Apurv, an Analytics lead in Singapore, shares why he thinks hiring early career talent is essential to his team’s growth and success.

Introduce yourself, sharing your career journey and highlighting any key experiences or moments that have contributed to where you are now

I have always been an analyst. I’ve formally studied economics up to masters level. I joined PwC in Mumbai as an analytics consultant right after that. There I got my first taste of what it’s like to work in a large corporate environment straight out of university. This experience taught me the significant and positive impact that hiring and training new talent from the ground up can have on an organisation.

Wanting some international experience - I then moved to Agoda in Bangkok, Thailand. This was a completely new experience - moving from a consulting to a product company. At Agoda I spent time working in analytics teams involved in both the front-end product and the commercial side of the business.

After about 3 years I was looking for a new challenge, and spoke to a friend who referred me to the lead analyst role at Wise in Singapore. After having tasted the differences in culture between product and consulting companies, I was looking for a place with an awesome work culture, which also included leadership opportunities and the ability to have greater influence. Wise’s self led teams and an opportunity to lead the regional analytics team in Singapore fit my needs perfectly.

The mission resonated with me - I was transferring money every month from Thailand to India, and paying huge fees to do that. So I reached out to a former colleague who was working at Wise, he referred me, and here I am! 

My team is part of the regional expansion tribe in the Asia-Pacific squad. We work closely with our product and engineering teams to bring Wise’s great products to market. We also are a part of the analytics guild at Wise and very closely integrated with other analyst teams. 

What prompted you to start hiring interns for your team?

To be honest, it was a surprise. When I joined Wise, we already had an internship program in place. After hearing from other hiring managers about how successful their interns had been, I decided to keep the program going.

In Singapore, the internship program runs for six months. This longer duration really gives students time to get hands-on experience, fully grasp our ways of working, and become successful contributors to our mission. We've now run 4 successful internship rounds, and what keeps me hiring early career talent is seeing how effective they are.

Many of our interns go on to become full-time employees at Wise. We actively work to recruit them into graduate positions at the end of a successful internship, because we've already seen their potential, and they've already proven they can thrive on our team.

How has bringing on interns early in their careers benefited Wise?

Bringing on interns early in their careers has had a powerful impact on Wise. It has allowed us to integrate new talent who quickly adopt our company mission and values, ensuring our workforce is naturally aligned with our innovative, fast-paced culture from day one.

Aligns with our mission and culture:

Interns who join Wise early in their careers are particularly adept at embracing our mission and way of working. Early career talent often easily adapts to our ways of working in empowered teams and transparent communication from the start. And, if we want to keep working at ‘full speed’ we need a workforce that can match our energy.

Driving innovation and growth:

Hiring early career talent is essential for our business growth. Those in this role often tend to learn new processes and tech quickly, helping us to stay ahead of the curve. This access to technology and knowledge empowers them to ask insightful questions and solve complex problems more efficiently. 

Building a long-term talent pipeline:

By hiring interns, we're not just filling short-term roles; we're building a sustainable talent pipeline. Many of our interns successfully transition into full-time employees, which ensures our workforce grows with individuals who are already deeply familiar with our company culture and values. This strategy allows us to retain a vibrant and forward thinking workforce that can match our pace and contribute to our long-term success.

What qualities/skills do you look for when recruiting interns, and how can they develop and build on them when joining your team?

Since we’re looking for interns who have limited experience, we hire for potential rather than actual work done. The key skills I look for are motivation and keenness, ability to grasp new things, an ability to accept challenges and change their viewpoints, and a high level of perseverance. At what point do they give up, when do they say they don’t have an answer or a solution? Or do they keep going with the limited information they have and make smart guesses? 

These are important indicators of being successful at a place like Wise. The easiest way to get good at solving customer problems is to ask yourself “What would my grandma expect?” If you can think like an average customer, and work through their pain-points, you can develop the skill set to be a really good product analyst.

What advice would you give to other leads considering hiring early career talent?

Those in early career talent roles really need your help to transition from education into employment. Offer learning opportunities to upskill them in the areas needed to succeed in a work place. Be prepared to guide people as they move from working in a sandbox environment to contributing to real-world projects. This isn’t about just training people to do a job; it’s about coaching them into a career.

Avoid information overload - nurturing top talent takes time and patience. Remember to always ‘pay it forward’. You were once in this position, so offer coaching and mentoring opportunities to help them absorb some of your wealth of knowledge.

They will make mistakes. Create a safe space where they feel comfortable asking questions and, most importantly, learning from their mistakes. These moments are where the most valuable learning happens.

By embracing these principles, you'll not only help your early career talent succeed but you'll also build a stronger, more resilient team for the future.