to do with the entrepreneurship that you might be thinking of. As the previous poster said, 'entrepreneur' refers to selling insurance in their speak. And chances are, you will not learn any skills that is transferable to other parts of finance sector (Except for sales).

There r many reason y they are doing this internship year after year..
1. They need undergrad to help them raise their passing rate.
2. Its an extremely good advertising avenue for them. By taking in 100+ undergrad each year, they have immediate access to 100+ families. And you will also be made to walk around in their GE T-shirt during one of their 'health-awareness day', which is essentially one giant advertisement campaign, where you see a huge group of youngster in red walking around the cbd area.
3. Among the 100+ undergrad, all they need is just one potential super-agent to recover all the cost.


seems like they are making use of u, but if you have no other alternative, this is actually not a bad idea...
1. I genuinely think it was a very fun experience
2. The things you learn is going to be useful for you as an individual. Insurance is an essential part of our personal financial planning.
3. those agents are rich, they treat you good food from time to time.

In conclusion, don't do it if you can find other internships. Otherwise, give it a go and enjoy the experience.

Wow didn't think i could get input from someone who has actually been through the program. Thanks for your input on the internship. I am also treating it as my last resort (kind of) if i can't land any other internships. Thanks!

On a separate note, would an internship by a financial advisory firm all be similar to this one by GE?
I have friends that applied for finexis, would it also be the same thing?