The internship journey that started with a business update was about to end with another business update. All the interns were about to leave the office, with a heavy heart full of memories… Memories of the difficulties in getting things done, Pune’s awesome transport, nightouts, chitchats, PJs that we cracked and not to forget- everybody’s favourite bun maska of the cafeteria! That was the time we had to say ‘
alvida’ to the awesome place where we worked for two months. And wait… Where were we going? The mango fest was about to begin... Vodafone’s amazing culture made us fall in love once again!
I was in the super-excited state a few weeks before joining Vodafone as a summer intern. From running through the annual report to learning advanced Excel, I did almost everything possible that would have helped me in my internship. And there was an added happiness that I was going to stay in Pune for two months; reasons being lots of friends, stay at Kalyani Nagar and Pune’s boards (
PuneriPaatya).
MuftkaGyaan:
There’s no harm in preparing for anything. If you think it’s worth giving a try, do so. A few courses like Advanced Excel and Marketing Research that I did before summer internship helped me a lot.
And the day arrived when I had to report to M&G office. The day started with an exuberant welcome and delicious food. We were all set to get started with our projects when team Discover told us that we would be given our projects after 3 days; till then we were supposed to learn how things work. With presentations and market visits first three days flew away as fast as one can imagine. I was allotted a project in retail sales and the project objective was to improve the profitability of Vodafone stores in Pune; something really exciting to do.
MuftkaGyaan:
Learn whatever comes your way. And take market/plant visits very seriously. Who knows what you’ll be dealing with a couple of weeks later.
I spent most of the days at Vodafone stores where I would find the avenues of improvement by talking to store managers, VSEs (executives) and customers. Getting the information from the VSEs was a big challenge for me as they would think that I was auditing them. But once I assured them that I was one of them and was doing an internship at Vodafone, things would work for me. Spending hours in observing and talking to VSEs provided me numerous insights because of which I could come up with some recommendations that were appreciated by the business head. Because of the hectic schedule, I was accustomed to having lunch post 4 pm with VSEs. Trust me; your learning is a lot easier and faster when you work in the field.
MuftkaGyaan:
Always behave nicely to everyone you meet. Even the security guard will help you somewhere. Care for people and they’ll work for you.
At times I would think that I was running off the track. A talk with my mentor and I would get my direction. Periodic meetings with him provided me with a lot of field work
gyaan. The best thing was that seldom I needed to come to office; because of which I could spend most of my time in stores and get valuable insights from store managers and VSEs. My conversations with other interns also helped me getting different perspectives.
MuftkaGyaan:
Always seek information that, according to you, is helpful in any manner. Pester people if they are unable to find time for you. Understand that people working in any organisation have a lot of stuff to do and remembering about an intern who will be with them for just two months is difficult. It’s your responsibility to ask for the things unless you get those done. And MIS people are of great help. Have a good relationship with them.
In this journey of two months, I surely learned a lot. But more than the learnings I enjoyed how people work here. When it comes to work, everybody is like the busiest person in the world. But when it comes to helping us (the interns), they are the most chilled people to find on the planet. Almost everybody took great efforts to help us in every possible manner- be it teaching us how things work, providing us information, or mentoring us.
“Life is a race. If you don’t run fast, you’ll be like a broken anda!”
This dialogue from the movie ‘3 idiots’ accurately sums the way retail people work here. In past two months, I also got adapted to their way of working. I considered myself an introvert who finds difficult to proactively approach unknown people. But after this stint of 2 months at Vodafone I no longer feel the same. I learned to pester people without annoying them, I learned to get things done from people, I learned to handle difficult people. And I would always be thankful to Vodafone for this.
MuftkaGyaan:
Believe in yourself. You’ll adapt to the situations depending on the challenges that you take. Push your limits, come out of your comfort zone and success is all yours!
One of the many things that I loved about Vodafone is the way people work here. It is said that you can approach any person for any reason, and it’s really true. I talked to so many people that weren’t related directly to my project. And everybody helped me in the best possible way.
“Celebrate life, not just festivals!”
This quote perfectly describes the work culture at Vodafone. Though people are busy here, they find opportunities to enjoy life. Sunshine Tuesdays, happy Fridays, birthday celebrations, mango festival to name a few.
There is no wonder why this is one of the best places to work for! I would always admire to be a part of this beautiful organisation.
MuftkaGyaan:
Enjoy your internship!!