How I Bagged A PPO With Deloitte - Naveen Rajgariya, XIMB

Your Summers' experience can be tremendously valuable, providing you the opportunity to build skills for your resume and meet people who are working in your preferred industry. Increasingly, they are the likeliest route to full-time employment. But they can also be difficult adjustments for students who have little to no experience in professional offices. It can be hard for someone to stand out and make the right impression during a two-month stint spent adapting to such a new environment. How can interns learn what they need to know, impress those they work for, and secure a job recommendation or full-time offer in such a brief period of time? I sat down with Naveen Rajgariya, Business Management Batch of 2018-20, XIMB who interned with Deloitte to discuss the ins and outs of Deloitte’s internship programs and the advice he has for the next generation of talent. This advice won’t cover everything, but it does offer a starting point for interns.

1. What was the selection process followed by Deloitte for summer placements?
Deloitte is a legacy recruiter at XIMB and the selection process tests you in your analytical, presentation and personality skills. We started off with Case Discussion and the topic was the merger of two companies. Our goal was to discuss as a group, should happen and if it does what will be structure and strategy of the newly formed company? Post 10 mins of discussion we had to present the case to a second jury using chart paper. This Case discussion tested our ability in financials, General Strategy and Management and Interpersonal skills.

The PI Round was to check the overall capability and personality of the candidate and not just knowledge. Being confident in your answers was equally important as giving the correct answer.

2. What kind of projects were offered?
As an Intern, I worked under Oracle ERP and we were fortunate enough to be working under the guidance of Senior consultants and Manager on a demo case of an actual problem Deloitte was solving for one of its clients. We were given key insights as to how the live project progresses even setting up a dummy client at a remote location to make sure we understand the deliverables. Finally, the solution was to be presented as a team to Deloitte senior leadership.

3. What kind of support did you receive from the senior leadership?
Deloitte is all about networking and working together and we could see this practice put to use by the leadership as well. There were regular sessions arranged by our instructors to interact with the senior leadership of oracle and get to know their journey of Deloitte. Even in the Coffee area, the leadership was very approachable and keen to talk and interact with us, taking notes on our progress and time at Deloitte.

4. How easy or difficult was it for you to acclimatize to the work environment and how did you go about it?
Honestly, initially, it was not very easy. We were introduced to new technology and needed to grasp it as soon as possible. Fortunately, we had some top-class instructors to help us along this journey. Instructors who stayed back late just to make sure we get it right.

5. What challenges did you face and how did you overcome it?
The technology was the biggest challenge that we faced at Deloitte and it was completely new to us. The final deliverable required some depth knowledge of the software and it generally took people months to acquire that. Since we had to complete it in 4 weeks, there was high pressure on us to complete it and complete it right. We literally took help from the whole floor and the entire team to get it done. We reached out to at least 30 Deloitte oracle professionals and later realized it was the aim all along. Deloitte didn’t just want us to complete the deliverable but they wanted us to get out of our comfort zone and meet new people.

6. Any tips you would like to give regarding an internship with Deloitte?
Internship at Deloitte would be a dream start for anyone, especially in the consulting domain. You need knowledge, you need confidence but most importantly at Deloitte, you should not be afraid to experience new things. Every project at Deloitte brings new challenges and forces you to things out of the box every time. As far as PI is concerned, just be comfortable in your own skin.

Talking about how I got the pre-placement offer, well, conversion of your summers to a PPO depends not just upon your final presentation but your overall effort. From your deliverables to your office time to your attire, everything matters. Deloitte is a client-centric company and he highly focuses on how you behave with the team. Be on spot, be on time and look like you want to be here. The only thing that they want is unwanted people, people who don't want to actually be here, people who are getting in just to get experience. Deloitte wants or rather expects it's interns to be leaders, to be there long term, to bring change to the world. As interns, you would be working for one of the best corporations in the world and make sure you remember that!