While I was flying from Delhi to Mumbai, I recalled my Mahindra & Mahindra interview on Cluster 2 of Summer Placements. At 9 AM, my first interview was scheduled with Mahindra and the moment I entered the room, both the two interviewers (top leaders from different sectors) stood up in respect and shook hands with me and discussed my future goals, contribution to society, value system and how Mahindra can help in achieving all of them. After the interview, both leaders stood again and shook hands. I was delighted to see a huge level of respect from them, and when I came out after few minutes, I was offered the internship which I accepted without using the option of putting the offer on hold.
The GMC HR team had been planning for the events from months in advance. Everything from our project details to the accommodation at Mahindra Park facility had been planned and informed to us before reaching Mumbai.
After reporting to the Mahindra Towers, Worli, everything was planned for the 35 GMC Interns. From the designated seats to the entire welcome kit, everything was all present before we entered the media cube for the orientation.
The orientation started with the introduction of all the interns, and then the session of the business leaders were planned throughout the day. I was glad to see a good number of IIM Ahmedabad alums in the top leadership of Mahindra Group.
The first session was taken by Dr. Anish Shah, Group President (Strategy), an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, followed by sessions by Mr. Sunil Sharma – VP, CCO; Mr. Hemant Luthra- Chairman, Mahindra CIE; Dr. Prince Augustin- EVP Group Human Capital & Leadership Development and Mr. Parthasarathy, Group CFO. All the leaders ensured that more and more time was spent on discussions instead of a one-way presentation.
The second day began with Dr. Pawan Goenka’s session, MD- M&M, and the person who played a significant role in the development of the Scorpio brand, and IIM A even wrote a case on his entire strategy. After all the sector leaders interacted with us, we all were waiting for the biggest session with the man of the company himself. All the GMC interns were taken from the Worli office to the Gateway Office which was no less than a palace. After waiting for some time, Mr. Anand Mahindra entered the room and involved everyone in his discussion on the types of leadership in the upcoming general elections and also discussed on the purpose of life. The session ended with a group photo with Mr. Mahindra.
The third day of induction was at Mahindra’s Kandivali office wherein various leaders from the AFS division interacted with us. The induction session ended with few engagement activities for all of us.
The fourth day was with our respective sectors. I was allotted a project in Mahindra Finance in their SME division. I reported to the Worli Head Office and after having a brief introduction with the company’s policy, I moved to my base location in Andheri East. I was the only intern posted in Andheri and met my project guide who was the head of sales for his vertical, and he explained to me the entire organisation and my project in our first meeting.
The last day of induction was a Design Thinking workshop taken by SPJIMR Prof. Suranjan Das (an IIM A alumnus again :) ) who taught us valuable logical thinking techniques for our projects.
The best part of the Mahindra GMC programme is the immense level of respect we got from everyone throughout the entire organisation which motivates me to work hard and stay with the company for long.