With sweaty palms I hit refresh for the umpteenth time (maybe more) on my laptop and there it was. One more mail in my inbox, but this one meant more than all the other 8000 or so combined. I had been accepted by the investment banking team of Ernst & Young as a trainee for an 8-week period starting from the 1
stof April’19. To top it all off, I was assigned to their Delhi office and not that I have anything against Bengaluru, but the thought of going back home after almost a year was icing on the cake.
This time it was me who was barging into my fellow hosteller’s rooms and bragging about my acceptance into one of the big four. After getting rejected by 5-6 companies and losing all hope for a good firm, this came as a welcome relief. More than feeling happy, I felt relieved.
It was around the end of my first trimester that I decided to take finance as my majors and knew that to gain the most out of my 8-week long summer internship, I would have to work with one of the big four. I targeted the investment banking department of EY and started preparing for the recruitment process. I clearly remember having a good feeling after leaving my interview with the HR. The thing about interviews is, no matter how well prepared you are, you still will stumble. How you recover is the key. I learned that through numerous mock interviews that our college conducted, along with the ones with the companies that I didn’t get through to. If I had to give few tips to first year students targeting a good company to intern at, it would be that be up to date with the latest news, brush up on your CV, know all about the company you are interviewing for and always be honest. This helped me and will surely help all the first years as well.
Talking about my internship experience, it was Déjà vu for me. I entered the same office where I had interned 3 years back as an undergraduate, but this time I was in a different department and with more accountability and responsibility. I worked with the investment banking team that overlooked deals in the FMCG sector. My mentor was welcoming and helpful throughout and took no time to introduce me to his team and the work that I would be getting, on the very first day. Then, I was introduced to the IT team and was set up with my own id card, laptop and access to their private server. The thing that I took most from this internship was that there are no shortcuts in life and one has to pay their dues to reach to the top. All in all, this internship introduced me to the corporate life and how this world works and was an experience that I would take with me everywhere. I thank my mentor and his team for that.