When the idea to write this piece struck me, my mind immediately began to race as I thought of everything I could share from what I have learned in the past two months during my summer internship that I had spent at the
world’s next generation digital industrial company-General Electric. Coupling that with the immense personal growth I have fostered these past 2 months, I felt this piece would be a strong testament to all that I have learned and accomplished. In short, I have written this article to not only discuss the skills and intangibles gained during my first corporate world internship but also to share some personal advice and valuable life lessons that I acquired along the way.
My summer stint at GE began with an orientation session conducted by GE at it’s John Welch technology centre in Bangalore for all 48 interns of GE South Asia across 5 different leadership programs. I was a part of the Human Resource Leadership Program of GE South Asia. One of the major things I immediately observed in arriving in JFWT was the range of different personalities and people present there as part of the induction program. I was quickly aware of the fact that I was no longer in my sheltered hometown or in the secluded campus of TISS, Mumbai. Being around people who shared different backgrounds and worldviews from me allowed me to broaden the scope of ideas I was being exposed to. I spent my time with an eclectic group of people and explored different insights and views on life than ever before.
The induction program was a delight in itself and much along the expected lines with leadership team insights, treasure hunts, a tour of the entire campus and not to forget the icebreaker sessions which made us, all strangers, not just familiarize but also get to know more about one another in detail. John Welch Technology Centre stands out as it is a small city in itself within Bangalore- so big and so futuristic that it lived up to its reputation as one of the biggest digital research hubs of GE in South Asia working towards transforming the way we live in this digital era with its internal décor and gigantic labs and research centers.
One thing that really made this induction session memorable was the Shark tank challenge in which all the interns were divided into groups comprising of members across all streams of business and were expected to conceptualise new ideas where GE can invest in future and pitch them in front of GE leadership. My major takeaway from this was the brainstorming of new ideas, the teamwork and the business mindset to explore an idea from a 360-degree viewpoint. On the very first day of our induction, the team at GE helped foster in us the business orientation to prepare for the assignment that we were going to work in the next two months. The induction session ended with an exotic party organized by GE at Four-point Sheraton, Bangalore which was attended by many GE leaders to help the interns familiarize with them and learn from their experience.
Post my induction I moved to Gurgaon where I was assigned my project under my assignment leader based out of the GE Corporate office. I was welcomed by my mentor at GE who introduced me to the rest of her team members and other HRMs. She came across as a really nice person who displayed a perfect blend of work-life balance. She had a lot of people to care for- a 1-year old baby girl at home and an intern who would constantly pester her for the project. But to my surprise, she handled it in a perfect way and came across as someone who is much valued and appreciated in GE. It was a really nice start given that I was anxious about what lay in store for me.
Over the next few days, I had frequent catchups with my mentor trying to understand my project and working on the key deliverables. The challenging part of the assignment was the fact that it was a greenfield project in which everything starting from identifying the need areas for deciding of the deliverables was to be taken up by me. My project mentor entrusted and empowered me to do all these which helped me muster some confidence to work on what seemed otherwise a Herculean task. The type of accountability that I was entrusted with, gave me an impetus to take up ownership of my task and deliver my best. The next few weeks I spent in factoring in everybody’s inputs and bringing them to a common ground. Eventually, I prepared a list of key project deliverables with well-defined timelines to check upon my progress.
I finalized this with my mentor and then began the greatest learning of my first corporate stint as an HR professional. I set about identifying the key stakeholders, roping them in and bringing them onboard the project efforts in the very inception stage. Picking up reports and LinkedIn Talent blogs for literature review, blocking calendars, interviewing more than 40 people following up on appointments, scheduling skype interviews with leaders of businesses spread across the country; these were some of the things that I could have never learned to handle within the confines of classroom teaching.
Mining data intensely to build data-driven inferences and working on measures to resolve problem areas identified were the most intriguing parts. The most encouraging part was seeing top business leaders welcoming your efforts in the project and participating in identifying, discussing their problem areas and adding new perspectives to the project. Benchmarking with companies to identify the best practices and what better could be incorporated in the project to meet industry standards and at the same time assessing feasibility in the current business scenario was my key takeaway from here. I ran across my TISS alumni in GE and leveraged their experience of working on similar problems in past to add value to my project. The best feeling is when your own alumni in the industry appreciate the work you are doing and actively get involved in making it better.
The best thing about GE and what GE proudly boasts of is its people and culture. Never throughout my 2 months of learning did I ever feel like a backend intern. I was entrusted with all data and resources to deliver my best and add strategic value to the business. It was more of a participatory work culture and collaborative work environment. All the employees I interviewed were more than willing to help and add value to my project. More than that it was about the relations I developed with the people at GE. They made me feel at home and I forgot that I was just an intern there. It was what I would call “My GE family”.
Moreover, the insights I got from my program sponsor helped me constantly realign my project and take it in the right way. My mentor’s constant words of encouragement and inspiration helped me to think of new, out of the box innovative ideas to add flavour to my project. The best thing about her is that she is a perfect blend of everything-jovial nature and seriousness with which she takes up her work. She was critical and said no to all those ideas which she thought did not fit into the current business scenario. This helped me learn a great on how to make efforts and initiatives in a dynamic business environment. GE stands for values which enable every individual within the organization to realize their true potential to the fullest. I had never witnessed such type of open work culture and nice people before in my professional career.
In GE, leaders are more than eager to discuss with you and learn from you and that’s what I believe helps it earn the brand equity of being a leadership factory.
With GE being such a huge conglomerate spread across 8 different businesses with different population mix, using the right communication mix to appeal to the target audience was the challenge. After countless days of brainstorming and sleepless nights of rumination, I finally figured out a plan and got the content ready in form of a plug-in and play. My mentor was more than overwhelmed with my efforts and she appreciated the way I approached the project, broke all barriers of communication and pitched in at the right time to realize this project to an end. My communication plan backed by in-depth data and research saw the light of the day and it gave me immense pleasure when the HRLP Program sponsor appreciated the efforts and the research that went into it. This was followed by a meeting with CHRO of GE South Asia who appreciated my efforts and sanctioned funds for my communication plan. This was a “YESSS” moment for me and I felt really happy to see my efforts meet a good ending.
This is how my riveting journey of 8 weeks came to an official ending. My team and my mentor had arranged a small farewell for me. They took me out for the perfect lunch is what I would say. My mentor made my day when she wrapped up by saying- “You fit into all the expected qualities of an intern which makes you a manager’s delight”. A seasoned HR professional like herself having spent time as a senior talent leader in firms like EY, Siemens and KPMG, her words just summed up the story of my internship – fast, frantic, so less time – yet so much achieved!
To sum up my experience I would say that the two months of learning that I had at GE deeply impacted me, personally as well as professionally. I had worked on HR areas like attrition analysis and L&D in my previous fieldwork organisations. Here, I found myself facing a completely new domain of Employer Branding. It gave me a bird’s view of how things work out in the real time corporate world and helped me develop a deep sense of appreciation for the HR team at GE and the efforts being put into it by them for which they have earned fame since years. I would end by discussing something I experienced at GE- its about the learning curve. It has got its own ups and downs and that is nothing but the perception that we develop when faced with uncertainty. At the end, we reach the finishing point nevertheless. What I believe we can do is to tone our own perception about the work we do to keep the perfect balance and that is what is expected of us when we move into corporate world- always to self-assess and reshape your learning curve to meet your objectives.
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About the Author:
Subhasis Debata is pursuing his Masters in Human Resources Management and Labour Relations at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He completed his Summer Internship at General Electric.
Previously he has worked as an Assistant Manager in Maruti Suzuki R&D, Gurgaon Plant for 35 months. In his free time, he likes travelling, doing adventure sports and reviewing restaurants on Zomato.