It was the second week of April, I was highly excited for my first Corporate journey to begin!! It was a great opportunity to intern with one of the fastest growing and top ISP’s of the country.
The Induction programme and project allocation were carried out in the first week. Right from the initial on boarding to the final review, everything was smoothly organized and executed. We were acquainted with functioning of organisation’s different departments, terminologies used in this (ISP) industry by the CEO sir, CXOs , VPs. Although it was virtual on boarding, it felt like a personal interaction with everyone. The best part was allocating the project after Induction. It helped us to focus on every session of Induction being impartial and thus have an holistic approach.
Project:
My topic was “Understand and Analyse Involuntary churn behaviour of customers”. It involved talking to disconnected customers (who didn’t clear bills), collect their insights, analyse them and suggest recommendations on basis of same. In the first week, I spent enough time knowing about churn, the related concepts, their trends; in short nitty gritties of project because missing out something here & visiting it later in this short tenure would have been challenging. A market research by sample calling to around 460 customers in Bangalore was adventurous but equally interesting task. I interacted with people from different walks of life. The process of funnelling our conversations from Introduction to actual reasons taught me a lot about applying theoretical knowledge in practice. Also working on huge customer databases expanded my horizons. This is where I realized “Every subject in MBA does matter”. The weekly catch up sessions with my guide, go-to-manager helped track the progress, also know whether I am proceeding in the right direction. It helped me adhere to timelines for accomplishing my deliverables.
Churn, being a broad topic, I interacted with multiple departments of organization & most amazing part was everyone in the organization has been extremely cooperative, eager to help. The long workchat calls to get my queries answered, know new concepts, discuss my insights helped me to strengthen/come up with my recommendations. I will always remember a statement by my Guide Sir, “Vinay, take one thing at a time, explore it 360o & then move to next thing. It will help you work productively in this stipulated time frame”.
My key learnings :-
1. Give your 101% to the process & be proactive.
During your weekly meetings, be thoroughly prepared with what you have accomplished, what is the next week plan, what are your queries in writing (short & crisp) as time is precious for everyone in organization. Don’t restrict yourself only to project deliverables, if you find something interesting (off the deliverables) while working on deliverables, do mention it to your Guide.
Also communicate effectively and punctually. Send weekly updates to respective teams you are working with.
2. Plan the 8 weeks (specially weekends) and follow it adamantly.
We can work a lot on every deliverable but we need to understand the time constraints and plan accordingly. In the initial weeks, you understand which people in organisation are free/ occupied at what time. It’s necessary to know while procuring databases, for scheduling meetings, so plan the day accordingly. Also use weekends as buffers to complete weekly targets. (There is much time after this precious tenure to enjoy!!)
But also don’t be overcautious about timelines. Take one day at a time, accomplish your work and move forward!! Have patience.
3. Every subject in MBA does matter.
While in year 1, I heard and also believed(to a very small extent), that only focus on subjects you want to make career in. But believe me, you need to know basics of every subject. (else you end up spending lot of time to learn that in this precious tenure)
4. Be thorough with Advanced Excel, Power-point and Market Research
I believe this are must-haves for dealing with huge data sets and effective slides. (Content is king but presenting huge information in one slide is skill). When we carry survey through questionnaire or sample calling, keep every question as simple as possible for everyone to understand. (avoid technical jargons)
To sum up, “Well begun is half done” & “All is well that ends well”. I always believed, my every coming day should be more productive & efficient than the existing one!!
Vinay Karwa is a first year student at IIM Indore. He is considered to be hardworking and meticulous by his peers. He is a student of ICT (Institute of Chemical Technology).