Getting into a good company in the placement week is one of the biggest rat races ever. For you to land in your dream company, you need to be the dream candidate for the company. The 4 Cs which I focused on while preparing for the placement were: 1.
Content: If you have everything in you but the content, you’re an egg without the yolk. 2.
Communication: You need to have the ability to put across your thoughts in an efficient manner. Effective communication is the step which you can’t skip if you want to land up in a good company. 3.
Creativity: You will always be asked mundane questions but the answers are always expected to be creative. 4.
Collaboration: Before making it to the final interview, you will have to clear the Group discussion. In this round companies don’t just look for candidates with impeccable knowledge, they look for people who can work together in a team and hence you need to control your horses and be the most collaborative version of yourself.
My summer internship at Diageo was a steep learning curve. Since day 1, I got to learn about an industry which even though comes under the FMCG sector, but is so different at the same time. I still remember the first day when we got to interact with all the CXOs of the company, it was nothing less than a dream come true. Even though our internship was virtual, the project wasn’t any less challenging. I worked for McDowell’s No.1 Whisky in the UP region and I was amazed to learn about the history and enormity of the brand. I had to measure the influence created by certain big towns in UP and prepare strategies to attract young consumers towards the brand and tackle the competition. I interacted with the entire UP team, they were some of the most welcoming and helpful people I came across. I was amazed to see the work ethic shown by the company by not indulging into any wrong practices to get the upper hand. My guide and my buddy made sure that I got enough attention so that my personal growth never stopped.
First year of MBA was a roller coaster ride. It was the most thrilling and memorable year, the connections I got to make, the rigour I went through, committee work and last night submissions always had me on my toes. But now when I look at it, I see it as an evolution period where I competed and collaborated with the brightest minds in the country. The excel classes were my saviour as my internship was excel heavy. Even the professors helped a lot in successfully completing my project.
The advice I would like to give to the 20-22 batch is to brace for a tough year but also to remember that for a sword to be sharper, it has to be exposed to the fire and hammer. Don’t shy away from making new connections, explore new possibilities and work on yourself. A never like before calamity will also bring never like before opportunities. But the competition will be much more intense and hence make the most out of every opportunity and have faith in yourself.