After a lot of preparations and pre-preparations, the day we were both expecting as well as dreading arrived. The day of Summer Placements. The day presented itself with chaos, surprises, laughter, tears and what not. Before I could figure out what was happening, I was sitting with an offer in hand – a Summer Internship offer from Vodafone India.
Vodafone Internship was a far cry from other companies because the interns were given locations in every corner of India. And the wait started for the coveted mail that gives our ‘Internship Location’. 23 rd March 2016, the farewell party for our seniors was at full swing. It was past midnight when my phone buzzed. A mail at the middle of the night from Vodafone Corporate HR team and my location was
Kerala- the Gods Own Country, my Home State.
The internship started with the white-bread induction, project allocation, team introduction etc. In the first week I started from one end of the maze reading up stuff on how to reach the other end. After the first week I ran into the HRBP and he was like, “Why are you inside office? You are supposed to be on field”. That is when the realization hit me, I have not taken a foot step towards my destination. Then started my journeys to meet up with the employees working on field in Sales.
The scorching Cochin Sun showed no mercy on me as I travelled from one Vodafone store to another. The store managers were only too happy to give me interviews, but the customers had different viewpoints. Yes of course, it is always ‘customers first’. These wait for store managers gave me two advantages:
- I could sit inside the AC store escaping the hot sun
- I came in as a HR intern but left the store learning nuances of sales
My work involved interactions with the store managers, the regional sales managers who travels down their sales beat day after day working to meet their targets, functional heads. Every interaction gave me a new bit a knowledge and each interaction helped in moving a step ahead in the maze. This experience actually redefined my perception of HR being an office job or desk job.
The interviews gave a lot of data which helped me prepare a meaty presentation for mid review. The mid review came and went, the sunny weather outside changed to a cloudy one and to heavy rains. Still my project status was ‘in progress’. What next was the question haunting me. Blessed was I to have a wonderful mentor to guide me during the course of my project. The whole HR team of Vodafone Kerala helped me with framing of solutions and executing and implementing my ideas. The proudest moment of my internship was when I saw my ideas actually getting implemented in the system.
The internship period witnessed the launch of ‘Vodafone U’ a new service aimed at the youth. The employees and interns alike went on field on the launch day. Flash Mobs, Variety Posters, promotion campaigns, customer interaction when everything was put together in the same plate we got a tasty result of a fun filled day plus a huge jump in the number of customers.
It is just not the amazing work experience that made the internship worthwhile but some amazing friends I made along the way. Five girls from different colleges across the country met in their home state to do the internship. We relived the days when we stayed in our native, eating the much cherished Kerala food which we missed during the college, roaming around in the narrow lanes enjoying the Mangoes during Summer half and hot ‘pazham poris’ during the monsoon half.
TISS gave me this wonderful opportunity of Summer Internship with Vodafone. And Vodafone in turn gave me a challenging and fun filled learning experience. Thank you TISS and Vodafone India for a fantabulous Summer of ‘16.
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About the Author:
Krishna Priya
A traditional girl from God's own country. A Passionate Dancer who has attempted multiple forms of Indian Classical Dance. A great lover of Indian art and culture currently in the process of molding herself into an HR manager.
