‘Impressions’, the Summer Internship Program at Citi India, began on the 3
rd of April, 2017, with the one day Induction Program at Sofitel Hotel, BKC, wherein the Heads of various businesses gave us an orientation to the functioning of their respective Businesses. This was followed by two days of Induction to HR Function at Citi, during which the HRBPs (HR Business Partners) and COEs (Centres of Excellence) gave us a detailed overview of their respective functions and the structure of collaborations between the COEs and HRBPs.
All this while, we were eagerly waiting for our projects to be announced, and I was hoping with my fingers crossed to get a project in Compensation, as it had become one of my favourite subjects after the course on Compensation Management in the second semester. Voila! Citi did not disappoint. I was assigned not one, but three projects in the area of Compensation, and all the three projects covered its widely different aspects: Mobility, Incentives and Allowances. Taking a glance at my project titles one week into the Summer Internship Program, I was as excited as I was anxious.
But then the anxiety slowly died down, making way for learning in abundance, thanks to the amazing mentors and the team that I was working with at Citi. They were always patient with my queries and open for discussions. The approachability of the people and the absence of a hierarchical conduct in Citi made the transition from the college to a professional environment a smooth one for me. The culture in Citi celebrates the collaboration. The question ‘Shall I block your calendar for a discussion?’ met with positive responses every single time, and not once was I denied access to any information imperative to my project.
The Campus Recruitment Team ensured that all the Interns got to meet the Front Runners and acquire an understanding of the various businesses that Citi India is into. One month into the internship, all the Interns in various parts of the country were flown down to Mumbai for the interaction with the Country Chief Officer, Mr Pramit Jhaveri. Also, apart from the interaction with the various Business Heads during the Induction Program, effort was put into organising sessions like ‘My Career at Citi’, wherein Mr Badri Nivas, the Country Treasurer at Citi India, shared his experiences in the variety of roles he had adorned during his career at Citi India, and ‘Coffee with the Economist’, through which we got to interact closely with the Chief Economist at Citi India, Mr Samiran Chakraborty. Interacting at such close quarters with the seniors in the organisation, and getting to hear their stories, was one of the highlights of ‘Impressions’ at Citi.
I’ve been in Mumbai for over a year now, but the two months of internship has redefined my experience of this city. Using public transport for daily travel, late nights at the office, exploring the city with friends, and finding a way back home after getting lost in the crowd during these explorations, my ‘Independence Quotient’ (never mind, I just made that up), has certainly seen a spike by the end of May, as compared to the first week of April.
The journey was of two months, but the experiences will stay with me for a lifetime, making ‘Impressions’ that shall take me a long way in my path forward!